Book Review: The Brotherband Chronicles: The Ghostfaces by John Flanagan

Spoilers for the Brotherband Chronicles series!!!

To start this off, I am a huge fan of John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series. I've read them all multiple times, and I love them more and more every time. The characters are fantastic, the stories action-packed, and it's a reader's paradise.
Now, the Brotherband Chronicles unfortunately don't live up to my expectations. As a whole, the series seems like it's a carbon copy of the Ranger's Apprentice, and certainly not as good. Some of the characters are practically identical to Ranger's Apprentice characters. Hal, the main character of the Brotherband, is a more boring version of Will Treaty, the main character of the Ranger's Apprentice. Thorn is identical to Halt--he even uses phrases that Halt used all the time and his eyebrow raise, which was always attributed to Halt--and Hal's first mate Stig is a less-entertaining version of Will's best friend Horace.
I love John Flanagan's writing, but one thing I'm not too fond of is how he writes his young female characters. They are identical in every way--spoiled, sarcastic, and irritating. In the Ranger's Apprentice, it's the princess, Evanlyn, and Will's girlfriend Alyss. In the Brotherband Chronicles, it's Lydia.
Now on to the Ghostfaces. Hal and his crew decide to sail into a storm to get home, so they won't have to be bored waiting at a harbor in Hibernia. Yes. They decide to sail into a storm so they won't get bored. Smart.
Unsurprisingly, when they sail into the storm, they get lost and washed out to the Endless Ocean. Running out of water, Hal makes the decision to sail further into the Endless Ocean in the hopes that they find land. It's here that I must point out a plot flaw. On the wolfship, (the Brotherband's vessel) is Hal's dog Kloof. They've rationed their water to almost nothing, and I'm fairly certain a dog requires a lot of water to survive. More on this later.
They go deeper into the Endless Ocean and--huzzah!--find land. They all scramble off the boat, find water, drink, yay, they're alive. End of story, right? Yeah, no. Part two!
In part two we find out that Kloof is alive. My question is, did they share their precious water supply with the dog? Or is this just a plot hole John Flanagan decided to ignore, since he couldn't bear to leave the dog behind, but also didn't want to kill her?
So, they feel like they're being watched, Lydia and Thorn find evidence of a bear with a crippled paw, life goes on. They build a palisade to protect themselves and carry on with their lives.
Then one day the bear shows up and tries to attack two random children who appear outside the palisade. One of the crew, Jesper, whose character is lazy and complaining, decides he wants to be a hero and distracts the bear. This doesn't bother me, actually. I like progression of character.
The following scenes with the fight with the bear are well-written and exciting. Suffice to say, they killed the bear and saved the children, who disappeared after the fight.
In part three, the natives appear, led by their leader, announce themselves as the Mawagansett tribe and take the Skandians to a feast. At the feast, Stig falls in love with a beautiful maiden named Tecumsa and Thorn meets an old friend named Orvik.
The Mawagansett tribe and the Skandians dwell peacefully for a while as the Heron band prepares to go home to Skandia. All isn't peaceful though as Stig announces his intentions to remain behind when the others leave. He wants to marry Tecumsa and stay behind.
After Stig's announcement, the Ghostfaces finally appear, and they're coming right towards them to destroy their village and kill their men and take their women. When the Heron band agrees to help the Mawagansett tribe to fight the Ghostfaces, we move on to part four.
Part four deals with a lot of the preparations along with Hal's emotions that his best friend is planning to stay behind, which is actually the first time he ever shows much emotion at all. Then he goes back to emotionless Hal as he makes defenses and other such stuff for the Mawagansetts.
This is followed by the battle with the Ghostfaces, which, like all of John Flanagan's battle scenes, is well-written and exciting. It ends with a significantly more morose ending than most of his books, with both Orvik and Tecumsa dying.
Now, Tecumsa's death wasn't unexpected, but it was an anti-climactic death. She gets a tiny scratch with an axe on her head and dies from it. I would've preferred, frankly, if she'd died instantly instead of from this strange turn of events.
They have her funeral, they send off Orvik, and then the Skandians, with Stig, depart from the Mawagansetts and return home. Hal's mother talks Stig through the death, and the book ends.
All in all, there are some plot holes, a few boring characters, and an annoying one (Lydia.) but altogether it wasn't completely horrible. It doesn't stand muster beside the Ranger's Apprentice, but I'd give it a six out of five. Thanks for reading!

An Excerpt from One of My Novels

As promised, today I'm going to give an excerpt from one of my novels, Rachel Andric and The Story. Here's a little information about it.
The main character, a young woman named Rachel Andric, has guarded The Story her whole life. The Story contains every myth, legend, and tale ever spoken, and only the Guardians, the group assigned to protect it, are allowed to enter. When an intruder gets in on Rachel's watch, she pursues him into The Story and travels through fairy tales and myths to stop him from destroying it.
The genre is fantasy, and although I consider it to be Young Adult, I really think anyone can read it. It contains no sexual content or language, which I pride myself on.
Now, as promised, here's the first chapter of Rachel Andric and The Story...

             Chapter 1: The Intruder

In the Andric family manor’s library, Rachel was curled in an armchair reading. It was past midnight, but she hardly noticed. Living alone, she had taken to reading as her only source of entertainment. The flames from the fireplace gave her light to see by, and she stretched her toes forward, seeking their warmth.

            She looked up with a frown. Something felt off. It was as though a chill were running up and down her spine, and she couldn’t shrug it away. Laying her book aside, she slid her feet into her slippers and went out into the hallway.

            Rachel was about to tell herself she was being silly when a movement at the other end of the hall caught her eye. There was an open door, one that certainly shouldn’t have been open. She swallowed past a lump in her throat and approached the open door slowly.

            Something is wrong with The Story! Now she knew what that feeling bothering her was. But how is it possible? Only a Guardian can open that door! She ran towards the door, one of her slippers sliding off her foot as she hurried over the carpeted floor.

            She slid to a stop in front of the door, and composing herself, she walked inside to face the intruder in her home. A burly man stood by The Story book—Rachel’s legacy. She was horrified and frightened; how had he found her? The mansion’s location on a remote island was supposed to protect it!

            The light from the hall failed to illuminate the Story’s room, swathing the man’s features in darkness. “I was wondering when you’d come, little Guardian,” he said in gravelly and patronizing voice.

            Rachel crossed her arms, focusing on her irritation in an attempt to crowd out her fear. “I’m not ‘little’,” she protested. “I’m twenty years old!” How dare he make fun of me?

            The man snorted, and Rachel had to take a deep breath before plowing on, “Don’t touch that. You have no idea the powers you’re dealing with.” How could he understand? Nobody outside of the Guardians was supposed to know about The Story’s existence. If he got into the book that served as the gateway to The Story… disaster.

            “Every tale that has ever been told,” he mused. “All in this book. No, little girl, I understand completely. It is you and the Guardians who don’t. All this power, right at your fingertips, and you insist on protecting it.”

            Rachel stood frozen. “Please,” she begged, her voice trembling in spite of herself. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t! “You can’t understand—”

            “So you’ve already told me. Believe me, Andric, I understand more than you could possibly guess,” the man challenged her. “Follow me, and your lonely little world will never be the same again. You’ll learn secrets that have been kept from you. That is, if you’re not too scared.” Deliberately, he opened the book.

            That was too much. Rachel charged forward, but he was ready for her. He grabbed her wrist and held her away from the book, laughing all the while. “Who puts a girl in charge of something so important?” he asked. She struggled to free herself from his grasp, but he had a grip of steel. “Or is it that there are no other Andrics to do this job?”

            Rachel yelled in anger, slugging the man in the nose. She was gratified to feel it snap beneath the force of her blow. He tossed her aside with a snarl of pain, grasping the broken nose to stem the flow of blood. He swore at her, but she wasn’t interested in hearing what he thought of her. I have to get The Story away.

            Maybe it had never been removed from its pedestal before, but it would have to be now, for safety’s sake. Rachel pushed past the swearing intruder and reached for The Story.

            The man must have seen what she wanted. Just as her fingers closed around the book, he slammed something hard and heavy into the back of her head. She slumped forward, her hand still resting on the pages…

            And lost consciousness. 

Thanks for reading my first chapter! Interested in more Rachel Andric? I'll be putting this book up for Kindle Scout in January, and my blog will keep careful track of my progress. 

In my next blog, I will be reviewing The Brotherband Chronicles: The Ghostfaces by John Flanagan. See you then! 

 

Constructing My Story

There are multiple steps in constructing a good, cohesive book. The first step? Write the book. Yeah, I know, easier said than done. But there are many ways to write and finish a book. For those who can't seem to make time to sit down and write, set yourself a word goal for the day. Whether it's one thousand or one hundred words a day, make sure you sit down every day and reach it. Maybe that involves staying up past midnight, or waking up at the crack of dawn, but if you want to write and finish a book, that's what you're going to have to do. Make time.
There are also those who have such wonderful ideas in their heads and can't seem to get them down right on paper. Whatever comes out, just write it! This is only your first draft, after all, and the only person this has to make sense to is you. Just keep pounding out those ideas. Or, if writing a terrible first draft doesn't suit you, make a plan. Carry a journal and a pen with you everywhere, and when one of those wonderful ideas hits you, take out that journal and write it down. Even if it's in the middle of the grocery store. Or wherever you happen to be. Plan your novel before writing it with those ideas in your journal, but be warned--give yourself a certain amount of time for planning, or you'll spend the rest of your life planning it.
Now you've started your novel, and you're halfway done with it. Then you get stuck and bored with it. "Nobody is ever going to read this," you think, or, "Why am I even bothering?" Keep plowing through. Everyone has those doubts. Overcome them, and keep writing. You can take your book apart later. Right now, the most important thing is getting through your slump and getting it done. Or, if you can't overcome this hump, set it aside for a few days. But make sure that when you put it aside that you will come back to it, or the dust will settle over your poor story and it will remain unfinished for all eternity. And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?
Congratulations! You've finished your novel! Aren't you proud? Don't you just want to wave it to the world, show it to your family, send it in to publishers?
Don't.
This is only your first draft, after all. And unless you are really brave, you're in for a world of hurt, especially if your family is critical. There will be typos, there will be inconsistencies, and there will be pain. Put the book aside for a few months, maybe even write in another (that's what I do) while you let the rose-colored glasses slowly fade away.
Then comes my favorite (not) part; rewriting. Once you realize your book is not your baby and that it certainly isn't as good as you remember it being, it is time to rewrite the whole thing. In my case, I ripped it apart. I changed names, I took out parts, I changed the story, I even extended one part to just one whole book. Don't rush the rewrite. Take your time, really consider which parts you like and what you really don't like, and decide what might not be best. This is your book, after all, and you want it to be the best it can be.
The rewrite is done! We're good now, right? We can publish it!
Eh, no.
You've rewritten your book, torn it apart, changed everything (or maybe not much, depending on what you're like) and have a story that doesn't much resemble what it started out as. What you do now is edit it. Read through it again, looking for typos, grammar problems, and inconsistencies.  Then, when you've gone through it once, do it again, in a different format preferably. You can email it to yourself, or publish it to Kindle, buy it, and apply whatever edits you find while reading it in that format. (I'd recommend doing the Kindle option on your third edit.)
Now, you can edit until the cows come home, but I think there's such a thing as too much editing. I edited the Crown of Colnia: Rise of the Warlocks six times before I decided enough is enough and just went with it. Otherwise, you'll just keep editing it and not doing anything with it.
And that's about all the advice I can give you on constructing your book. Tune in to my blog tomorrow for an excerpt from one of my novels, Rachel Andric and The Story.

Who I am, and what this blog is.

My name is R.C. Fletcher, and as the title of this blog states, I am a teenage author/homeschooled high school student. I love nerdy things--Marvel, Doctor Who, Star Trek...I'm also a huge fairy tale fan, so Once Upon a Time is a given.
I suppose I should clarify I am not an officially published author; I'm a self-published author. I am the proud publisher of two Kindle eBooks and one paperback book. But hey--not too bad for a kid not out of high school, right?
I love writing. I discovered my love of writing when I was about eight years old and wrote a book about a millionaire named Ritchie Munnie. Don't worry, I won't bore you with the details of that particular story. But it did start me on my writing journey, so it wasn't all bad.
As I got older and started wanting to read what is referred to as the "young adult" genre, I discovered that almost every book written is entirely based around a romance. Now, don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales, and romance is good in the right context, but I don't really enjoy books that are all about it. That was when I decided I wanted to write a clean fantasy not based entirely around romance. That, I think, is when my true writing journey began.
My Kindle and paperback book, The Crown of Colnia: Rise of the Warlocks, was a thirty day novel. I competed only with my sister, but I wrote fifty-thousand words in thirty days, and that became my first self-published novel.
So there you have it; a very brief history of my writing career. Now for what this blog is going to be about.
I love TV, movies, video games, and reading, so there will be reviews of all of these mixed in whenever I feel like it. There will also be numerous updates of my own writing journey, which I hope you will all join me on, and excerpts from my many novels. And, you know, whatever else strikes me.
Thanks for reading, folks, and I hope you enjoy my blog!