Anant’s Reviews > The Outcasts > Status Update

Hal is now an outsider because everyone in the whole country of Skandia will remember him for one thing, letting people take their prized possesion, the Andomal.

Hal is inventive for many reasons. Firstly, Hal invented a new type of Skandian boat that is very efficient and goes faster than all the other boats. Secondly, Hal invented a new hand, that was like a prosthetic for Thorn, the invention worked very well. Lastly, in the beginning of the book, Hal tried to make his mom's work easier by designing a water system so his mom wouldn't have to go out to the well for water.

Hal changed throughout this part in the story when Erak told Hal that Thorn used to be the Matkig for 3 years, Hal started to respect Thorn much more, I noticed it in his way of talking and his actions.

The events that led up to Tursgud and Hal fighting included that Thorn taught Hal to fight, so Hal was eager to show Tursgud, also, the bad blood between Hal and Tursgud had a big effect. Lastly, Hal cheating in the event led to this.

From previous reading, this book reminds me of the Ranger's Apprentice series because Hal invented this new boat with a triangular sail, this connects with the book, The Emperor of Nihon-Ja because, Halt, Will, Evanlyn, and Selethen arrived at Nihon-Ja very quickly in a boat that was based on Hal's design, even Erak said that this ship was so fast because of this Skandian-Araluen boy. So, these two books connect.

Hal reminds me of Will for several reasons. First of all, Hal is quite clever because he managed to win the contest against Tursgud's group, Hal got a whistle and distracted the other team to win. Will is also clever because he always finds ways to ambush the enemy, and comes up with these ingenious ideas.

When Wolfwin emerges from the sea, it reminds me of when Will got captured by the skandians and had to be a slave. This reminds me of that because Will was captured on Wolfwind, and was brought to Skandia with Evanlyn. This was a really tragic moment in Will's life because he nearly died as a slave because he was addicted to warmweed, and the Skandians didn't do anything about it.