By John Flanagan
Hal and his fellow Herons have returned home to Skandia
after defeating the pirate captain Zavac and reclaiming Skandia’s most prized
artifact, the Andomal. With their honor restored, the Herons turn to a new
mission: tracking down an old rival turned bitter enemy. Tursgud—leader of the
Shark Brotherband and Hal’s constant opponent—has turned from a bullying youth
into a pirate and slave trader. After Tursgud captures twelve ARaluen villagers
to sell as slaves, the Heron crew sails into action…with the help of one of
Araluen’s finest Rangers!
Brotherband has been a fun read from John Flanagan, but it
hasn’t gotten up to par with Ranger’s Apprentice for me…until this book. I
loved this installment. Maybe it was just that in the previous 3 books I didn’t
like the antagonist Zavac. But this just had more of the tone and pacing that I
came to expect from Rangers Apprentice. Perhaps it also was the fact that I was
familiar with the characters and Flanagan was able to pull more out of them
because they were well established. Or maybe it was the fact that Gilan was a consistent
character! Yay! When worlds collide eh? Loved seeing a familiar face (so to
speak) and it was fun to see Gilan in a more prominent role than in Rangers. He
was more of a secondary character and having him as the sole Ranger in this
trip was great. I enjoyed the plot as well, saving the slaves from Araluen and
having to play cloak and dagger with Hal and the Herons. This was a fantastic
addition to the Brotherband series, the best so far, and I can’t wait to read
the next book and see some more familiar faces!
I give it a 4 out of 5.
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