3.06 of 5 Votes: 5

English

puffin books

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

The Ruins Of Gorlan (2006)
About book: As I've almost reached eighteen years of age I've tended to drift away from reading YA fiction. I read mostly classics or more adult fiction nowadays. And yet there are some series which are capable of bridging age gaps despite having been written for a younger audience. I believe the best stories can cover all age brackets making them accessible to a wide audience. This novel is one of those books in my opinion. Or at least the development of the series is.I could spend time reviewing the entire series but I'll stick to reviewing the first novel from the perspective of the series. The Ruins of Gorlan is a good novel but it does draw very strongly on other fantasy novels such as Lord of the Rings in the creation of its Warguls and Morgarath. Yet what is most impressive about the series is that it develops from then on. From the third book onwards the series branches out into a world of its own that draws upon our history to establish its own thrilling tales. The world of the Ranger's Apprentice books becomes not dissimilar from a middle-ages version of our own. There is an England replacement, a Japan replacement, a French replacement, a land of viking like people and a whole load more of exotic races and lands. There is no magic really in the series strictly. Although I must state that Morgarath uses a sort of psychic link with his Wargul forces to control them. The lack of magic makes for a refreshingly different fantasy read.I enjoy the world John Flanagan has created but what really keeps me buying the books is the characters he's created. Each individual has his or her own personality. The women are not weak or mindless characters either which is a refreshing change. But back on that you have: Will who is basically more of a trickster and uses lots of words; Horace who's a laconic kind of character and tends to be a methodical thinker; Alys the quick thinking and astute woman; Halt the grizzled old ranger who is perhaps my favourite character with his wry wit and grimmer attitude; and a whole ton of characters I can't describe without ruining the story. I'd read these books for the characters and their interactions alone because they are stellar.These are books I believe adults and youth can read. My mum's a fan of them and I've been a fan ever since I picked up the first novel in grade eight. I would have been about thirteen..So if you haven't read this series begin because even though there is ten or so books each can easily be read in a day. Actually each can easily be read in a day because they are simply so engrossing.14th June 2012 Note: I have to feel a sense of glee over the fact that I got my sister, who reads very few series in a row - in fact she rarely reads many series or many books - hooked on this series. She's reading her fifth one right now and she's been racing through them. The next stage of the plan will be to introduce her to Lord of the Rings hehehe and then maybe one day she'll read as much as I do and as much as my mother does.
Will, an orphan, has always dreamed of attending Battle School, so that he can be a knight and warrior. His dreams are dashed when he is instead chosen to be an apprentice to the Ranger Halt. There are strange stories about rangers, and common people find their company vaguely unsettling. Will, too, thinks that there’s something supernatural about them. He soon discovers, however, that Halt is quite human, and that rangers’ skills are something that he, too, is quite capable of mastering. As his training progresses, Will finds that he enjoys being an apprentice ranger. Later, when the Baron offers him a position among the other Battle School trainees, Will refuses – graciously – because he now wants to be a ranger more than anything.There’s great danger ahead for Will (and his land). Morgarath (the wicked, bad, naughty, EVIL personage in this particular fantasy series) is once again becoming powerful and wants to take back what she sees as hers. She sends some creatures against Will and his people – the Kulkara (sp?) – which they are only just able to defeat. As this is a series, we can probably expect more of the same.This book has so much potential appeal. I grew up with The Lord of the Rings stories, and Aragorn (the ranger) in particular, has always been a mysterious and intriguing character. Therefore, it should have been easy to grab and keep my interest with this kind of story. Instead, it was a bit of a struggle. I listened to the audiobook production of this novel, and did not get caught up in the story until the second disc (around chapter 6), when there were more descriptions of what Will was learning as a ranger’s apprentice. There are more engaging adult fantasy series that cover similar ground (like Raymond Feist’s Riftwar saga, for instance) – unexpected apprenticeships, discovery of personal power, and then the ultimate fight against some evil forces. It’s possible that this just wasn’t as sophisticated as it could have been – it is, after all, written for children (but I still think you can have phenomenal children’s books, and this was only ok).

353

I was searching for a book that doesn't have any magic like in Eragon. So i began searching and came stumbling across this book. Hmm, rnager's apprentice. Catchy title. I began reading it. It was soooo good and exciting! All the emotions and action felt so real when you read it. I couldn't put down the book until either it was done or i was too sllepy to continue reading. SO far what happened was that Will (the main character) gets declined from being a warrior/knight because of his height. SO Halt (his soon-to-be-mentor) took him as his apprentice of his newfound skill: the art of being unseen. Will's friends, Horace, Jenny, George,and Alyss, all got accepted to their own schools. Will began to be trained as a Ranger, while Horace was being trained as a warrior, Jenny was being trained as a cook, George trained as a scriber, and lastly, Alyss was trained as a diplomat. Throughout the training, Will and Horace gon through some adventures together and some were just Will and Halt.I finally finished my book! I love it! i cant wait for to read the next series! Will was so brave to go with Halt and Gilan to hunt down the Kallras. If I was him, i waould be totally freaked out and too scared to move.. to even think when i see them. Also Will complete a solo ride back to the castle from where he, Halt and Gilan was to summon help. It takes less than a day, and he insisted to come back, even though he was tired as sh*t. I would sleep all day if i had to do what Will did. Then even more amazing, was that he finished off the last Kallras when he was their only hope. This reminds of how a cornered rat can fight back in amazing strengths. Thats what Will was; a cornered rat. Also, Will was determined to help his mentor and that summoned his strength needed to complete his tasks. That's really impressive!Raw power from the ones you want to protect.

I love this entire series. This is a reread for me, but I feel the need to rant about how much I love it.One thing that pleases me is how detailed yet succinct Flanagan is in his descriptions of Araluen's history and politics and such. He gives you all the info you need, but doesn't overload you with unnecessary trivia. Also, the writing is excellent. It never bored me, ever, even throughout all ten books, as far as I can remember. The characters are all distinct, and yet each maintains a level of wit and humor that just tickles my fancy over and over again. Speaking of characters, I love them. All of them. Once again, they all have distinct personalities, so I never feel like a character's actions are used just as a plot-furthering device. Best of all, Will serves as one AWESOME protagonist. Honestly, I'm madly in love with his character. I'm madly in love with all of the characters, but still. Will is my favorite. And yet Halt and Horace and the others aren't secondary characters. They're all main characters, too, especially as the series progresses. The more personalities that are on the forefront of these adventures, the more interesting it is. Flanagan got that right. There's not much more to say, because once I get going about one book, I start talking about them all. But one last thing I'm amazed by is that Flanagan's world is so effortlessly colorful. And it's his own, too. Obviously knights and rangers and Vikings and such aren't his creations, but he manages to take these ideas and characters and make his own variation of them. I don't feel like I'm reading Lord of the Rings 2.0 or anything, although you might find people who disagree with me. Basically, I'm really biased towards this series. I can't find anything to complain about concerning this book, so I'll just end it here. Read this series. I'm certainly going to. Again.

I've never been one of those guys with lots of friends. Actually, I kind of always had to turn to book characters to cover my lack of real relationships. Thus, in the first year of college, when I discovered this series, I couldn't have been more glad for it.The first reason is that I felt that I could relate to the protagonist after only a few pages. Will is, at first, a solitary little kid who doesn't know his place in the world. His situation only gets worse when the time for him to be chosen by one of the task masters of the castle approaches. What he didn't know is that his destiny was not to be an orthodox worker for the realm. Despite him not knowing why, he is chosen to be one of the realm's rangers, men that are responsible for the strategical defense of the land.One of the strongest traits about Flanagan, as I see it, is that he really takes his time writing his story. Nothing feels rushed and crammed, so you can actually perceive character's development.As soon as Will finds out what he is supposed to be, he brings out his utmost dedication to learn how to be a ranger. By following Halt's teachings, he soon becomes visibly one of the most promising young apprentices of his age. What he couldn't possibly have known is that his skills would soon be tested as an evil force that seriously threatens the King's well being approaches the realm.Despite the adventures, what I remember liking the most about this book is the growing father-son relationship between Will and Halt. As I never had a close relationship with my own father, I always find this kind of story really touching. Also, the level of detail on Flanagan's descriptions of scenario and atmosphere are really good. As in perfect balanced good. He describes just enough so you can get a clear picture of the scene without being smashed by useless amounts of detail, as sometimes happens in other fantasy/fiction books. Interesting quotes that I didn't include in the review: “People will think what they want to,' he said quietly. Never take too much notice of it.” The Last Passage(view spoiler)[ Will sat quietly for some minutes. Almost unthinkingly, his hand went to touch the bronze oak leaf symbol hanging at his throat. Faintly, the evening breeze carried the sounds of the Battle-school drill yard to him, and the nonstop hammering and clanking from the armory that had been going on, night and day, for the past week. They were the sounds of Castle Redmont preparing for the coming war.Yet strangely, for the first time in his life, he felt at peace. (hide spoiler)]