By John Flanagan

If you enjoyed Ranger’s Apprentice, then you will definitely, absolutely, completely enjoy Brotherband. If you enjoyed the Skandians, you will like this book. Any Erak fans? You will like this book.

This is the story of a group of Skandian boys who are all enter the training required to become warriors. They spend several months in groups, or brotherbands, that will, upon graduation, become crews of wolfships. Unfortunately, Hal, the main character, is not well liked by the majority of the other boys who are about to enter training. He, along with a few others, are outcasts.

For Hal, this is mostly because of his family. His mother was a former Araluen slave, who was freed by his father, a Skandian. But his father died on a raid, leaving Hal and his mother behind. Eventually, one of Mikhil’s (Hal’s father’s) shipmates, Thorn, comes to help Hal and his mother, Karina.

Anyway, backstory aside, Hal and the rest of the outcasts, after being rejected by the rest of the boys, form their own brotherband. And then they set out to win the brotherband contest and become the best group of warriors. They face many difficult challenges, but with the help of Thorn, and having the benefit of having an creative young skirl (captain), they may yet succeed.

This book is actually amazing. If you like competition/training books that aren’t to complex or long-winded, this is the one for you. And if you even kind of liked Ranger’s Apprentice, you have to read this one. And you won’t regret it, because it is a long series as well! Definitely read it after Ranger’s Apprentice, through.

Also I just learned that John Flanagan died so now I’m really sad. 😢

General Stats:

• Genre: Fantasy
• Book 1 of 9
• Age: 5th grade and above
• My rating: ★★★★★