Life has its way of throwing punches, many of which are unevenly doled out. Hal, the son of a former Araluen slave and a Skandian who freed her, is seen as not fully Skandian and, therefore, not fully worthy of respect. To add to it, Hal's father died when he was young and he has been raised by his mother with the help of the town drunk. Hal is becoming of age to enter Brotherband training and endures the taunts from a local bully and others and is not selected into a Brotherband. He, and other misfits, are assigned to their own Brotherband and are grossly unevenly matched. John Flanagan appeals to our human nature as he shares the stories of these outsiders and conveys how they represent all that is good and moral in life. The story is full of adventure and humanity and will leave reader's craving more when the last page is turned.

This is a must purchase for any librarian who has supplied throngs of students desperately waiting for each of the titles in the Ranger's Apprentice series. John Flanagan explains in this video how The Brotherband Chronicles uses characters and settings readers of The Ranger's Apprentice will be familiar with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOlbU...

I, however, chose to start with The Brotherband and love it without having read the previous series. This was a title that I purchased in audio format and the narrator was superb - not overly dramatic or difficult to understand given his accent.