Ranger’s Apprentice
Hello all. It’s been a few weeks since I last posted, mostly because I’m lazy, but also because small things like packing or assignments got in the way. Anyway, today I’m reviewing a series I have read over and over again for the past seven years: Ranger’s Apprentice
The story is about another world, which looks rather like a badly drawn version of our own. England, or Araluen in the book, the land where the story mostly revolves around, is clearly recognisable, although it is a bit fatter, Scandinavia is too close, and Egypt is WAY too close.
But enough of the map. The main character is a boy named Will, (who doesn’t have a last name for the first half of the series) who is apprenticed to a Ranger. That may have been slightly obvious from the title, but what is a Ranger?
To those who don’t know them, Rangers are spellcasters, who can turn invisible, never miss with their magic bows, and are generally feared by the commoners.
But to those who know them, such descriptions are silly. There is no such thing as magic in the world, as the characters remind each other every time something magic happens.
They’re wrong, though. I clearly remember some mind-controlled orc-things and flammable assassin bears from the first two books.
And the Rangers are always talking to their horses! And even more amazingly, the horses talk back! Or, they seem to. It never says whether or not the horses are talking or if the Rangers are stark raving mad.
There are a few of peculiarities about the series, like the fact that book seven is set before books five and six. It’s a prequel, but I’ve always read in the order of …four, seven, five, six, eight…
Also, book four was renamed in the US. I hate that, but it is probably fine. At least they didn’t rename any characters, or major historical references (What on earth is a “sorcerer’s stone”?).
There isn’t (much) magic in the series, but it makes up for it with sheer humour. The horses, in particular, are hilarious.
