Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan

Fell beasts. Kingdoms. Battles. Rangers.

Not Tolkien, but a story for Tolkien fans. Or just fans of good story-telling. Light on romance, heavy on battling, this is a terrific boy-book. Of course, my 13 yr. old girl liked it enough to read it in a day.

Confession: so did I, (and my housework reflects it). I enjoyed the entire wholesome book and had to see how it ended. Even though the ending was a set-up for the sequel.

Will is a ward who was dropped off at the local castle as an orphaned infant. All he knows of his family is that his father died a hero and his mother died after childbirth. Raised amongst a group of wards, he had a decent life for an orphan.

His destiny was determined on choosing day, a day that apprentices are picked to train for future roles in the kingdom. Will hopes to become a knight-in-training as he believes his father once was. Instead of being chosen for Battle-school, he is offered the chance to become a Ranger, essentially a spy and scout with ninja-like training. In the end, through acts of heroism on his part, he earns the chance to attend Battle school. By this point, the Rangers have won the reader over, and you hope they’ve won Will over, too and that he'll continue his apprenticeship with them.

I knew this would be a fine book when the orphaned boys were properly cared for by the local baron. I was further impressed when Will won his acceptance to apprenticeship less by his skill than by proof of his character when he withstood the temptation to lie.

One hel_ and one dam_ do not undermine the book’s safe rating, in my opinion, especially when they were rare and only in the context of the extremity of battle.


Safety Rating: 3 Vatican Flags; High-Readability