My second time reading this book was AMAZING. To be quite honest, I had forgotten most of what happened (I really only remembered the parts pertinent to the continuation of the series) but I was not disappointed by my recent reread. Hal and the rest of the Herons are journeying to redeem themselves after losing Skandia's prized possession after being entrusted with its care. Along the way, they are forced to continue to grow and develop as a functioning brotherband that is able to take on targets much bigger and scarier than them. All the characters continue to be present, with none of them fading to the background despite more and more falling on the shoulders of their young skirl and his trusted mentor Thorn. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has started this series because once begun, this adventure cannot be put down.

Review contains spoilers from the first book in the series The crew from the Heron have left Skandia to hunt down the pirates from the Raven and redeem themselves by stealing back the Andomal. The Brotherband chronicles is a fantastic new series by Flanagan where the characters and setting are different enough from Ranger's Apprentice that the series is fresh and new but the writing style and personalities are familiar and fans of one series with love the other too. The character of Hal really emerges as a true leader in this book and Thorn is the sage old warrior the boys need to learn from on their first true test.