‘Brotherband: The Outcasts’ by John Flanag

John Flanagan is an author well known to the teenage age group. His ‘Rangers Apprentice’ series being a favourite of many boys over the years and continuing to be so. ‘Brotherband: The Outcasts’ is the first in a new series that delves further into the world that he created in Rangers apprentice, introducing new characters, new surroundings and a new culture for his readers to experience.

The book itself is easy to read with a simple storyline based upon the ideals of friendship, persistence and individuality. The story is based in a country called Skandia, a carbon copy of the Viking era Scandinavia and follows the exploits of the slightly ostracised 16 year old Hal Mikkelson, along with his group of outcast friends as they compete in the yearly ‘brotherband’ competition. This competition is a mix of weapon, navigational and team training with a number of assessment tasks set throughout. Once completed the boys who passed will be considered men in their culture and have the right to join a raiding ship.

Right from the start of the book we are shown that Hal, along with his best friend Stig, are outcasts from their peers. Hal is often referred to in the book as a “dirty half-cast” due to his mixed heritage while Stig is mistrusted by everyone due to his father being a thief who was exiled from the village before Stig was born. Despite this the boys quickly form a strong bond when, along with a collection of other outcasts: a bookworm, a clumsy giant, twin troublemakers and the village clown, they are put together into a brotherband because no one else wants them.

The story itself is an adventure story that closely follows the steps set out by Warren (2000) when he described his hero’s journey. Hal and his crew of misfits come upon challenges one by one and overcome them with a mix of ingenuity, strength of character and sometimes pure dumb luck. With each challenge passed, the boys gain more confidence not only in themselves but their friends as well.

The book is aimed primarily at teenage boys with all the main characters being either boys in that age range or older men who act as role-models or guides (Warren, 2000). John Flanagan has tried to create a group of characters that boys can look at and see themselves in. He raises the ideals of friendship, trust and persistence constantly throughout the book while also subtly attacking the idea of a single person being better than everyone else. The two main heroes of the book are Hal and Stig. Both are brave, smart and accepting of all comers, however both have serious faults as well. Hal is arrogant at times and often does not take advice well. Stig is easy to anger and is constantly goaded into fights by other boys. Despite this, both are good role models for our readers to aspire too as they “provide a rich arena for children to witness and experience the hero at his best and worst” (Humphrey, 2005).

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