The Kings of Clonmel (Ranger's Apprentice #8) by John Flanagan

★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Well, I agree with my son, who said this book somehow didn't seem to "fit" with the rest of the series so far. I think because the threat - a cult involving a false prophet in collusion with raiding bandits - seemed convoluted and unlikely to have actually succeeded in overtaking 5 kingdoms before finishing off Hibernia with Clonmel. It's clear that King Ferris was a weak leader, and that's why Clonmel is in such danger, but does that mean that all 5 of the other Hibernian kings were equally weak?! And if Tennyson is so much the sole leader that Halt is confident that by taking him down, the whole house of cards will fall, then how is it possible that the other 5 kings didn't manage to take back their kingdoms once Tennyson left their borders? NO ONE else in a position of power in all of Hibernia saw through the con game!? Only the Araluen Rangers were smart enough to see it and brave enough to fight it? All very hard to believe, even in this make-believe world.

Even Halt's royal past seemed a bit much.

And, I was sorely disappointed when the author seemed to make Will momentarily less intelligent than he had led us to believe. With all of Will's quick-thinking stratagems, you mean to tell me that when he was tasked to follow a Genovesan known for poisoning their victims, and when he saw that Genovesan leave Horace's tent, it didn't occur to him that he poisoned Horace's water!?!? That was just too out of character.

Horace seemed to increasingly take on a kind of comic relief role, as his constant state of hunger was a frequent joke. That, I enjoyed! Also, with his integrity and straightforwardness, Horace is perhaps becoming one of my favorite characters.

Lastly, for those who might care, towards the end of the book there is a battle scene that ends, very swiftly, with a beheading.

Overall, a slower read than others in the series, and it never really got me hooked. Still, can't wait to read the next book in the series!

The Siege of Macindaw (Ranger's Apprentice #6) by John Flanagan

★★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

A very satisfying conclusion - all loose ends tied up! - to the events that began in Book 5.

I think the author is really good at character development. He keeps Will, Horace, and Alyss interesting while also introducing all sorts of new and different characters. He even had me feeling sorry for Keren at one point!

The book was probably on track for a 5-star rating, but then I reined it in because I felt like there were some major holes in the action. When Will and Horace are hiding for hours under the upside-down cart, it just made no sense to me that the castle defenders wouldn't just walk out and physically inspect the cart after it's abandoned. Why wouldn't Keren order some men to investigate the cart, to see if there might be any hint of what kind of siege they might be planning? And when he orders the cart burned, the flaming arrows fail, so they just give up!? How lazy can you be! Why not walk down to investigate why the cart isn't burning, and then break it apart for firewood or something!?

Then there was the climactic scene when Alyss was on the verge of killing Will. Of course Will wouldn't harm Alyss, but surely Alyss isn't so skilled with a sword that Will wouldn't be able to evade or restrain Alyss, right? He's one of the best-trained Ranger's after all, and managed to avoid being killed by the Scotti general in hand-to-hand combat! I think the implication is that Keren could easily have picked up the sword and finished the job, or held Will down while Alyss struck the fatal blow. But in a book where nothing goes unsaid, and battle scenes are described in great detail, it seemed like the logistics of this scene could have been fleshed out some more.

Anyway, I loved the ending, and left the book with lots of positive feelings.

As usual, a few mild swears ("damn" and "hell") thrown around. My third-grader who is reading the series is always especially entertained when he comes across a swear word!

The Sorcerer of the North (Ranger's Apprentice #5) by John Flanagan

★★★★

This book - which brings us to the small coastal fief of Seacliff, and then to the remote northern fief of Norgate - is exactly what I had wanted to read earlier in the series, when Will and Evanlyn being whisked off to Skandia derailed my enjoyment of being immersed in Araluen lore. I almost gave this book 5 stars for its pure entertainment value, but then I ended up downgrading it to 4 stars because there wasn't quite as much humor, or anything particularly remarkable, as in other books. A solid adventure and a good story, but maybe lacking that "something extra".

I don't want to give anything away, but maybe what I found most memorable about this book is the brief lesson of compassion that pops up towards the end. It was a quick glimpse, and I'm hoping we'll see more of that part of the story in the next book. This one ends on a complete cliffhanger with nothing resolved, so I'm assuming Book 6 is more like "Part 2" to this book.

Oh, and for parents previewing books for children - this book has multiple mild occurrences of "damn" or "dammit", and it also includes the word "bitch" once, but it is actually used to refer to a female dog.

Erak's Ransom (Ranger's Apprentice #7) by John Flanagan

★★★★★

Oh, I liked this book quite a bit! Isabelle and I read it as a read-aloud, maybe that added to my enjoyment.

I was tipped off by other readers that this book - Book 7 - actually chronologically follows Book 4. It says as much in the Author's Note, but you'd never know if you were just reading them in order!

Well, not to give anything away, but I loved the beginning, which delved into the personal developments in the lives of some of the main characters. The overarching theme is that Will is on the verge of becoming a full-fledged Ranger, and even though he's just about completed his apprenticeship, he doesn't feel like he's really ready to be on his own.

By now, I'm liking the idea of meeting new peoples in different parts of this world. In this installment, we meet the Arridi (reminiscent of an Arabian culture) and the Bedullin (like Bedouins). There's a bit of international intrigue here, and it's fun to see where alliances lie.

There were almost "too many" characters caught up in the main events, so frequently I'd even forget that Horace or Gilan were there, too. But that's okay. It was nice to see the whole gang together, even though they were facing danger. And I will say that even though I waver in my feelings towards Cassandra / Evanlyn, she did hold her own in this book.

As usual, I really enjoyed the author's chuckle-worthy humor!

The Battle for Skandia (Ranger's Apprentice #4) by John Flanagan

★★★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

This book is my favorite in the series so far!

Finally, Will and Halt are back together again! There's a battle to fight in Skandia, but ultimately we see our heroes return home to Araluen, and that's all I really wanted.

The author continues to favor "grim" and "uncanny" as his two favorite adjectives. Humor was a solid strength in this book, as Halt's small size was juxtaposed with Erak's massiveness, and the Skandians' simple tactic-less fighting was pointed out in matter-of-fact ways.

My feelings for Evanlyn continued to wax and wane; I got annoyed at her behavior, and then she'd redeem herself. I think in the back of my mind I'm always fearful that a romance will blossom between her and Will, or her and Horace, and it's one my biggest pet peeves to see an action/adventure movie get sidetracked by superfluous romance! I know we barely knew them, but I thought Alyss was meant for Will, and Jenny for Horace. I guess with Horace becoming a great knight, he's far above Jenny's station now, which is unfortunate. I'm still disappointed that we've now pretty much lost sight of Alyss, Jenny, and George, and I wonder if we'll see much of them at all in the remaining books.

I'm also still a bit indignant that King Duncan "got away" with his daughter never knowing that he completely forsook her to her fate in the hands of her Skandian captors.

Those minor quibbles aside, it was great to see Halt and Will and Horace back in all their glory. And I have to admit, I enjoyed being won over by Erak. Fine, he's the one who kidnapped Will and Evanlyn in the first place, but I guess he, too, redeemed himself after all.

Finally, just an added tip: If you want to read the books chronologically, after Book 4, read Book 7, and then go back to Books 5 and 6! There is an Author's Note in Book 7 explaining how he realized after the fact that he should have filled in the period of time between Books 4 and 5.

The Icebound Land (Ranger's Apprentice #3) by John Flanagan

★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

From the very beginning, this book didn't sit well with me. I realize there's a whole world out there to explore, but I wasn't ready to leave Araluen yet. Already we're off to Skandia and Gallica, but I still wanted to read more about Celtica, the fiefs of Araluen, and even this Hibernia that was mentioned a time or two. And after Will received his hero's welcome for his role in taking down the Kalkara, I was looking forward to reading about what kind of honor and praise Horace would get for taking down Lord Morgarath himself! Alas, any recognition he may have gotten went completely unmentioned in this book.

I spent the first several chapters increasingly annoyed that Halt had to go to so much trouble to get himself banished in order to be free to search for Will. You're telling me that King Duncan was perfectly content to let his daughter suffer in the hands of the Skandians, safe in the assumption that she would be treated well and that the King would only have to pay a ransom to get her released!!? So he's just going to sit around for months and months and wait for a ransom message?! He didn't think it was worth sparing ONE RANGER to go in search of his kidnapped daughter!?

Even after I got over those two hurdles, the book just keep veering farther and farther away from what I had come to enjoy about the first two books, which were safely in the upper elementary reading range. Now, suddenly, this book jumped into the upper middle school range, with all kinds of more mature content. The Skandians keep slaves, the Gallic warlord tortured and murdered those who "displeased" him, wanton drunkenness is portrayed more than once, and there's even a case of drug addiction! It's a bit shocking - even though the addict is never truly at fault. I do have to give the author credit, though, for depicting all of the above as negative, contemptuous things that clearly contrasted with the disciplined and honorable ways of Rangers and knights.

Anyway, I kept holding out, figuring that surely the book would be redeemed when Will and Halt are reunited in the end! Alas, again, I was disappointed.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy this book at all. I liked the drama of Halt's banishment - though it seemed unbelievable that it wasn't automatically clear to everyone why Halt did what he did. And I liked that when they said their farewells, Halt, Gilan, and Crowley - hardened Rangers as they were - all teared up.

Evanlyn also grew on me, while Jarl Erak remains a conflicted character. Am I supposed to like him because he helped Will and Evanlyn escape, even though it's ALL HIS FAULT that they were enslaved in the first place!?

Well, I'll just have to read book 4, and see where all this goes...