The Ranger's Apprentice Collection [Paperback]

 

 

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Imagine if the Rangers from "Lord of the Rings" took apprentices -- what kind of life would that be?

John Flanagan does a decent job answering the question in the first three books of the Ranger's Apprentice series, compiled in "The Ranger's Apprentice Collection." It's a solid trio of fantasy books with plenty of weapons, monsters, a medieval backdrop with some very familiar cultures, and a teenage hero who risks it all for his land.

Hoping to be selected for Battleschool, Will is shocked when he's chosen as an apprentice for the Ranger, Halt. His new life is out in the woods, doing chores and learning unglamorous lessons, but slowly he realizes the importance of the Ranger's skills. And at the same time, his fellow orphan Horace is being tormented at Battleschool by a gang of bullies.

Unfortunately, the kingdom is in new trouble -- the evil baron Morgarath is starting to send his monstrous Wurgals out once more, and there are even rumors that the ghastly Kalkara are also abroad. When it seems that the king himself may be Morgarath's target, Will and Halt are sent on a mission to stop the Kalkara -- except that the target isn't who they expect.

"The Burning Bridge" takes Will, Gilan and Horace out into the land of Celtica, only to find that the Wargals are swarming all over the place, and the Celts are missing. Even worse, the boys stumble across a tunnel and bridge meant to allow Morgarath's army out into the open -- and a vast collection of mercenary Skandians who have been hired to help crush the king's army. And to stop them,. Will may end up in the hands of his worst enemies.

And "The Ice Bound Land" sees Will and and a girl calling herself Evanlyn captured by the Skandians, and forced into a life of slavery -- and unfortunately the harsh life and a local drug threaten to destroy Will. Meanwhile, Halt is determined to save his apprentice even if he has to defy the other Rangers, so he sets out across the vaguely European continent with knight-in-training Horace.

The world John Flanagan conjures up here is pretty recognizably a medieval England-that-never-was, with hints of similarly semi-familiar lands to explore (Gallica, Temujai, Celtica, Skandia) and some nicely familiar weapons Except he also adds in some fantasy monsters, a complex backhistory to Araluen, and the elite woodland-warriors known as the Rangers.

The first half of "The Ruins of Gorlan" is a fairly slow experience, mostly made up of Will and Horace finding out what their new lives are all about (knife study, ponies, stew and tracking exercises). But then the plot speeds up into a darker, bloodier affair -- and by "Burning Bridge" it's expanded into a true epic with sabotage, clashing armies and a climactic duel.

And Flanagan has a knack for fast-moving, detailed prose and lots of suspenseful moments (such as the cat-and-mouse game with the Kalkara, or the infiltration of Morgarath's fortress). While there's a twist at the end of "Burning Bridge" that not many fantasy stories have, he keeps the more personal quests going right through the end of the third book. Unfortunately, it still leaves us on a cliffhanger that presumably is fixed in the fourth book.

Will is also an excellent hero in the Lloyd Alexander mold -- he dreams of being a valiant knight, but as he matures, he begins to see that the Rangers have a special value to the kingdom. And Flanagan is unafraid to put his poor hero through the wringer, especially when he's reduced to a drug-riddled wreck. Halt is quite the reverse -- quirky, taciturn and incredibly tough and deadly. And over the course of these books, he forms a sort of father-son relationship with Will and Horace.

The first three books in the "Ranger's Apprentice Collection" start off slow, but rapidly blossom into a solid, epic fantasy series full of kidnappings, monstrous enemies, and all-too-human characters. Definitely a good read... but have the fourth on hand.

I have read every one of the set to date and have enjoyed every book a great gift for all ages

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