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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Reread for maybe the 5th time.
Rating: 4.5/5
Pages:
Started:
Finished:
Summary:
The Heron Brotherband knows it's their fault that their country's prized treasure, the Andomal, was stolen by the pirate Zavac, and that their only choice is to leave home and win it back. Accompanied by Hal's mentor, Thorn, the boys board their ship and embark on a journey to regain their honor. When they discover that Zavac has overtaken a small coastal town, the Herons work with the surviving villagers to capture back the town, making new friendships and meeting surprising allies on the way.
Thoughts:
I love this book with all my heart. The competency and reasonableness of all the characters is unbelievably comforting. Flanagan wrote this with a very specific purpose and feel in mind, and although they are not the most technically complex, they are honestly quite well done for their purpose. Each situation is set up and foreshadowed in a way where mistakes are only made once and despite the details that Hal often famously forgets, plans rarely have bad results.
This series overall does a little better on the diversity front than the Ranger's Apprentice series, though not by a ton. I appreciate that Lydia is a capable character, and it's good that Hal lets her do what she wants rather than coddling her like the female characters in RA are coddled, but there is still an underlying patriarchal feel to the male-female dichotomy that's undeniably frustrating.
While I'm not going to march through the rest of this series, I do want to keep slowly reading it whenever I need its calm comfort, and I'm excited to start the next book when get the chance.