Outcast of Redwall [Paperback]

Brian Jacques (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Hutchinson Children's Books Ltd (1995)
• ASIN: B000OGXU1Q
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (177 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best In The Whole Series - Except For Martin The Warrior, November 30, 1999

By 

Jen (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast of Redwall (Redwall, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was one of the best I have ever read (and believe me, I have read an enormous amount). Yes, it relies heavily on the standard Jaques a-little-good-beats-alot-of-evil formula, but a wonderful twist is added in the character of Veil. Is he or is he not irredeemably evil...? His actions at the beginning of the book seem to answer the question, but as the plot unfolds his character becomes more and more complex and utterly real. This twist adds depth and realism to the book, as does the searat Blaggut in "The Bellmaker" and the corsair Romsca in "Pearls of Lutra". As for the people who disagree with the title... Veil may not have a huge number of lines, but he is pivotal. Take a close look at the end of the book to see why.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Redwall book yet, March 21, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast of Redwall (Redwall, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Like most book series, Redwall can be a bit unaccessible without reading the whole series from oldest to new. Also alot of the plots repeat themselves. But in Outcast, author Brian Jacques really treats his readers with the struggle that young Veil has trying to get Redwallers off his back, but soon ends up sacrificing himself for their survival.

Also, Jacques doesn't actually have any situations in Redwall occuring until halfway into the book, which lets Jacques show much more surprising and interesting characters than he does in his other books. My favorite character has to be Swartt Sixclaw, who is also the most unique, whereas characters like Veil and Sunflash are too usual in a book like this. Sixclaw is really funny all through this book, constantly insulting his horde until they fall apart.

This and Martin the Warrior are probably the best Redwall books and are some of the first you should ever read.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love/Hate for Outcast of Redwall, April 6, 2006

By 

T. S. "Tabaqui" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outcast of Redwall (Redwall, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have been reading the Redwall series for a decade, now, and have read every single one at least once (if not many, many more times). Outcast of Redwall is notable for being the only one that I have mixed feelings towards.

Like all the entries in the Redwall series, Outcast deals with various woodland animals fighting fantastical battles, learning to grow up, and having a good time on the way when they can. For the most part, all the "woodlanders", such as badgers, mice, squirrels, and otters, are good. All the "vermin"--that is to say, rats, stoats, ferrets, and foxes--are unchangingly evil. Outcast, however, highlights the life of one young ferret named Veil Sixclaw, who has yet to decide which side he wishes to be on. Or does it?

Actually, the book seems mostly written to tell of the adventures of the most recent Badger Lord To Be, Sunflash the Mace, and his kestrel friend Skarlath. Sunflash has a bit of a reputation in various online communities as the Mary Sue of the Badger Lords. Although his character is likeable, I often feel that he was written as too perfect a creature, and that he has ENTIRELY too much time devoted to him in a book that is supposed to be about Veil. On top of that, nearly all the rest of the characters in the book are all fairly one-dimensional and undeveloped; with the exception of perhaps Swartt, who was at least given a sense of twisted humor.

Veil himself is a bit of a grab bag. Brian Jacques does not spend enough time writing about him, and we are left with a shaky grip on who this being really is. Unless you are bound and determined to really pull as many clues as possible from what little talk of him there is, you may simply give up on trying to figure out why this book is named after him. The author also says in interviews that he has left the answer to the question of Veil's redeemability as a mystery, but turns around and has everybeast denounce Veil as evil at the end of the tale.

Here, though, is where I differ from most reviewers, and it is why this book remains my favorite even though the actual writing seems VERY far from the usual polished and properly-finished states of his other titles. I have always taken this to mean that the Redwallers are not perfect creatures, and that they can not always see beyond their own prejudices. Even Bryony, the lone mousemaid who thought she could change Veil throughout most of the story, does not in the end accept what good he has done. The subversive idea that Redwallers can be as equally hateful, prejudiced, and blind to the truth as any vermin is a bit of a shocking one, and Outcast is perhaps the only one that paints them in this light. The roles in this book are quietly and secretly reversed in the end, leaving the more perceptive readers a bit unnerved and shaken, but with the understanding that not even good can be right all the time.

And that one tiny hint of grown-up admittance makes this book worth reading, even though it is the most technically flawed of all the titles.