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The Invaders (Brotherband Chronicles #2)

John Flanagan

4.4 · Rating details · 15,621 Ratings · 531 Reviews

The adventure continues in the Ranger's Apprentice companion trilogy!

Hal and the Herons have done the impossible. This group of outsiders has beaten out the strongest, most skilled young warriors in all of Skandia to win the Brotherband competition. But their celebration comes to an abrupt end when the Skandians' most sacred artifact, the Andomal, is stolen--and the Herons ...more

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Hardcover, 429 pages

Published May 1st 2012 by Philomel Books (first published 2012)

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Sep 10, 2012 Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fantasy-sci-fi-challenge, favourite-series, humorous, children-s-literature, new-ya-books-challenge, australian

As a YA novel The Invaders is intelligent, entertaining and top of its class. As a novel to recommend for anyone looking for a purely entertaining read it's very worthwhile. John Flanagan, author of the brilliant Rangers Apprentice series (see The Ruins of Gorlan one which both I, my mother and my sister - the readers in our house - love) continues the adventures of his young Skandian sailors as they set out to retrieve an artefact lost on their watch and hence their honour.

John Flanagan writes
As a YA novel The Invaders is intelligent, entertaining and top of its class. As a novel to recommend for anyone looking for a purely entertaining read it's very worthwhile. John Flanagan, author of the brilliant Rangers Apprentice series (see The Ruins of Gorlan one which both I, my mother and my sister - the readers in our house - love) continues the adventures of his young Skandian sailors as they set out to retrieve an artefact lost on their watch and hence their honour.

John Flanagan writes in a manner that is particularly appealing to me personally. I think it has something to do with the mixture of classier words and terms and his easy-going style: he certainly has got the laid-back Australian manner down in his writing. I suspect if I were to compare this to other average YA novels however that the lexicon would prove more advanced, that the language would prove more sophisticated in its elegant construction than those. In fact the wonder of this novel is that I know many younger children who can read these novels and still get plenty out of them. It's remarkable to think that the language in this is perhaps far more advanced than The Hunger Games. Likely only content at this point would separate a ten year old from reading The Hunger Games over this for its simplicity. Although that said The Invaders does feature pirates torturing a captive (although only the after effects are described) and far more deaths than The Hunger Games. Although of course the difference is that in this all the deaths are typically villainous pirates who deserve to die for their evil misdeeds.

On the whole this is a YA novel that appears unassuming but is a very entertaining read. In fact I'd rate John Flanagan's entire writing collection (Rangers Apprentice and Brotherband series combined) as some of the finest in YA and modern children's writing in general. If you have ten year-olds to 18 year-olds (particularly boys, but my sister proves that girls will like these) who are looking for a fun fantasy read that's humorous, less taxing than The Hobbit but in the same spirit of medieval style adventure then have a look at these books. ...more

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May 23, 2012 Melissa rated it liked it

John Flanagan is a great author, but this book was SO weighed down with detail that I wanted to pull my hair out by the end. All of the nautical references and tidbits about how they turned the boat or changed the sails just annoyed me. Pages and pages of this stuff and I STILL didn't know what he was talking about! Perhaps it's just me. I've never been on any kind of sailboat and so I have nothing to reference it to. Thus, it becomes mumbo-jumbo to my brain.

I really loved the characters in the ...more

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Dec 13, 2013 colleen the convivial curmudgeon rated it liked it

Shelves: action-adventure, middle-grade

3.5

Picking up immediately from the end of the first book, with the Herons in search of the Andomal, the beginning of the story was actually a bit slow to get started. See, they end up getting caught heading out during a bad time of year, and have to hole up for awhile to avoid the storms and while there's some character development happening and improvements to the ship, not much happened that felt like it was moving the story forward.

This take a marked turn, though, when the crew of the Heron r ...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Winona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book keeps you guessing in classic John Flanagan fashion. I can never say anything bad about these books because it is just so well written. I feel like i've been to Limmat, watched as the fire bolts were shot, seen the friendships develop, experienced life on the Heron and I'm very in love with Hals character. (Although Will will be foremost in my heart.)

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Mar 30, 2017 Ettelwen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Návrat do tohoto světa byl opravdu příjemný. Začátek byl sice trochu pomalejší a Hraničářův učeň je Hraničářův učeň, ale i tak se jedná o první velké, skvělé dobrodružství posádky Volavky.

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Mar 19, 2012 Hazel West rated it really liked it

Shelves: brothers-in-arms-books, great-summer-reads, favorites

I'm not sure I liked this one better than the first book in the series, but it was still good. It was a little more slow-paced than I thought it would be, but it is actually kind of an in-between book with another cliff-hanger at the end. The slow parts in the beginning don't really take away from the story either, they just lend to strengthening the camaraderie between the Herons and it was fun to watch Thorn train them. I'm still not quite sure what I think about Lydia. I almost felt that she ...more

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May 22, 2017 Christine rated it really liked it

Yes, it really took us almost 6 months to get through this book. We just weren't listening in the car for a while. I still don't like these as much as Ranger's Apprentice, but the action is picking up.

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Jan 12, 2017 Annemieke rated it liked it

Acht onervaren jongens en een ouwe zeerot gaan met hun schip op piratenjacht. Het verhaal leest vlot en is best aardig, maar haalt het wat mij betreft echt niet bij De Grijze Jager-boeken. Vooral Trek mis ik heel erg... :-(

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Jul 04, 2017 Elaine rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grade-books

This was a solid sequel to "The Outcasts." The Herons are on their own now (with Thorn), and I loved seeing how they worked together as a team, anticipating Hal's commands and everyone willing to step in and do their part and cover whatever needs come around. Hal has some brilliant ideas to give them the upper hand in their battle.

The addition of Lydia was nice, she seems interesting enough (very much like Cassandra/Evanlyn-beautiful yet independent and courageous, and also skilled and resource ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Asami Uchiha rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 01-january

Although 'The Invaders' had a slower pace than the first book, the character development which takes place throughout the book makes up for it. Again I enjoyed reading about the dynamics between the Herons, and their interactions with the newly introduced characters.

A great in-between book and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of their first big adventure in the next book.

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Feb 28, 2017 Elijah Roma rated it it was amazing

The 2nd book in the series and arguably the most enjoyable (to me). (spoiler) After fearing banishment from their homeland, the brotherband crew sets of to survive by themselves to return what was lost. Now that the introduction has ended, we face the real goals and plot of the rest of the series. The book does a fine job visualizing what's happening on the island, and makes you feel involved in the planning and staging. Multiple new characters and introduced and we get nice previews of the char ...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Book one ends with Hal and his crew of sailors fleeing in disgrace from the city they grew up in order to retrieve the Andromal, the sacred artifact of the Skandians, that was stolen by pirates when Hal's crew was supposedly guarding it (they fell asleep). Hal knows that they will be pursued and dragged back home to be punished for leaving the city. They flee under cover of a storm and find a sheltered inlet where Thorn, an adult Skandian warrior who came with on the crew, begins training them o Book one ends with Hal and his crew of sailors fleeing in disgrace from the city they grew up in order to retrieve the Andromal, the sacred artifact of the Skandians, that was stolen by pirates when Hal's crew was supposedly guarding it (they fell asleep). Hal knows that they will be pursued and dragged back home to be punished for leaving the city. They flee under cover of a storm and find a sheltered inlet where Thorn, an adult Skandian warrior who came with on the crew, begins training them on how to fight like warriors. The young boys are no match for pirates and the training is intense. When they discover a girl, Lydia, in a boat adrift at sea they find out that the pirates they are seeking have taken over her town and are pillaging it of emeralds found in a nearby mine. Hal must put together a plan to defeat the pirates and give the town back to the villagers.

Flanagan loves weapons and shines when describing the use and function of them. Hal invents a crossbow that he mounts on his sailing ship, as well as, a way for his sailing ship to go faster in the water. Lydia is an expert using a dart throwing weapon called an atlatl. Flanagan's writing reminds me of nonfiction texts at times. He's good at descriptions, setting and action; less good with interesting word choices and internal character development. He has his usual humor and banter but I didn't think it worked quite as well in this story because it was between adults and boys. Usually he has the banter between adults and if it's with the boys they don't get it half the time and that makes it funnier.

The characters are distinct and have flaws although Hal doesn't really change much from the beginning to the end of the story. Thorn actually changes more becoming the warrior he once was and finding a purpose in his life. Ingvar is interesting as well. His eyesight is so bad that he is almost blind and Thorn teaches him to fight by feel not sight.

Lydia uses darts for a weapon because the crossbows are difficult for women to master since the physical strength necessary to pull them back is lacking in most females. Flanagan is an archer and I like that he is realistic on this point. While I read and see movies where women will perform impossible physical feats and I usually just go with it; it was refreshing to have this aspect presented realistically. That's why I raised my eyebrows when Lydia hits the oil sack on a moving boat with no practice. Would she be able to do that? Also, I found it unbelievable that the adults wouldn't give input into the strategy for attacking the village against the pirates. Hal does all the planning and the adult warriors don't really add anything to it. I would have thought it would be a group effort, not just the one brilliant young kid in the form of Hal, coming up with the entire scheme.

There is plenty of action and violence. They are at war so there is some torture and deaths. The details are not graphic but there are quite a few deaths. An entertaining read.

Reading Level 5.8 ...more

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May 08, 2012 Clare Cannon rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: 8-14 years (boys)

Shelves: 08-12yrs, 13-15yrs, favorites

Impressive. Flanagan has a talent for turning sequels into great stories in their own right, and The Invaders doesn't disappoint. In fact, the character development, friendships, battle strategies and action scenes are almost better than the first book in this series.

Though written in the third person, the story has the tone of an older person laughingly retelling the adventures of young friends, perhaps someone like Thorn, appreciating their bravery and daring, and not esteeming them less for ...more

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May 14, 2016 Emma T. Clement rated it really liked it

I had a problem with the first book in this series, which was the lack of female characters in the story. Thankfully, Flanagan fixed that(ish) in this one! For the first 166 pages, there was not a single female character (not even a minor one). That was seriously lacking and disappointing. However, a badass female character (that is not a minor one), who challenges gender roles, is introduced in this novel! She is still the only female character who has a part in this story (I think the only oth ...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Nicolas rated it it was amazing

The Invaders, written by John Flanagan, is the second in the Brotherband Chronicles, a series I would recommend to both casual readers and those who truly want a story to sink their teeth in. I highly recommend it to any who have read the Ranger's Apprentice series or the first in the Brotherband Chronicles. I loved this story, taking a take on fantasy without magic and with themes more akin to medieval times, this book is a nice refresher and great for a change in pace for all fantasy book love ...more

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May 04, 2012 Rhonda rated it it was amazing

5 STARS
I really enjoy John's books. They are hard to put down
till your finshed. I got the book in the mail yesterday
and stayed up till 2:00 am.
This is book 2 and starts just a few days after book 1 ended
The Herons Brotherband are racing to find the Zavac
the pirates that had stolen the Andomal and brought
thier disgrace.
They are also fleeing from Erak the Oberjarl of Skandia's
who had given them orders to turn all their weapons and
even the Heron's ship. But they sneaked away and
plan to get the a ...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Skip rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Hal and his rogue gang from the Heron brotherband, assisted by Thorn, set off on Hal's boat to recover the Skandian's treasured Andomal from the pirate Zavac, which was stolen due to Hal's mistake. Zavac and his crew on the Raven capture a ship and torture the captain to reveal that a port town (Limmat) has an emerald mine. Capturing the city by subterfuge, a few locals escape to the marsh, including the beautiful, resourceful Lydia, who is rescued by Hal and his crew. The oberjarl sends off a t ...more

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May 28, 2012 Kristen rated it liked it

Shelves: action, fantasy, middle-grade

This action-packed fantasy novel about a young group of shipmates who are out to recover a stolen artifact will probably sit well with young fans of Flanagan, since it has all the major ingredients still intact: a squeaky clean action/adventure fantasy story with no magic, just set in a different world. I found myself not enjoying it nearly as much as I did the first book in the series, though - maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, since I noticed a lot of writing that felt clunky, and a lot of te ...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Heather rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, school-books-kid-books, teen-lit-and-i-love-it

This loses one star for the violence, which isn't awful, but my 11-yr-old felt it needed to go down because of it. In fact, said 11-yr-old and I were fighting over this book the entire time. We even resorted to hiding it from each other. He took it to bed a couple of times to read under the blankets with a flashlight and I'd have to go in there and "confiscate" it...you know, because he's not supposed to stay up late....not because I wanted to read it.

Another great installment. This series is a ...more

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Aug 24, 2014 Carson Ellsaesser rated it really liked it

Another yet amazing book in the already thrilling Brotherband Chronicles. For those of you who don't know it is like the brother series to Rangers Apprentice which is also very good and I would suggest it for anyone that likes action thrill and romance. To get back on topic the invaders was very good, new characters were added, and crazy folds in the plot happened. For me there was never a dull moment in this book and I didn't set it down until I was done.

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Feb 19, 2015 Tom rated it it was amazing

THIS BOOK WAS SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!! I personally love all of John Flanagan's books, and this did not disappoint me. If it weren't for other activities, I would have finished it one sitting (I still finished it in one day). I especially liked the action and suspense, as well as the personalities. All the characters had a mind of their own, and they all worked well together.
I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you like John Flanagan's books.

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Jan 15, 2014 Christian rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure

This is the tale of group of boys from a country called Skandia who are hunting a pirate to get back the treasure of their town, the Andomal. The pirates flee to a town called Limmat, and the with the help of the local townspeople, and their own countrymen, they try to rid the town of pirates.

I liked this book because it has adventure and action.

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Jan 25, 2012 Luann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, adventure, childrens, 2012, historical-fiction, fantasy

John Flanagan draws me in with his great characters. He keeps me hooked with great action and a need to find out what happens! He has a habit of leaving things unresolved for another book, but somehow I always forgive him for it. He makes the wait worthwhile. I am enjoying Brotherband Chronicles almost as much as Ranger's Apprentice. Highly recommended!

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Dec 04, 2015 Jenna rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 22, 2015 Emily Call rated it it was amazing

Classic Flanagan. Great detail without being tedious. I actually like this series better then Rangers Apprentice but that might be due to my great love of Nordic history (you know Skandians are based on Vikings, admit it ;)

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Jan 27, 2013 Liam rated it it was ok

This was a great thinking book. My mind wandered so much-- it was such a productive time. Unfortunately, that doesn't say much for the book itself.

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Jan 11, 2015 Lee Ann rated it it was amazing

Flanagan writes wonderful YA coming of age adventures.

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Jan 12, 2016 Dylan Q. rated it it was amazing

So good I read it is second time within 5 days!!

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Jul 15, 2015 Thomas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book followed on from the last book really well and was full of even more adventures than the last. Im looking for ward to the next one in the series.

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Apr 14, 2015 Liann rated it it was amazing

Okay, I was dubious about this book at first... But it's actually really good!

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About John Flanagan

John Flanagan

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

For mysteries by this same author, see John A. Flanagan.

John Flanagan grew up in Sydney, Australia, hoping to be a writer. It wasn't until he wrote a highly uncomplimentary poem about a senior executive at the agency where he worked, however, that his talent was revealed. It ...more

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