The Outcasts: Brotherband Chronicles, Book 1

My 9-year-old son and I read this whole series after reading The Rangers Apprentice series. He loved both and devoured the books.On the plus side, my son laughed out loud throughout the series and kept exclaiming that he LOVES reading. Also, there’s a nice redemption story with a main character who was an alcoholic and becomes a mentor to the boys of the brotherband. The imagined world is interesting and consistent with The Rangers Apprentice. And for those of you who’ve read it, Gilan comes back as a major character, which is fun. Also on the positive side, you learn a lot about sailing and boats reading this series.I gave only three stars because I was so disappointed in the very casual violence throughout the series. People die in every book, and the main characters aren’t shy about killing people- even when I’d argue it isn’t necessary. (For example, the bad pirates once their ship has sunk and they are swimming for the shore...). There was violence and death in The Rangers Apprentice series, but it never seemed casual and the characters weren’t so cavalier. I had a lot of backtracking conversations with my son, and I’m so glad that we read the books simultaneously so we could talk about them. I don’t recommend this series to parents looking for books for their kids’ independent reading. And I removed them from my son’s kindle.

For years I've enjoyed John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series and then the Brotherband Chronicles. The plots and characters are believable and the pacing is good. As a retired elementary level teacher, I've read a lot of juvenile fiction but seldom with as much enjoyment as these books afford. I also appreciate the absence of foul language and unnecessary vulgarity. I no longer buy a lot of books but not long ago I repurchased the Ranger series in paperback and then just recently purchased the Kindle edition of the Brotherband Chronicles. My husband and I are both enjoying rereading them.

I'm a long time fan and reader of John Flanagan's "Ranger's Apprentice". I had high hopes for this new series and The Outcasts went well and beyond what I expected. From cover to cover, this book will keep you wanting more. When I reached the last page, I groaned out loud, sad that it had ended.In "The Outcasts", you'll find yourself viewing the life of a half-Araulen half-Skandian boy by the name of Hal Mikkleson. Being half-Araulen was not an easy obstacle to clear, however, it was a disgrace to him, causing the other full Skandian boy's to mock him, and isolate him from the group. Stig, another outcast with the temper of a bull, begins to bond with Hal after an incident in the ocean where Hal swoops in to save his life. Hal is an inventive boy, creating new inventions every day for his mother's tavern and for his own use. Skandia focuses on war and plunder, and being an outsider is not the best place to be.A grizzled, old, one handed man by the name of Thorn is thrusted into Hal's life. Known as the town drunk, Hal doubts Thorn's ability to do anything, especially when his mother invites Thorn to live with them. There is a catch though, if Thorn is going to live with Hal and his mother, he must stop drinking. This is a hard decision, but Thorn decides to accept the consequence and move in.Hal and Stig had put together a crew, called a wolfcrew, for his ship the Heron. Hal's ship has a triangular sail, much different from the regular square sail's that Skandian's usually use. The crew is made up of the Jarl, Hal, the first-mate, Stig, and the rest of the crew. Ingvar, a shortsighted man-boy. Invgar makes up for his smartness in brawn, the boy is huge, and is an excellent rower. The other's are twins by the name's Wulf and Ulf. Trickesters who look exactly alike and often change identities to mess with people.Shortly after Thorn moves in, Hal and his now best friend Stig have been called to Brotherband training. Brotherband training is when all Skandian boy's turn sixteen, they must attend the training to complete the transformation from boy to man. When the boy's arrive, they find themselves in the midst of their wolfcrew, waiting for the training to begin. But before it begins, the teams must be formed. This part is extremely important, whoever comes in last or even second is often mocked by the winning team. The team picking goes as expected, the first team being made up of the Jarl Tursgud, an ego-maniac who hates Hal. Tursgud is possibly the most popular boy in their town, and according to him Hal is the most unpopular. Of course, Tursgud believes it's his job to taunt and make fun of Hal, and that's what he plans to do. The second team consists of Roland, one of the best athletes in the town. Roland forms his band out of the friends surrounding him. Although only usually two teams, this year there are enough kids for three. At this point the remaining kid's are of course, Hal and Stig, Ingvar, Ulf and Wulf, and a few new boy's. These new kid's are Jesper, a professional thief who can choose to be seen or unseen, the joking Stefan, who loves to make fun of Tursgud, and quiet but smart Edwin. Together these boy's have an amazing future together, and will soon find themselves in deep trouble.

While carrying out a raid Mikkel and Thorn held back the enemy while the others ran to their ship, as mikkel turned a spear pierced his body, this was 12 years ago, Mikkel asked Thorn to take care of his family, on the way home Thorn lost a hand in the rigging, no longer a warrior he became a drunk, Karina mother of Hal 10yrs looked after Thorn but she was not Skandian and Hal was only half Skandian,Hal his now 16yrs and loved working with wood, he had made his own ship the Heron, Tursgud would constantly tease Hal because he was not Skandian, He made friends with a boy named Stig after saving him from drowning, Brotherband training was soon to begin, Thorn started to teach Hal how to fight, 28 boys arrived at the training ground to be split in three groups, the captains would be Hal, Tursgud and Rolland, two teams of ten leaving hal and the boys nobody wanted, can the boys in Hal's team actually win and become warriors, pirates steal their most sacred relic the Andomal, Hal and his warriors were guarding

One of my favourite authors. Always so much detail in the book and he obviously knows about sailing! I loved the characters immediately although i found at times there was a little too much description of sailing (i have no idea about boats). Really enjoyed the storyline - took a little while to get into it, but another great read with plenty of adventure.

Hal Mikkelson is a misfit. His mother was a foreign slave, freed by his warrior father. He is smart and inventive, but is not accepted by most Scandians as one of them.When he reaches sixteen, he must be trained and assessed as a potential warrior and crew-member aboard one of the feared wolfships. The training is done by splitting the boys up into Brotherbands, who are trained and made to compete against each other in a series of assessment tests. Hal's band is made up of misfits who weren't picked for any other band.Hal has two pieces of luck. He manages to buy a half-size ship which he rigs in a new way, casting aside the traditional square rig. He also befriends Thorn, who has spent many years as the town drunk. But Thorn has a history that proves useful to Hal and his Brotherband.One of the other Brotherband leaders, Tursgud, is a bully. He is scornful of Hal and does his best to beat him at everything. Hal is desperate to come out on top.The book is written in the same light style as the Ranger's Apprentice series. It is also set in the same world and era. The characters are all well-defined and have their own traits and speech patterns. The story moves along at a decent pace, and readers should find themselves rooting for Hal and his Brotherband. We see new facets of Erak, the Oberjarl, which serves to round out the character from his appearances in the Ranger's Apprentice books. It is the fisst in the series of Britherband books.Readers should be aware, though, that the Author tends to have major story arcs that can span two or more books in a series. It is a continuing source of annoyance to me that the publisher insists that the books can be read in any order. This is patently untrue. Stick to the publication order.Recommended.

This book is a sort of continuation to the Ranger's Apprentice. The Apprentice as done all his training and as now moved on. The story is about a group of friends who are oddball in character which gives the strengths of the group. The adventure begins after they have finished the training and they are given the honour of guarding Scandias greatest treasure and they allow it to be stolen. So to save thier honour they set off to recover the treasure, and the actual story begins. In my opinion after reading this first book I am expecting it to be as good as the Rangers Apprentice series of books.

this is a great book and the best in the brotherband series. the charactors are well described and the plot is amazing. i would recomend it for any confident reader. it uses quite a bit of complex sailing terms so read the part explaning it if your not sure other wise you will get confused.