Author: John Flanagan
Publisher/Year: Puffin / 2005
Date Finished: 31 October 2011
Source/Format: B&N / Print
Book #: 82
Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid
The Short and Sweet of It
At fifteen, Will walks into his Choosing, the ceremony in which he will be apprenticed. He wants to be a warrior, to join the Battleschool and become a knight. Instead, he becomes the apprentice to a Ranger, a mysterious man who teaches him that wars are not only fought after an initial attack, that Rangers must find the battle before it reaches them.
A Bit of a Ramble
Allie over at A Literary Odyssey convinced me to buy the first in the Ranger's Apprentice series when she said, "Flanagan manages to create a lively world (modeled on Europe), full of drama, suspense, and mystery. There is a huge cast of characters, but every one of them seems lively and true. There is danger, adventure, sword fights, and lots of description of battles and tactics. That part of the book always reaches my nerdy little core."
My nerdy little core cannot help but agree. After reading just one book in the series, I am convinced that I will really enjoy this. The main character, his group of friends, and the mentors in charge of them all are unique, fascinating, mysterious characters, and I can't wait to get to know them better. The story is rife with possibility at this point, which after a bunch of predictable YAL, is something I really appreciate. I love it that this story could move forward along so many different paths at this point.
And I am totally geeked out that there are ten books in the series. I even disregarded (yet again) my book buying ban and bought the next four in the series. I'll probably ask for the rest for Christmas. :)
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My son has some of these books, and it sounds like I need to raid his bookshelves and try them for myself. I would love to have my "nerdy little core" satisfied! Great review today!
ReplyDeleteI have the first one just sitting on my shelf. One day, one day I'll get to it.
ReplyDeleteOoh! My son and I might enjoy this series.
ReplyDelete2nd try at commenting. Blogger does not like me today. I've been such a loyal user over the years, too.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that I also liked this one as do many of my students. One thing that struck me is that this is a fantasy series without any magic in it. I wondered if the author or the publisher did this on purpose so theey could market the book to religious groups that do not allow their children to read books with magic in them.
It sounds like an interesting series, but the idea of reading "lots of descriptions of battles and tactics" kind of turns me off. Is that sort of thing a huge portion of the book, or is there more to it?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason your posts haven't been popping up in my Reader, or I would have geeked out about this sooner!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that you picked them up and loved this first one!
*wanders to go read the other two posts*