Bravelands

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Bravelands

The cover of Broken Pride, the first book in the series
Broken Pride Code of Honor Blood and Bone Shifting Shadows The Spirit-Eaters Oathkeeper Shadows on the Mountain
Author	Erin Hunter
Cover artist	Owen Richardson
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Teen literature, fantasy
Publisher	HarperCollins
Published	6 June 2017 – 22 September 2020
Media type	Print, e-book

Bravelands is a children's novel series written by a team of authors under the pseudonym Erin Hunter. The series follows the adventures of three animals: Fearless, a lion who was cast out of his pride, Thorn, a baboon who tries to rebel against his destiny, and Sky, an elephant gifted with the ability of reading bones. The series has overall been well received, with critics praising the realistic behavior of the characters, the excitement in the novels, and the description of the Bravelands, though also criticizing it for its similarities to The Lion King.

Books[]

Broken Pride[]

Broken Pride was released on 6 June 2017.

The story begins with Swiftcub, son of the pride leader, Gallant, earning his adult name, Fearless. His father, is challenged and killed by Titan, a rogue male lion, who then takes over his pride and renames the pride from Gallantpride to Titanpride.

Fearless is carried away by an eagle who drops him into a small forest called Tall Trees that is inhabited by an olive baboon troop called Brightforest Troop. They are convinced by their female prophet, called the Starleaf, that he is special and they adopt him and nickname him the Cub of the Stars.

A year later, two of the young male baboons, Mud and Thorn, are trying to move up from their current ranks in a challenge known as the Three Feats. Mud (the son of the leader, Crownleaf) is a Deeproot, the lowest position in the troop and he is trying to get to Lowleaf, a higher rank. Thorn is also a Deeproot, intending to advance to Highleaf. Thorn is motivated by the fact that Berry, whom he loves, is a Highleaf, and he will not be able to become mates with her unless he reaches her position. Nut, a bully, tries to stop him, but ends up stopping Mud instead.

Meanwhile, there is something going on with the Great Mother's elephant herd called Strider. One of the elephants, Sky, thinks that the local waterhole is dangerous after she read her deceased mother's bones and got a vision of a sinister baboon riding a lion, while the area around them is on fire and the waterhole is stained red with blood.

The Crownleaf of the Brightforest baboons is murdered, and evidence suggests that she died battling a hyena. The new Crownleaf, named Grub, throws Fearless out of the troop. Thorn accompanies him, and they arrive at the waterhole near the Strider herd. Sky sees them and panics, thinking they are the lion and baboon from her vision.

Fearless meets Loyal, a friend of his deceased father. Loyal tells him not to visit his old pride, but he ignores his advice and ventures close to the Pride. Titan, distracted by Fearless's presence, fails to notice the cheetahs who run off with his son, Ruthless. After being persuaded by Artful, his mate, Titan makes an agreement with Fearless: if Fearless can retrieve Ruthless, Fearless's mother, Swift, can continue to stay in the safety of the pride. Fearless, with the help of Thorn and Loyal, manages to retrieve Ruthless.

Back at Tall Trees, Grub is fatally poisoned, with the evidence pointing to Nut. Stinger, the father of Berry and the first baboon Fearless met, is chosen as the new Crownleaf. Thorn soon realizes that Stinger is the one who poisoned Grub, and was also one who killed the previous Crownleaf.

The Great Mother of the Strider herd is mysteriously murdered and found dead in the water hole. Around her corpse, the water is stained red with blood, and Sky realizes with horror that her vision has come true.

Code of Honor[]

Code of Honor was released on 6 February 2018.

The elephant leader known as Great Mother has been murdered. Now a young baboon, elephant, and lion must come together to discover the truth—before the fragile balance of Bravelands is destroyed forever.

Blood and Bone[]

Blood and Bone was released on 2 October 2018.

The story starts with Sky seeing Thorn about to be killed and saving him. It is realized that Sky can now read the memories of any animal she touches.

After the Strider herd accuses Stinger of having a hand in Great Mother's death, the baboon paints them as crazed, particularly Sky. Thorn and Nut flee to Leopard Forest, a dense woodland inhabited by a hostile baboon troop led by the deranged Tendril. Pear, Berry's mother, is discovered to be living with them. Another baboon tells them that Pear hasn't spoken since her mate, Seed, stole their daughter and left with her. Seed is discovered to be Stinger. Thorn and Nut uses this information to rally a large portion of Crookedtree Troop to their side. The rest of the Crookedtree Baboons remain with Tendril after Thorn and Nut leave with their supporters.

Fearless and his sister, Valor, leave Titanpride and find the lions of Dauntlesspride. Fearless takes over their pride, renaming it Fearlesspride. Fearless has trouble gaining the respect of a young male named Snarl, whom Stinger eventually kills. Following their next Fearless realizes that Stinger is the traitor, not Thorn after Stinger reveals his role in Snarl's demise. Realizing that Thorn is innocent, A repentant Fearless travels to Leopard Forest (While Disowning Stinger in the process.) to reconcile with his former friend. Together Fearlesspride and the Great-Herd prepare for a battle against Stinger and Titanpride.

Shifting Shadows[]

Shifting Shadows was released on 7 May 2019.

Thorn decides to keep his status as Great-Father a secret from everybody because he doesn't think he's the right animal for the job. Meanwhile, at the Watering Hole, Sky and her herd are taking a drink. Sky is playing with one of her cousins when Thorn stops by for leadership advice. Eventually, Thorn steps down from the role of Crownleaf, and Berry takes his place. A male lion named Mighty joins Fearlesspride, which results in Fearless leaving due to not getting enough respect. Meanwhile, Titan becomes so power-hungry that it drives him insane. He believes that killing other animals will make him immortal. During an attack on a bull elephant herd, his mate, Artful, dies. Their daughter, Menace, is taken in by Sky and raised alongside two orphaned cheetah cubs.

The Spirit-Eaters[]

The Spirit-Eaters was released on 4 February 2020.

The Great Spirit has returned, and Thorn hopes to guide Bravelands to peace as its Great Father. But when the Gold Wolf pack begins to target the Great Herd, every animal must unite to defend the code of the wild against those who would watch it burn.

Fearless discovers the dead bodies of the Titanpride lions alongside Ruthless and Keen. Meanwhile, Sky reunites with Thorn and learns that he succeeded Sun Strider as the Great-Parent.

At a Great-gathering, a pair of leopards bring the corpse of their comrade to Thorn. The leopards reveal that the Gold Wolf pack has killed their friend, and eaten his heart to gain his spirit. Fearless volunteers to go to the Dead Forest in order to fight the wolves. He and two other lions depart. However, Menace sneaks away to join Fearless. When Meance catches up with the trio, she demands to join. The trio is reluctant to allow her to join them, but they give in to Menace's demands after realizing that they're too far from the Watering Hole to tell Menace to return.

Sky meets an elderly elephant named Flint. It is revealed that Flint is Sky's maternal grandfather. Sky then notices that Menace is missing. When she asks Thorn to use his powers to locate her, he reveals that she is with Fearless. Sky is worried, as the elephant is well aware that Menace is devoted to her father. Thorn reassures her that, despite this, Fearless will protect her.

Back at the Dead Forest, Fearless and his friends meet the Gold Wolves (whose pack-name is revealed to be Bloodheart). Menace arrogantly confronts the pack and brags about her relationships to Titan. After a skirmish between the parties end, the lions meet a clan of hyenas, lead by a hyena called Skulldrink. She leads Fearless and his group to her clan's camp. There, Skulldrink reveals that she and her clan have been having problems with the Bloodheart pack as well, and offers to ally with Fearless's group. The lions agree, and Fearless and Keen follow Skulldrinker and her party, while leaving Ruthless and Menace at the Hyena Den.

Fearless and Keen fight alongside the Hyenas against the Bloodheart pack. The lions and hyenas are victorious. Fearless and his group leave the hyena clan, and go to find Titan. During their quest however, Menace is shown to be problematic, as she inherited her father's cruelty. She subjects her older brother to physical and verbal abuse by biting his tail and calling him "Useless".

Back at the Great-Father clearing, Thorn is visited by some of his Troopmates who complain about the Crownguard. They reveal that Berry's Crownguard is undermining her leadership behind her back. Thorn decides to visit his troop to inform Berry about this. Unfortunately, Berry ignores Thorn's warnings and attempts to assure her mate that she will be fine and that Thorn is worrying too much. Thorn is not convinced. However, he decides to let Berry do things her own way, since she is the Crownleaf. Thorn returns to his clearing where he, Nut, Spider, Mud and Sky are greeted by a float of crocodiles led by Rip.^[1] Rip reveals that his float has been in conflict with a group of hippopotamus led by a hippo called Plunge, because the hippos blame Rip's float for the death of an infant hippo. Rip threatens to destroy Plunge's herd if Thorn refuses to help them. In order to prevent an all-out war between the hippos and the crocodiles, Thorn and Sky conduct an investigation on the true circumstances of the baby hippo's death.

When Sky uses her powers to examine the baby hippo's corpse, she discovers that it was not the crocodiles but the Bloodheart pack that was at fault for the hippo's demise. After Sky informs Thorn of her findings, the pair report to Rip and Plunge, who happened to be at the river with their groups. Once Plunge and Rip hear about Thorn and Sky's findings, Plunge realizes that Rip was telling the truth when he and his float denied any wrongdoing against the infant hippo. Plunge and Rip subsequently agree to call off their battle as long as each party remains on their turf.

Oathkeeper[]

Oathkeeper was released on 22 September 2020.

At long last, the Great Herd stands united against Titan—now so powerful that even Fearless, who vowed to avenge his father's death, cannot defeat the rogue lion alone. Thorn may have a plan to bring about Titan's downfall, but the animals of Bravelands must decide how much they are willing to risk—and who they are willing to lose.

In the prologue the eagle who abducted Fearless is revealed to be a female named Highcrest. However, the scene plays out a little differently then it in Broken Pride. Instead of deciding save Fearless's flesh for later, Highcrest intends to feed Fearless to her chicks (Who were absent in the first book). However, Stinger arrives and scares Highcrest away and takes Fearless much to the raptor's dismay.

Three Years into the present, Oathkeeper picks up where the Spirit-Eaters left off. Fearless and his followers confront Titan and the wolves. Meance is revealed to have joined her father. Back in Tall Trees, Sky and Rock renew their wedding vows and leave to find somebody to adopt Seedling (His Mother was killed in the last book). During their journey, the pair find Fearlesspride fighting the newly dubbed Wolfpride. With the elephants help, Fearlesspride manages to drive Wolfpride off. However, Fearless and co. are convinced that Wolfpride had killed Thorn based on their claims that they've killed the Great-Parent (Which was actually a reference to Berry). The Lions and Elephants head towards the Great-Father Clearing to tell Berry about her mate's supposed demise. When they arrive however, Both Fearlesspride and the Elephant pair discover that Thorn is still alive and it was Berry who died by convincing Bloodheart Pack that she was the Great-Parent. Sky and Rock part ways with the Lions and the Baboons to seek out the surviving members of Dawntrees Troop. When they find the Dawntrees Baboons, The Crownguard (Who've usurped Berry) express their lack of respect towards The Code, But agree to take Seedling in due to the fact that they've lost several baboons to the fire and are desperate for recruits. Seedling is taken in by a female Baboon named Scratcher who renamed Seedling "Greenshoot" to symbolize the new life Greenshoot brought to Dawntrees.

Fearless decides to travel to Mightypride to visit his sister. There, they find Migthy being uncharacteristically aggressive towards Fearlesspride. Fearless discovers that the reason for his Brother In-Law's hostility is do to his cubs already being born and is afraid that Fearless would try to retake his pride and kill his cubs (As Lions are known to kill the cubs of their processors in order to keep their own bloodline dominant). But Fearless reassure Mighty that he has no intention of taking over the latter's pride or taking the life of his cubs (Who are also Fearless nephews). Fearless reunites with his sister and meets her sons. However their reunion is short lived when Titan arrives to steal Mighty's Heart. Although Fearless warns his brother in-law not to underestimate Titan, Mighty is caught off-guard when Titan seemingly accepts defeat only to use the sprit of a Crocodile-Spirit against Mighty. Valor tries to revive her fallen mate, but is forced to accept that Mighty is dead when he doesn't stir. Fearless lambasts Titan for his underhanded tactics Before assuming leadership of Mightypride by merging his sister's pride with his own. Fearless leads his newly combined pride to safety but find that they're being stalked by the Gold Wolves.

Meanwhile, Thorn, Mud, Nut and Spider arrive at the Muddy River to propose an alliance with Rip's float in their fight against Titan. However, they find that Rip is currently absent and instead run into a croc named Rend. Rend and his followers were revealed to have no respect for the Baboons nor the Code even after Thorn assisted the latter's float. Rend's lack of respect also extends to Rip and his supporters as they gained respect for the Code after Thorn and co. assisted them in the last book. However, Rip returns and agrees to assist Thorn in the Great Herd's fight against Wolfpride.

Thorn explains his plan to defeat Titan to Sky and Fearless. Thorn reveals that he'll lure Titan to Baboon Island under the pretense that he [Thorn] wants to negotiate with Wolfpride. But Thorn has a trick on his sleeve; As soon as Titan begins to cross the Watering Hole, Muddy River Bask will ambush Titan, defeating Wolfpride for good.

After Titan accepts Thorn's invitation, The Great Herd, gathers their forces organize their positions while Muddy River Bask lurks under the depths of the watering hole. Titan and his followers arrive and everything seems to go well for the Great-Herd...

Critical reception[]

The first book in the Bravelands series, Broken Pride appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[2] School Library Journal criticizes the series for its similarities to the Lion King but writes, "Fans of Hunter's previous series will not be disappointed, and they will be anxious for the next installment in this new series."^[3][4] Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review and writes, "Deep characters, a complex plot, rich mythology, and a stunning setting all come together to prove once again that the Hunter collective are master storytellers. Fans of Warriors will thrill at the opportunity to travel from the forest to the savanna in this brand new series."^[5][4]

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website
• https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062642141/bravelands-4-shifting-shadows/