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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Book Review: The Ranger's Apprentice books 1-4 by John Flanagan

Instead of back reviewing each of these books, I thought I would simply combine them into one. The first four titles, The Ruins of Gorlan, The Burning Bridge, The Icebound Land, and The Battle for Skandiabegin the story of Will, a ward of the state who wanted desperately to become a knight. To his dismay, he is denied that career and instead taken up by the mysterious ranger Halt to be his apprentice. He slowly learns the difficult but impressive skills of the rangers. His newly acquired skills are put to the test with increasing difficulty. He also learns to rely more upon his friends for help, including Horace, a knight in training, and Evanlyn, a girl with a hidden identity. After the defeat of Lord Morgarath, Will is taken into slavery and faces new and perhaps more difficult challenges in a foreign land. His further adventures lead to a daring rescue, some unexpected alliances, and a fierce battle. And, of course, each book manages to end with a cliff-hanger!

The Ruins of Gorlan (The Ranger's Apprentice, Book 1) 


I've been really impressed with this series. It is exciting, full of adventure and even some humor, and still manages to be clean of language and other mrg-related stuff. I think youth, especially boys, will be captivated by this fast-paced thrilling adventure series.

RATINGS:
s-factor: !

Only a few (if any).

mrg-factor: none.

v-factor: ->->

There are battles and fighting scenes, but not too gruesome.

Overall rating: *** or ****

5 comments :

  1. I love this series too. It's fantastic. We discovered it when the first one was released in the States. We read the second one immediately when it came out and I thought my husband would die before the third one was finally released!

    If I hadn't already won an ARC for book 6 I would be all over your contest!

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  2. This would have to be one of my favourite series' of all time. I must admit though, the cover art of the first Australian edition quite turned me off, but after a very high reccommendation from my brother, myself, four of my siblings have read it, and I have also read all nine of them aloud to my parents. They really are a series the family enjoy!

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  3. BookMaid, I haven't seen the Australian covers - that's too bad! And I'm so glad your whole family seems to love them!

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  4. This is the old Australian version:
    http://judyoz.com/media/ccp0/prodlg/ra-ruins-gorlan-med.jpg

    And this is the new Australian version:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TKrmBY3ENZE/TAzKswdu_TI/AAAAAAAAA9o/WhF73GqNY_c/s320/200px-The_Ruins_of_Gorlan.jpg

    New is much better! But I quite like the british covers too...
    http://bp0.blogger.com/_JfmYtoWg4vU/SEsDDzkknBI/AAAAAAAAB54/XkdzFLcmKNI/s400/51O%252B-8LPp5L__SL500_AA240_.jpg

    Too many choices!

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  5. Totally true about too many choices! I really like the new Australian cover, though.

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