A review of The Ranger's Apprentice series

        I recently finished the first six books in The Ranger's Apprentice series. The books follow an orphan named Will, who is trained to become a Ranger. Rangers are reconnaissance spies and are feared as extremely mysterious people. They are extremely proficient in archery and camouflage, as well as other hunting techniques. Overall, the worldbuilding and character dynamics are extremely well developed, and the immersion into the story was extremely well done. This is probably one of the best books I've read, on a technical level. 

Spoilers below:

The Ruins of Gorlan

        The series starts off with the apprentice selection every child is given at the age of 15, in the kingdom of Araluen. The book starts with a group of five, Will, Horace, Alyss, Jenny, and George, who have been together as orphans under the care of the Baron. Will applies to become a knight but is rejected due to apparent low body strength. Instead, Will is selected by the Ranger Halt to become an apprentice under him. Another character, Horace, is easily accepted to become a knight, and the others all get into their chosen professions. Under Halt's training, Will learns the basic skills of a Ranger. Will goes with Halt and Gilan, a former apprentice of Halt's, to hunt down a dangerous monster called the Kalkara. The Kalkara are one of the forces under Morgarath, a traitor who is biding his revenge against the kingdom. The book ends with inevitable war close at hand as both sides prepare for combat.

The Burning Bridge

        As the war approaches, Will, Horace, and Gilan are sent to Celtica to ask for reinforcements. Instead, they find every town deserted, save for a survivor, named Evanlyn. She explains that another of Morgarath's forces, the Wargals, have captured or killed all of them. It is revealed that the townspeople were captured to build a bridge across the Fissure, a huge natural ravine that provides an impassable border protecting much of Araluen. Breaching this would be a massive advantage to Morgarath's forces and almost certainly overwhelm Araluen's. Horace and Gilan go to warn the king of the danger and Will and Evanlyn stay behind to burn the bridge and do so successfully. However, they are captured by the mercenaries Skandians, who are the world equivalent of Vikings. Halt defeats the other Skandian force and disguises his troops as them, prompting Morgarath to also charge. As it is quickly revealed that the Skandian force were not in fact Skandians, and as the Wargals are cut down, Morgarath offers a flag of truce and challenges Halt to a duel instead. However, Horace challenges Morgarath instead, and despite being outmatched manages to defeat Morgarath by risking a dangerous maneuver to unsaddle him.

        The book series continues with Will and Evanlyn being enslaved and then rescued, and taken to hold off another powerful army from invading the area. I'm waiting for the availability of the next books in the series, so until then, this is it!

-Jonathan