The Outcasts

"this is easily one of the best middle grade books I've read in years<br/><br/>characters/flaws/relationships are just so well fleshed out and REAL.<br/><br/>only problem is that it doesn't pass the bechdel test, but I'll give it a chance to do that in the future. get me some stowaway girls posing as cabin boys rn PLEASE"

"<b>3.4 stars</b><br/><br/>It was okay. The thing is, it feels like Ranger's Apprentice fanfiction. Some authors can use the same formula for every book they write and it works. But this time, I just kept thinking how similar everyone is to the RA characters. I kept thinking about when this took place in relation to RA (I found out yesterday. This is two years prior to book #10). I’ll be comparing to this to RA. Probably not the best idea since I should be judging this for what it is. But I can’t really do that. There are so many similarities! So mild spoiler alert for Ranger’s Apprentice too.<br/><br/><spoiler><br/>Our main character whose father died a hero is especially good at something but not respected. His best friend is a bit intimidating but caring under his tough shell. The main character has a mentor who started out as a loner who everyone was weirded out by. He moves around unnoticed sometimes, making hardly any noise. The mentor lives with and either takes care of or looks after the main character. He seemed like a curmudgeon but really just needs the main character to bring some light into his life. Is this the plot of Ranger's Apprentice or Ranger's Apprentice with a new coat of paint...and ships…and pirates (aka Brotherband)? I don’t think Flanagan really knows how to write different character types for the main cast.<br/><br/>Even though they’re similar, I don't feel very connected to the characters or the story. Everything involving ships wasn't that interesting to me, but Hal's new sail was kinda cool. I remember reading <i>Emperor of Nihon-Ja</i> and thinking "How come we've never heard of this half Skandian/half Araluen? This sail design is intriguing. I'd like to learn more please." And here I am! Reviewing a book about that very half Skandian/half Araluen!<br/><br/><b>Hal</b><br/>I like how his mother is from Araluen but his father was a Skandian war hero. That adds something to the story, in my opinion. I understand why he wants to be and do all the things he is/does in this book. He wants to prove himself and doesn’t like being an outcast. Other than that, this kid is basically Will. He does seem to be smarter than Will in <i>Ruins of Gorlan</i>, though. Hal knows what to do and how to handle things very well. But since that’s the case I can’t see him progressing as a person. He’s already pretty well-rounded. He’ll get better skill-wise, but I can’t see much improvement from him. Is that a bad thing? No. It’s not. At least he won’t annoy me with his decisions in the future!<br/><br/><b>Stig</b><br/>And this guy is basically Horace! He’s a tough but secretly sweet (y’know, that cliché character) and he became friends with the main character after being saved by him, whether it involved mother nature or bullies. (BTW when they were on that scavenger hunt thing at the end, I thought the place where liars fish was where Stig and Hal met…I guess not. But that would’ve been cool.) The only thing I can think of that’s different than Horace is Stig’s temper. He doesn’t have that much else to him than that. His mom cleans clothes for a living, so I guess that’s different. But Horace didn’t even have a mother, so...<br/><br/><b>Wulf and Ulf</b><br/>I smiled the first time they bickered. It got old. I hope they don’t fight that much in future books. I liked them better when they were sticking up for each other. When they yell at each other, both saying the other has something they want when they could just switch, it’s kinda stupid. And did the others really think they wouldn’t put the wope on the other’s wist? It’s the twins switching places trope again! They had this in Ranger’s, but it was cooler when they did it.<br/><br/><b>Ingvar</b><br/>He’s kind of like Horace in the sense that he’s a big guy, but other than that he seems like a new character. I liked him because he appeared to be one of the nicer members of the brotherband. It was cool how he came up with their name. I also sympathize for him because he can’t see well. I understand how that can be an issue considering what he wants to do, but do you have to mention his poor eyesight so often? We get it!<br/><br/><b>Edvin</b><br/>I don’t think he did a lot. He was introduced to be very forgettable but smart (I think), and yeah, that’s true. I don’t remember him having a big role other than him mentioning stuff about the challenges a couple times. I don’t know him very well and I hope he’s used more in the future.<br/><br/><b>Jesper</b><br/>I like Jesper alright. He seems very skilled and the thief thing did come in handy. I have nothing else to say, really. That’s it.<br/><br/><b>Stefan</b><br/>I was looking forward to him when he was introduced! He sounded funny and helpful. He did have a shining moment during one of the challenges when he was imitating people. That was my favorite chapter in the book. But other than that he didn’t do a lot. I wouldn’t want his talent to get overused, that would make it boring. But by the end of the book, I was still forgetting his name along with three other members of the brotherband.<br/><br/><u>SIDE CHARACTERS</u><br/>I imagine <b>Tursgud</b> is the evil Horace that Flanagan never got to write. When he was telling his son the Ranger’s Apprentice stories, he made Horace the antagonist but decided to change that for the books. Tursgud is basically bully Horace in book 1. (Except Horace never had a “stay away from my girl” moment with Will.)<br/><br/>I like <b>Roland</b>. More of him! Please, anything but whiny Tursgud with his “My daddy’s the Maktig!” I hope Roland’s around longer. He kinda disappeared at the end after wrecking his ship. What happened there? It was too damaged so they were disqualified? IDK<br/><br/><b>Thorn</b> is Halt if Halt lost a limb and was a drunk at some point. The part of him that’s a recovering alcoholic is new, but he has the same kind of relationships and characteristics. He was saved by the main character’s father in battle and promised to take care of the said main character. He moves quickly and quietly without people noticing. He teaches the main character (But Halt would never advise punching. It’s an excuse to break your fingers). He’s secretly the best of the best but doesn’t talk about it. Yeah. Halt. <br/>Couldn’t he have dealt with losing his arm, though? It’s sweet that Hal made him a new arm, but if he’s such a tough guy I wanna see him grow and learn from this. He was the Maktig three years in a row! Whenever a character loses a limb or something important, a lot of the time it’s fixed and they don’t have to deal with it.<br/><br/><b>Hal’s mom</b> seems nice. I feel bad for her since her son has run off with his friends to fix his mistakes. Seriously, all these boys just leave their families! I get they’d be shunned for the rest of their lives and they need the Andomal, but that’s sad. <br/><br/><b>Sigurd</b> confuses me. Sometimes he’s tough, specifically mean to the Herons, and (admittedly) fair but sometimes he helps them. Why? I don’t get you, man. Mood swings, over here.<br/><br/><br/>All in all, the characters were fine. They all had kinda the same voice so it was hard to distinguish between them sometimes. They were good but nothing spectacular I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. I did enjoy the teamwork aspect to this book, though it didn't happen as often as I'd like. But I do prefer one on one bonding to a group. With a group, it’s harder to get to know everyone and bond. With one on one, like in Ranger’s, you can see how close they are to each other.<br/><br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/><u>STORY</u><br/>The Andomal came out of nowhere. And when it and the pirates, who also came out of nowhere, were mentioned, I knew exactly what was going to happen. The whole book was kind of predictable aside from some of the challenges. That being said, the chapter where the pirates showed up was awesome! “Finally!” I thought. “Some real action!” But then nothing happens the whole book. The pirates are shooed away and we just know they took the Andomal. Anticlimactic, but okay. <br/><br/>Many have already said this, but the “love interests” were really shoehorned into this book. I would’ve been fine with an all male cast aside from a few moms. But no, these girls (who are bland versions of Evanlyn and Alyss) show up for two pages, one of them makes out with Hal at the end because when you win something girls have to kiss you, and that’s it. I was just sort of told they like each other and they’re close. I didn’t feel any of that. I didn’t really care like I cared about Alyss or Cassandra.<br/><br/>Flanagan isn’t that good at writing romance. I feel like these girls in <i>Outcasts</i> are just there because. I don’t see them moving the story along or anything. But who knows. I might write more about this on Dork Talk with Izzie. Or not. Truth is, I’m not all that excited about this one. After I finished it, it took me a while to be like, “Yeah, I guess I’ll write a review.” And I have way too many thoughts about this, so I’ll stop here.<br/></spoiler><br/><br/>This book was kind of slow. It was an introduction. You can tell this was the first book. It had “action”. If you’re a RA fan, you might like this.<br/>"

"A good change of pace from the Ranger's Apprentice series; less about wars and conflict, more about friendship and competition. Loved it."