Outcast of Redwall

Dishing out neither surprises nor disappointments, Jacques's latest Redwall installment (after The Bellmaker) is likely to satisfy his considerable fans even if it doesn't win him any converts. This lengthy story rumbles into life when Sunflash, a badger, prisoner of the cruel ferret Swartt Sixclaw, escapes and swears revenge. Sunflash is destined to get not only his revenge but much else besides, for he is a Badger Lord, fated to rule the mountain Salamandastron. Drawn there by dreams, after an epic journey he takes command of the resident regiments of fighting hares and various serving beasts, and soon defends the mountain from a horde raised by Swartt. Though strongly plotted and spiced with a variety of secondary characters, Jacques's new concoction, like the vegetarian feasts he describes often and in detail, will not appeal to all tastes: the repasts are not the only parts of the story that go on too long, and the characteristics of all the animals in the story are fixed by their species. Moles, for example, are all rural bumpkins, with a ""quaint mole dialect"" that requires some study. Such ingredients, of course, may be just what makes the Redwall recipe so consistently popular. Ages 8-up. (Feb.)