"My fish Pepper liked this book because it was more focused on the life of a badger lord than any other Redwall book so far. But it had no business being called Outcast of Redwall and that whole subplot was garbage. I don't care if you're a vermin or not, babies are not inherently born evil, and people can change."

I'm honestly conflicted as to how to rate Outcast of Redwall. It is widely considered the worst of all the Redwall series, and I think that criticism might be deserved, but I also think its problems are perhaps minor in the face of what the book does really well.

As a point of order, I think Jacques gives us perhaps the single best badger lord to date with Sunflash, and maybe even the best badger lord in the series. It's hard for me to say, because I am still in love with Urthstripe, whose character arc in Salamandastron is still one of my all-time favorites in the series. But Sunflash is an excellent character, and Outcast of Redwall is, whether the book's title reflects it or not, the star of this book.

But his story is counterbalanced by the story of Swartt Sixclaw and Veil, the latter of which leaves much to be desired. It really is the book's inflexible philosophy about the morality of its characters that makes this book such a clunker in retrospect. For a book that is so much about Sunflash's heroic journey in contraposition to Swartt's villainous journey, it gives us very little nuance in its characterization of the "bad guys," and I think the book's backjacket material doesn't match up with the book's actual themes and story.

There's a great book in here with thorough and attentive revision, but Jacques never did give us much to work with when it comes to Veil's characterization. He's bad from the start, and there's really no narrative tension surrounding the decisions he is allowed to make for the advancement of the story. Any of Veil's beats have no tension at all, because the outcome is foreordained and thus there's no need to follow his journey.

Yet in all of its flaws, I think Outcast of Redwall is singularly well-focused in comparison to the rest of the series, with fewer diversions from its main story path and its principal characterization in Sunflash. I won't be leaping to reread this one any time soon, but it's also much better than I remembered it being in my youth.

It may or may not be the worst in the series, but I find myself feeling a little more favorable about it. There are things I would change, but I also don't think it's a "bad" book by any real stretch.

I just hate Veil and I really wish this book did a better job handling him and the themes he's supposed to represent.

I appreciated this book's clear departure from Jacques' typical formulaic Redwall plot, and appreciated even more its foray into moral complexity. This was the first (perhaps it remained the only?) Redwall book which explored the possibility that the "evil" predatory/scavenger species of Redwall's sentient animal world were capable of reform, growth, and transformation. That perhaps their inclination toward vile behavior owed much more to their upbringing within abusive, marauding cultures, or even prejudicial cultures, than it did to their genes.

Moral complexity was badly wanted in Redwall stories up till this point. It is often lacking in high-adventure stories in general, even from books written for older audiences. Bravo to Jacques for taking it on in a middle-grade fantasy novel, and for doing a profoundly good job. Emotions run deep in this story, as characters must decide repeatedly what price is worth paying for true friendship, and work out how to recognize good and evil in their companions. As a child, I cried reading this book.

All three times.

Would it really have killed Jacques to have one book in twenty show a ferret, rat, stoat, or weasel as something other than Evil By Literal Nature

If you want to read about anthropomorphised animals, read The Wind in the Willows or The Chronicles of Narnia. This is pompous, excruciatingly slow CRAP.

Granted, I did not read any of the previous seven books in the series. But I do not think they would have helped any.

Trademark Jacques. Wonderfully touching, with characters that you can't help but love and cheer for as they conquer their enemies and grow to maturity. Sunflash the Mace and his journey to find his legacy, along with all the friends he makes along the way, is certain to captivate. The only let down in "Outcast of Redwall" was the character of Bryony, who was surprisingly impossible to like, given that she's one of the main characters. Her stubborn defense of Veil, even when all the evidence was placed under her nose, was extremely trying. I spent the entire novel wishing I could kick her out the window and see whether the fall would shake some sense into her.

Overall good and enjoyable, but confusing because every short description of the story of this book (including the title) is about a small part of the story. More than once I wondered if I was listening to the wrong audiobook, but nope.

The friendship between a badger and a kestrel is the driving force of this tale of survival as the pair strive to outpace, outwit and outdo their sworn enemy, a six-clawed ferret. At some point the ferret sires a son who is abandoned and brought into the care of Redwall Abbey.
As with the other books, these stories are interspersed with rich descriptions of sumptuous foods, anthropomorphic animals doing horrible things to each other and a strong community.
Not as strong as the previous few books, this story had a lot less going on in it which, on the one hand, meant it was less convoluted, but, on the other, felt that it lacked something. The outcast in question doesn't even make an appearance until about 4/5 of the way though the book which certainly isn't about them.

My husband handed this to me after a conversation about foster care. It's a hard story when that's your context for reading it.

The first section was rather slow for me. I haven't read any Redwall in over 15 years so I struggled with the multiple dialects and the level of detail. But midway through the second section the pace picked up and I became more interested. Joy and sorrow were mixed in the ending.

Another typical Redwall romp, complete with lavish feasts and all the familiar character archetypes of the series. Although the overarching plot remains largely indistinguishabke from other novels, it's nice to have a Badger Lord as the main protagonist for once - Sunflash has been my favorite Redwall character ever since I read the books as a child.
The eponymous Outcast of Redwall is the true problem with this story, because his portrayal and treatment represent inherent contradictions in this universe's concepts of good and evil. When you start to critically examine the way the Outcast is treated during his time at Redwall, the whole philosophical foundations of Mossflower country begin to come into question. Are creatures born inherently evil? Can evil be changed? These questions are posed with a bare minimum of effort, then quickly glossed over because the book is almost over and there are still a few plot points left to hit. All in all, not the best Redwall has to offer, but still a mild improvement from slogs like Mattimeo and The Bellmaker.

The main problem I have with Jacques's books is the fact that the difference between "good guys" and "bad guys" is based on their species. This divide might work if the books were written for little kids, who need some sort of distinction between good/bad, but the stories are incredibly long and incredibly violent. This means that most of the readers are teens and adults... who are old enough to notice that certain species being "good" and others being "bad" is, well, flat-out racist. The characters are next to never morally grey; "good" animals' actions are always right, no matter how senselessly violent and horrible they are. (For example, in some books in the series, our "protagonists" randomly slaughter "vermin" who are doing absolutely nothing. And this is shown to be okay! Because they're "vermin"!)

Now, I first read the Redwall series as an insensitive little child, and while I generally enjoyed them (until I came back some years later and went "okay, what the actual fuck"), this book did bother me even then. That's because of Veil. Or, really, how Veil is treated by the story.

Okay, so Veil is a ferret brought into Redwall as a tiny baby. Now, immediately the Redwallers distrust him, because... he's a ferret. Eeek, someone of a different race! How gross! They must be a soulless monster! God. We're shown that as Veil grows, he becomes increasingly difficult, which, you know, is probably because he can tell that everyone thinks he's evil because... he's a ferret.

So, anyway, the Redwallers kick him out of the abbey. Then at the end of the book, he saves one of the Redwallers (Bryony, who had actually tried to stick up for him) by jumping in front of a javelin that was supposed to kill her. So then Bryony decides that... he was evil all along, because he was a ferret, and so it's okay that he died.

I can't even. All of these books are racist, but this one was by far the worst of the bunch.

For most of my childhood, I was utterly in love with the world of Redwall.

Brian Jacques has a gift for storytelling, describing battles and feasts in equal meticulous detail, and it paints an enchanting picture for any reader.

But the strength of the series aside- hell. This is one of the most unfair, even racist, books I've ever read! It makes a mockery of the nature vs. nurture debate, and the vermin namesake of the book is seen as an irredeemably evil character, even when he's just a baby. Seriously. What kind of kid are Redwallers expecting to raise when their first reactions to an abandoned baby ferret are along the lines of "I don't like the looks of this one. It'll be evil, mark my words."

Great, Brian Jacques. Just because someone looks different, they must be evil.

What kind of message are you supposed to be sending to kids here?!

PS. Veil (the ferret) really doesn't get much page time in this book anyway. It's essentially the story of the Mary Sue of all Badger lords, Sunflash, and his pet bird. Yawn.