The Outcasts

The Brotherband Chronicles, Book 1

By: John Flanagan

Narrated by: John Keating

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

In Skandia, there is only one way to become a warrior. Boys are chosen for teams called brotherbands and must endure three months of gruelling training in seamanship, weapons and battle tactics. It's brotherband against brotherband, fighting it out in a series of challenges. There can be only one winner. When Hal Mikkelson finds himself the unwilling leader of a brotherband made up of outcasts, he must step up to the challenge. The Heron brotherband might not have the strength and numbers of the other two teams, but with inventiveness, ingenuity and courage on their side, they might just surprise everyone.

©2011 John Flanagan (P)2012 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic Reviews

"Having sold millions of his Ranger's Apprentice books all over the world, John Flanagan now has a new series on offer and it is just as swashbuckling and adventurous as his last. Brotherband is set in Skandia - a cold, Viking-inspired country that many of his Rangers' fans know well, but this time with new characters who are just as intriguing." (Deborah Abela, ABC Radio Canberra Drive Show with Louise Maher)

"Ranger fans will lap up this series. There are similarities between Will and Halt relationship and Hal’s connection with his mentor Thorn. No one does adventure like Flanagan, the non-stop action and tension of Brotherband will leave readers wanting more." ( Buzz Word Books)

Could've used a younger narraror

I've read this book physically and decided to listen to it now, the narrator could've been Hal's age and then set a deeper tone for the older characters rather than the other way around but overall not a bad listen, definently recommend especially if you like the rangers series.

An excellent adventure

Hal and his Heron Brotherband are trainee Skandian warriors, together they learn to work as a team to win the right to be the honour guard for the Andomal, a precious treasure that is venerated by the Skandians. It is an excellent adventure story for young readers. John Keating gives a pretty good performance of the book. John Flanagan is the author of the highly popular series Ranger's Apprentice. The Brotherband Chronicles is the follow on series focusing mostly on Skandians and not Araluen as in Ranger' s Apprentice.

Good story, not sure about the performance.

Having listened to The Rangers Apprentice series read buy William Zappa I had high expectations. I was used to John Keating around the half way point but I never quite got into it.
little things like pronouncing the Oberjarls name "Ah-rak" as opposed to "Eh-rak" in the way i got used to in Zappa's RA readings.
it's mostly a preference thing I guess. for me, good story, slightly distracting performance.

Terribly read.

Extremely disappointed with the reading of this book. someone teach this dude how to read in sentences 🤦🏻‍♀️

Narrator to narrator

Listening to a narrator that has a different voice for each character, changes voices depending on the scene being described etc… is hard to jump to a narrator that is just reading the words right upside down as they are written, you lose a lot of the immersion that way…
Other than that I love this series, but better read them yourself or find a different narrator…

The narration left me cold.

The children and I were huge fans of The Ranger's Apprentice series. We loved William Zappa's lively narration. Unfortunately, this narrator bored me to tears. He gives no indication that he appreciated the sentence structure or story line by his tone and pace. Yawn! That will teach me to forget to listen to a sample.....

Great story shame about the narration

the Narration is just not a fluid or as engaging as the previous Rangers Apprentice

first book in brotherband saga is amazing

john flanagan maintains a funny and exciting journey in the mediaval world full of rangers and misting creatures.