Being An Account of Their Daring Exploits and Audacious Crimes
A YA book series by Jonathan Stroud.
After an undisclosed apocalypse known as the Cataclysm, Great Britain fractured into a semi-mediaeval state – The Seven Kingdoms. Small walled towns maintain some semblance of civilization, while outside in the wilderness roam deadly creatures and dangerous outlaws.
One such outlaw is Scarlett McCain, who despite her young age managed to rack an impressive record in bank robberies and heists all across the Kingdoms. Haunted by her past, Scarlett lives from one day to the next, surviving on her wits and some well-placed violence.
This changes when she encounters Albert Browne, a mysterious youth with strange abilities, an incongruously upbeat attitude and his own dark past. Since both are pursued by different parties, they find themselves working together and eventually developing a deep friendship.The series consists so far of two books, The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne released on October 2021, and The Notorious Scarlett and Browne published on July 2022. In 2022, the first title in the series was announced
to be in development as a film.
The series provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Scarlett.
- Badass Boast: Scarlett gives an extended one to Calloway. (Stroud likes them.)Scarlett: My true name is Scarlett Josephine McCain. I’m wanted by the militias of twenty Surviving Towns. I’ve robbed banks across Wessex, Mercia, and Wales. I’ve crossed the Anglian fens alone; I’ve dug to the seventh level of the Buried City. I’ve been a slave. I’ve been a Faith House Mentor, if only for a day, and that under false pretenses. I’ve prospected for gold in the Menai Hills; I killed the outlaw Black Carl Nemaides and chopped off the head of his dire-fox, too. In short, Doc, I’ve been around.
- Black Site: Stonemoor is a secret facility run by the Faith Houses (which are the closest the Seven Kingdoms have to a central government). It’s dedicated to studying and indoctrinating “deviants”, i.e., people with various psychic powers.
- Broken Bird: Scarlett is practically this trope come to life. Detached, cynical, violent and seemingly completely selfish, her time with Albert gradually reveals her tragic backstory and puts her back in touch with her ability to connect with others.
- Cataclysm Backstory: And it’s actually called the Cataclysm, too! Whatever it was, it destroyed civilization and rendered large parts of Europe uninhabitable.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Albert is… “unworldly”, to put it mildly. He gets somewhat savvier over time, but his keen interest in history, general upbeat optimism and tendency to walk unwittingly into danger still mark him as this.
- Cool Old Guy: Joe, of the gruff and seemingly unpleasant variety.
- Corrupt Church: The Faith Houses control most of society in the Surviving Towns. Secretive and power-hungry, they encourage the populace’ violent xenophobia and sedate it with cruel entertainment, while amassing wealth, power and knowledge for their own nefarious purposes.
- Cute Mute: Ettie, although the cuteness stems mainly from her being an innocent young child.
- Cynicism Catalyst: For Scarlett, the presumed death of her brother Thomas. She also blames herself for it.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Dr. Calloway, Albert’s former handler, is the main villain of the first book and is killed by the end of it.
- Doomed Hometown: The McCain family homestead, ravaged by the Tainted.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: British wildlife has apparently mutated in the wake of the Cataclysm, giving rise to delightful creatures such as toothed birds, tusked badgers and blood-moles. Of course, after meeting the “normal” people in the towns, you might very well choose to take your chances with the blood-moles.
- Evil Counterpart: Mallory to Albert. They have the same set of powers, were both protégés (in a sense) of Dr. Calloway at Stonemoor, and are even described as giving off the same feverish vibe. Of course, Mallory believes that Albert, as an outlaw and unrepentant deviant, is the evil one.
- Evil Mentor: The Brothers of the Hand to Scarlett, especially Teach. Even she admits that they taught her a lot of skills necessary for her survival and continued success as a robber.
- Famed In-Story: Hence “The Notorious” moniker they acquire in the second book. They have a popular ballad written about them and everything. Somewhat lampshaded: it’s noted that all outlaws who were commemorated in ballads came to various sticky ends.
- Fat and Skinny: Soames and Teach, leaders of the Brothers of the Hand. Soames is so fat he can’t walk unassisted, while Teach is agile and cadaverously thin.
- Faux Affably Evil: Soames likes to put on a show of a kindly and genteel Wicked Cultured crime lord, but drops it pretty fast in favor of explicit threats.
- Fed to the Beast: The Brothers of the Hand favorite method of getting rid of people is raising them into a belltower inhabited by monstrous flesh-eating owls.
- The Gambling Addict: Scarlett has a gambling problem, and tends to quickly burn through her gains from each robbery.
- Internalized Categorism: The overseers at Stonemoor tried to instill this attitude in all inmates. They only partially succeeded with Albert, who is afraid of his own power but generally views himself as a good person, but really knocked it out of the park with Mallory, who is firmly convinced that he is twisted and evil by nature and that only his loyalty to the Faith Houses keeps him in check.
- Ironic Echo: "I do believe you're upset."
- I Shall Taunt You: Albert masterfully goads Mallory into attacking him by describing in detail how he got rid of Mallory’s mentor, Dr. Calloway. The real purpose is to cause damage to Albert’s Power Limiter.
- Living Emotional Crutch: By the second book, Scarlett and Albert are this to each other.
- The Load: Ettie is this from time to time, which is understandable considering she is a toddler. In the first book, she wanders away while the others are busy loading supplies and almost gets everyone killed by the Tainted; in the second, she is lured away by the Brothers of the Hand, who proceed to take her and Joe hostage.
- Mind over Matter: Telekinesis seems to be the most common power among Stonemoor inmates, including Albert, Mallory and Dr. Calloway.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Calloway. It’s unclear who is authorized to give out doctorates in this post-apocalyptic world, anyway.
- Never Found the Body: Thomas disappeared while tied to a punishment post in the fields. As the manacles that were holding him were still closed, Scarlett concluded that he was taken by a wild animal, but Teach points out that he may have been taken by slavers.
- "No More Holding Back" Speech: Albert delivers one to Mallory just before dropping a building on his head.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Tainted aren’t undead, but a monstrous subspecies of cannibals who move in hordes that butcher and devour everything in sight. They cannot be reasoned or communicated with, and are driven solely by hunger and rage.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Any person with telekinetic abilities can become this, especially when losing control and “maxing out”.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Trying to read the mind of someone who is simultaneously reading yours creates a feedback loop which can cause vertigo and blackouts.
- Power Incontinence: Albert is usually able to access his telekinesis only in states of extreme emotional agitation (which he dubs “the Fear”), at which point it bursts out uncontrollably and destroys everything around him. It takes some work, but he seems mostly over it by the end of the second book.
- Power Limiter: Albert’s powers are sensitive to iron, so putting an iron cap or band on his head renders him unable to use them. Conversely, other characters wear iron bands around their heads to shield them from telepathy.
- Public Execution: A common occurrence in the Surviving Towns. High-profile ones such as Scarlett and Albert's are used as pretext for a full-on public festival.
- Race Against the Clock: Literally. Soames has a thing with clocks, and likes to measure a person’s allotted time with pieces of his personal collection. Much of the second book is dedicated to Scarlett and Browne having to complete a mission for the Brothers before noon on a certain day, after which the clock will chime and Ettie will be killed.
- Rollercoaster Mine: The protagonists enact a mining trolley escape from the Tainted while in the Buried City.
- Schizo Tech: The Seven Kingdoms still have some technology such as motor vehicles, guns and clocks, but society at large is pre-industrial.
- Sequel Hook: The Notorious Scarlett and Browne provides two:
- Scarlett has learned that her brother Thomas, whom she thought dead, may be alive and vows to search for him.
- Albert intends to return to Stonemoor to help others with powers like him that the Faith Houses are trying to take advantage of.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Scarlett, who is also very much a Fiery Redhead.
- Super-Toughness: Albert’s ability to come out of violent events relatively intact is initially presented as dumb luck, but in the second book Mallory outright states that it’s part of his power set.
- Telepathy: Albert can read minds, either superficially (and somewhat involuntarily), or by diving deeper into a person’s thoughts and memories, referred to as “sieving”. This is a rare power even among other people with abilities.
- Truce Zone: The Wolf’s Head Inn, where weapons are prohibited and people from all walks of life can meet and mingle with relatively little danger.
- Underground City: The Buried City is, well, a buried city which was smothered with ash Pompeii-style in the Cataclysm. Aside from the mummified remains of its residents, it’s filled with all the mortal dangers one can expect.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Albert is eager to help anyone weak or abused he encounters, and is much more concerned with morals and ideals than the ruthlessly practical Scarlett.
- A World Half Full: The Seven Kingdoms can look like this on a good day.
