Very fast paced, exciting historical fiction. Set in the bronze age with active goddess and a dolphin as an active character, this book feels quite modern and is a great read-alike for the Lightning Thief. Parents might be concerned about some fairly gruesome parts, so this and would be a good recommendation for 5th grade and up. ( )

I've been intrigued by ancient societies and cultures for as long as I can remember breathing. Egypt holds most of my interest, but honestly I'll read anything set in BC time period as long as its interesting. GODS AND WARRIORS, the first in its series, is set during Bronze Age Greece--a first for me--and is fast paced, engrossing and utterly entertaining. I read this over the course of about two hours--that's right TWO HOURS--because I couldn't bear to put it down.

I was a little unsure at first, there was a lot of descriptive words that seemed out of place ("He was ragingly thirsty...") or unneeded being tossed around. It felt like every other word ended with "-ly" for a while. The protagonist is also much younger then I'm used to reading lately (he's 12, in fact everyone over the age of 14 is more or less not to be trusted), so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy his viewpoint.

My fears were laid to rest about 60 pages in, when Paver began describing another character's journey across the sea. Paver seemed to hit her stride around this point and from there the story took off.

In a lot of ways this reminded me of one of my favorite books as a kid--Mara Daughter of the Nile (by Eloise Jarvis McGraw). That was also about an orphaned child, an outsider struggling to survive and having to rely on cleverness to do so. Hylas though, he's driven. He's a determined boy who lives and thrives mostly through instinct. His cleverness is mostly intuition (with a healthy smattering of paranoia) and his own ability to adapt to circumstances.

Pirra, by contrast, tries to work things out. Though she's been sheltered, she has a better idea of how things work with the 'Black Crows' then Hylas does. She knows what it is they want and how far they will go to reach that end goal. She's also more cautious, reverent of the Goddess and island they find themselves on. She understands the magic that Hylas has come in contact with.

The uneasy truce between them as they struggle to survive and maybe find a way off the island felt natural. They come from two different worlds, two different societies even, but they have a common enemy (the Black Crows) and a common goal (to stop them). Neither trusts the other, at least not on a conscious level, but they work very well together.

Hylas' friend, Telamon is lost between two worlds himself. Older then Hylas, but just as sheltered as Pirra in a way, he just can't seem to do the right thing for the right reasons. His father is disappointed in him, his uncle is disgusted by him, Hylas learns something about him that makes him scared and distrustful--nothing he does ends the way he wants it to. I felt bad for him honestly.

The ending speaks at a larger destiny awaiting all three (and Spirit, the dolphin) and the Goddess doesn't seem done with them yet. I'm interested to see where Paver takes our band of wary heroes--and what fresh adventures awaits them there. ( )

Engaging writing but a plot that promises much and delivers very little. ( )

Young Hylas is being hunted by warriors who want him dead and have kidnapped his sister. Hylas is forced to flee his home, but not before a mysterious stranger gives him a bronze dagger. While on the run, Hylas must use his skill and wits to survive a shipwreck and a great white shark attack, befriend a dolphin, and help Pirra, the runaway.
daughter of a High Priestess. ( )

I came to this Michelle Paver series late, years after reading the award-winning ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ series which starts with the wonderful ‘Wolf Brothe’r. Doubtful that any character could be as admirable as Torak, it was a joy to read about Hylas who, like Torak, is an outsider.
‘The Outsiders’ starts at a run from the first page and doesn’t slow up. Hylas has been attacked, his dog is dead, his sister missing and a fellow goatherd killed. And the killers are after him. Adrift at sea, disorientated, Hylas fears he must die. And then there follows a glorious section about dolphins. I won’t give away any more of the plot. The narrative is a shape familiar from ‘Wolf Brother’ - wild boy in trouble, on the run, not sure who is friend or foe, sets off on a quest where he makes new alliances – but that doesn’t mean this is not an entertaining read with new characters, a new setting, and different myths and gods.
Michelle Paver’s books for children and young adults are set in mystical places but are based on solid research about the way our ancestors lived and survived in wild lands, the animals they hunted, the gods they worshipped and the monsters they feared. ‘The Outsiders’ is set in the Mediterranean in the Bronze Age.
All the outdoors things inaccessible to today’s children – unsupervised by adults, expected to be self-sufficient at the age of twelve, adventuring to unfamiliar places, making a den, lighting a fire, navigating, foraging, analysing geography, weather and threats. Her child characters have respect for their world, they are brave, adventurous and learn quickly from their mistakes. If they don't, they will die: these are not gentle stories but they are a preparation for the real world where children must learn for themselves how to survive.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )