Ranger's Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan

Another juvie book!  Yaaaaaaay!

Actually, these next few books I talk about are going to be juvenile or children's picture books, so if you want some more adult stuff, you'll have to be a little patient.  Sorry!

So this is the first book in the series Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, called The Ruins of Gorlan. I believe it's Flanagan's first book (thus the "debut" in the tags), and apparently was originally a series of short stories for his son, to get said son interested in reading.  And I'll be honest, I was not in the least bit surprised when I found that out, because when I was reading it I thought that it was choppy in places, with the timeline moving along quickly (though that may be because I'm far more used to Tolkienish detailing of the passing of time).

One thing that I really appreciated was that the animosity between our main character, Will, and his pseudo-rival, Horace, did not have the cliched outcome that I was expecting.

But as with Cryptid Hunters, there's not much more than that to say.  I like the characters of Halt and his former apprentice, Gilan, but most of the other characters were pretty forgettable.  It's a good story, though nothing new, and the role/idea of the Rangers is pretty standard fantasy fare, but nothing I was particularly impressed by.  I can see why kids enjoy it, but I won't be hunting after the second book any time soon.