Outcast of Redwall

[theradicalchild]

Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As with most Redwall prequel novels, the story opens with characters in the “present” beginning to weave the tale told, in this case by the otter Rillbrook the Wanderer at Salamandastron, who tells about a solitary badger named Sunflash the Mace, his kestrel companion Skarlath, and their main enemies led by the ferret Swartt Sixclaw, so named because he has six fingers on one of his hands. After rescuing a few good creatures, Sunflash spends significant time with them before traveling to his ancestral home Salamandastron to recruit the lapine Long Patrol in his battle against the six-clawed antagonist.

In the meantime, a ferretbabe named Veil is adopted into Redwall Abbey despite initial perception as a member of one of the universe’s many “vermin” species, with Sunflash stopping by the monastery as well and a battle or two occurring in the Abbey’s outskirts. Veil is naturally mischievous, although he becomes the titular outcast when he poisons one of the Abbey dwellers at the feast, receiving expulsion, although the mousemaid Bryony, who found and adopted him in the first place, gives chase, believing there is still good in the boy.

The fates of Sunflash, Swartt, and Veil ultimately resolve in the final third of the book, which is enjoyable like its predecessors, if at times predictable given the speciesism characteristic of other Redwall books and inherit goodness of other animals, although the last character’s eventual actions towards the end provide some mystery to entice audiences to read on. The banishment of a character from the franchise’s eponymous Abbey was also a first in the book’s time, and overall, I would definitely recommend this entry to those who enjoyed its precursors.

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