I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
The Stern Chase
by
John Flanagan
action & adventure in a Kindle edition that was published by Random House on March 29, 2022 and has 264 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Sorcerer in the North, The Siege of Macindaw, Erak's Ransom, The Kings of Clonmel, Halt's Peril, The Emperor of Nihon-Ja, The Lost Stories, The Outcasts, Invaders, The Hunters, The Royal Ranger, Slaves of Socorro, Scorpion Mountain, The Tournament at Gorlan, The Ghostfaces, "The Beast From Another Time", The Caldera, The Red Fox Clan, Duel at Araluen, Return of the Temujai, The Missing Prince, Escape From Falaise, Ambush at Sorato
Ninth in The Brotherband Chronicles adventure series for Middle-grade readers revolving around the crew of the Heron set in a fictitious Scandinavia. The focus is on recapturing the Wolfwind.
My Take
The intro is a brief look into Hal and his crew building a new Heron and testing its new abilities. If your kids are into historical adventure and/or sailing, this is definitely one for them. As parents, if you’re interested in promoting girls as heroes — get it, lol. There is equality among the crew. There are also amazing examples of teamwork and the values of helping each other in overcoming weaknesses. Of making them a formidable crew who have each other’s backs.
Flanagan also points out the various values that exist within the Heron’s crew, their sailing cooperation, their battle tactics and abilities, and the camping amenities that Erak grows to appreciate. Erak also starts to appreciate how he had appeared to others when he had been raiding.
Hmmm, I should probably warn you that there are a couple of parties in this one with people getting drunk — and suffering the next morning.
The Skandians have “seen the light” and signed treaties with various countries to protect ships on the seas.
Flanagan is a good writer and always pulls me in, except for Thorn’s battle cry. It is such a childish one, and always makes me cringe. I do wish there had been more of a clash between Erak and Hal during the chase, if only because it would have made more sense of Erak’s character. Then again, there is Erak’s obsession with SAVING his ship. There’s also some confusion, in my mind, about Erak’s being the past or current skirl of the Wolfwind.
There’s humor in here, from Erak’s cheapness to Kloof’s obsession for Erak’s staff, Jesper’s ode-making abilities — “it takes a special kind of talent” to “come up with verses as bad as this”, the oft-times annoying banter between Wulf and Ulf, the offering of bridesmen and the requirements thereof, lol; and then there’s Erak’s dictation of the threatening letter:
”Then draft that up exactly as I said it . . . in your own words, of course.”
The boys are getting older with Flanagan noting the ideas of marriage.
Yep, The Stern Chase is full of characters and plenty of action, all coming through third person global subjective point-of-view, allowing a variety of perspectives from the crew. All the better to appreciate their trials and tribulations, lol.
It’s a great read with plenty of positives for anyone.
The Story
It will be a wedding! After much celebrating, the Skandians waken to tragedy, and it’s the Heron and its crew off to right wrongs, greatly outnumbered, but very determined.
The Characters
Hal Mikkelson is skirl for the Heron, an innovative ship Hal designed. He also has a reputation for tactics and planning. The Mangler is another innovation and a fierce weapon. Karin is Hal’s widowed mother, who has been seeing Thorn.
Stig Olafson is Hal’s firstmate. The rest of the crew includes the bickering twins, Ulf and Wulf; Thorn is the grizzled, one-handed warrior and fighting commander; the very short-sighted Ingvar is a stalwart companion in battle; Jesper Swiftfoot; Stefan; Edvin, who is their healer and cook; and, Lydia, a girl skilled at tracking and using the atlatl. Kloof is their mascot, a dog with strong protective instincts and a great desire for Erak’s staff.
Hallasholm, Skandia, is . . .
. . . home where Erak Starfollower is Oberjarl and skirl aboard the Wolfwind. Svengal is Erak’s best friend and the first mate of the Wolfwind. Tegar and Rogger had stood sentry that night. Wolfcry is another wolfship. Viktor Svenson is Erak’s current hilfmann (private secretary and administrative assistant) with a better sense of diplomatic warnings. Helmut and Arnett Follskirk are identical twins. Birgitta is the bridezilla.
The Stormwhite Sea is the body of water the Skandians have pledged to protect.
Sonderland is . . .
. . . one of the allies with Livosk its principal city and ruled by a Hierarch. I think other cities of Sonderland include Gryphon, Leduc, Hekber, Jalkerk, and Malmet.
Tuetlandt is . . .
. . . an ally. Bolshafen is a big trading port.
Plessa is a small island of fishermen where Tyrell appears to be the leader. Bryan Murtagh is captain of the trading ship Faun. Other trading ships include the Maid of Alourn and the Fenian Lass.
Other allies include the Gallicans.
The Iberians are . . .
. . . reluctant allies. El Déspota is its current ruler. Zidac is its capital. Some of the crew of one ship is Miguel. Of the raiders, El Despiadado (the Savage One) is the captain and other crew includes Santos and the cocky Juan.
The Hungassi tribe and Magyarans are suspects.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a blues and browns collage of events from the ship with eyes on its bow and a gray-clad, sword-toting warrior standing in it to the blond-haired warrior on the left in dark browns holding a wooden shield with the sense of a boat beneath him rising from a mist of lighter blues. The author’s name is in a black-lined turquoise with a slight gradient to a paler turquoise in the middle at the very top with an info blurb in white with a black shadow immediately beneath it. The series info is in a gothic silver script shadowed in black in front of a large wooden shield with crossed seaxes and a silver wolfship on the top. Framing the bottom of the shield is what appears to be a silver ram’s head?? with extremely long horns ending in spiral swirls. At the very bottom is the title in the same gradated turquoise and black shadow.
The title is a metaphor for Hal and the crew of the Heron’s The Stern Chase of the pirates.
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