| Review: |
This is one of the best Redwall novels.The prose is the smoothest,the
descriptions of scenery being fine and even poetic.The accents are unobtrusive
Mr.Jacques relying on only a few phonetic spellings and patois words to give
speech flavor,instead of wrytin' ever' seengul werd owte so fhunny yew kin
baerly reed the dialog.The bird characters,usually the weakest and most annoying
(next to the hares) are among the best characters Jacques has ever
created,whether the vengeful,driven crow Krakulat his sensible wife, Bonebeak or
the noble Skarlath.The plot is smoothly written,each subplot flowing naturally
into the next inevitably and believably.
And it is with the plot that the flaws show.There are two plots,one dealing with
the badger lord Sunflash and his attempts to A. avenge his slavery at the hands
of Swartt Sixclaws,while B.making it to Salamandastron,and C.finding his
mother.Not to the surprise of any reader,he does all three.The second plot -or
subplot- deals with Veil,Swartt's abandoned son,found and raised by
Redwallers.He is kicked out for an atrocious crime,and has to decide whether to
rejoin his father (mainly to kill him and take his horde leadership) or to turn
his back on the ways of the vermin,and follow the teachings of Redwall.Twothirds
of the book deals with Sunflash,(barely)one third with Veil.Not only is the
emphasis wrong,but both plots might have been better served by being divided up
into two separate novels. As it is, the potentially moving and intelligent story
of Veil seems rather tacked on.We see him as a baby-then ONE chapter of him as a
youngbeast,then he commits his crime,is a thorough villain for a chapter or two,then he's dead. The End.
The worst part of this is:a longer treatment of Veil's childhood would have let
us see a very important part of the story-namely,IS VEIL RIGHT???Was he an
innocent baby whose character was warped into evil because all the NICE animals
expected him to be vermin...or was he evil from the start?How the reader answers
that probably says more about how they feel about the stereotyping of different
human groups than anything in the Redwall books.As it is,he goes from a
selfish,thieving boy into a coldblooded killer far too quickly to be
believable.Degeneration should be stretched out over a few more chapters than
THIS!!
At least Jacques does not make the mistake George Lucas did in the Star Wars
films. Darth Vader kills countless millions-but it's OK,he's redeemed,because in
the last 10 minutes of his life, he tries to save his son.One whole living
creature,after destroying one whole PLANET.At least Bryony wonders just how
meaningful was Veil's act,and if he would have done it had he known the price to
himself.She doesn't discount the vileness of his other crimes because he saved
HER,as if she's the only beast who counts.
After reading this book, I found myself remembering a line from John Steinbeck's
Cannery Row. To paraphrase freely:
"There are two ways a man responds to having a bad reputation.One is to try very
hard to be upstanding,to prove the critics wrong.The other is to go entirely to
the devil,as there is nothing left to lose. IN THIS WORLD,BY FAR THE GREATEST
NUMBER CHOOSE THE SECOND." It could be Veil's epitaph. | | Comments: |
I really, REALLY wish 'Outcast' had been done as two books. | | Reviewer: |
This review was submitted by Kaylar. |
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