This 12 book YA (Young Adult) series takes you to a land not full of magic or fantasy but back to the medieval times; when kings and queens ruled the lands. When there were lords and lady's of court. When the fates of kingdoms lay in their cunning minds and ability to maneuver armies against all odds.
The first book makes a quick introduction of all the characters that through the series you grow to love and hold dear, when they are but children entering into apprenticeships. The main male character (MMC) currently being Will, a young orphaned lad who is determined to be a warrior as he grew up with stories of how his own father was one on the battlefields. On the battlefields of a war that was not finished. He is flanked in the story by other childhood orphans: Horace, Alyss, George and Jenny. Although Alyss, George and Jenny do not make many appearances in the first book, they tend to make many appearances through the series.
Through a selection process in the lands they live in, each character is set to apprentice with a master of their own arts. Horace to the Battleschool. Alyss to the kingdoms Diplomatic Service. George to the kingdoms Scribeschool. Jenny going to the Chefschool in the keep they all grew up in. And finally Will, our MMC, being denied for battleschool, and all other apprenticeships for that matter. He stood in a room with his peers with no hope of a future but tilling fields. Until, drum rolls please *insert drum roll here*, Ranger Halt enters the picture. This series does have several different POV (point of view) areas where Will is no longer the MMC but there end up being more MMC's than in a typical work of fiction. The transitions are done so well though that I never had to back and re-read areas to make sure I was truly understanding whose eyes and mind I was reading through.
Now you know me, I do love giving spoilers away to eager fans of a series that can't just read the book before reading my reviews. But as I grow as a review writer and learn how to properly convey my excitement, disappointment, love and loathing, I don't want to give away too many of the books best parts. If you can't tell though by the synopsis on the back of the book, Will does become a Ranger Apprentice. I mean, hence the series title. If you couldn't put those two puzzle pieces together, that is most certainly not on me.
I wish I could go through each book individually and maybe one day I'll re-read the series and make individual posts about them but that's not what this post is about. So let us get down to business shall we!
How well did the author capture my attention and maintain that attention?
With the first book being very world building and character development, I can honestly say, it captured my attention extremely well. The cover is really what drew me in the begin with and though the first few chapters of introductions and building were rough for me to get through, I can see they were indeed necessary in later chapters when it truly mattered in my mind to be able to visually view this made up world! As the series continues obviously the covers remain as YA as possible and though I think that if they were not part of this series I probably would not initially purchase them. The author of this series was also very good and ending on a cliff hanger where I would need to immediately start reading the next book. However, I did find a flaw in the order with which the books were published and written with how they should be read. Erak's Ransom is actually the 7th book in publication order, it should be the 5th book read in the series. That was a mistake I feel that was intentional as he may have been having to world build in that book as well and it just took longer for him the write out. But the things that are described in both the 5th and 6th book, timeline wise, come after the 7th. That was tough for me to get past because then I focused too much on a part of the story I was missing instead of the story I was reading. The only other time I had a problem reading was the Kings of Clonmel and Halts Peril, because although these have a separate villian than the first couple books, they both of the same villian more as a story continuation rather than another addition to the story line. Almost as if the author while writing these two books, became, stagnant. I felt as though I reading the same descriptions of people and places over and over again and I just wanted to DNF (Do/Did Not Finish) the books. I am really glad I didn't though because going into the next books would not have felt like such fresh air.
2. How well was the series written?
As previously stated in #1 when the POV changed with the character I didn't have to go back and re-read anything to make sure I was thinking of the correct character. I never had to remind myself of who I was reading through. The books are written in a way for YA that they are extremely quick reads. The majority of the books I had read within a 24-36 hour period and that was between going to work and taking care of a whole household. They read quickly if you are a fast paced reader, and even if you aren't they are still written in a way that I don't think anyone really would struggle through. There is ABSOLUTELY ZERO spice in this book, not even one fade to black moment. This is a TRUE YA series. I had not seen any kind of cosplay on Tiktok, I had not read any reviews, and I didn't go looking for any either, so I definitely went in this series blind but open minded about what I would find. With the writing being so easy to read I was surprised not to find as much dialogue as I had probably hoped for. But that was okay because in the parts where there was less dialogue than I would have normally liked, there were other things, like thoughts and descriptions from the characters POV to fill those voids between dialogue and still move the story and plot forward. All in all it was very well done.
3. Did the plot move at a steady pace and did it engage me?
Yes, through most of the series except for the Kings of Clonmel. A lot of that book was just back story for Halt because lets face it, once your into the dark brooding morally grey characters there is no going back and I'm assuming there were fans relentless in asking the author for more of him. The movement of these stories was so well done as well, I could always tell when something was going to happen because I'd be 3/4 of the way through and everything going peachy for our MC and then realize, there are far too many pages left! Or I'd be in the thick of the plot and climax and realize I only had a few chapters left and weep at another cliff hanger possibility.
4. How well did I like the characters?
So, this is always a big thing for me because to truly love a story, to truly fall in love with an authors work and a series. Then I need to feel like I'm part of that story, like the characters are so real that I could text them later about the stupid choices they made. Even though the majority of the MC's in this series (at least the beginning) are male I ever so slowly started to fall for them. Especially Horace. At first, I hated him and his bully ways, but as the first book unfolded into a wonderful tale of adventure he became so treasured to me that I just wanted to go back to little Horace and squeeze him so tight. None of them felt like their developments were stagnant, although you only see a few of them four of five times in the series you can still watch them grow into amazing young men and women. You still want to love them when they make those stupid choices. You want to protect them on the adventures that take them so far from home. When I say that I watched them grow while I read this series, I truly did, from being no more than 15 or 16 to full fledge 30 year old adults.
5. Was the story, characters, dialogue, and writing style consistent?
For the most part yes it was. But when it wasn't I could tell that was because the story called for it to be different. Like jumping from hero to villian POV instead of staying with only the MC's. Its because in order to see the whole picture, I needed those POV's to change. I do not think the writing style changed in the least. It still felt like the same author through the entire series.
Through all of my criteria I would give this series 4.5 out of 5 stars.
I had to take the .5 out of the fact that I did not see anywhere, where it said to read Erak's Ransom out of order. And that really frustrated me for 2 whole books. I was also frustrated between the other two books that I previously said felt like the author had been stagnant on how to move the story forward. I just didn't feel the series being propelled with such force as I did the previously books, or even the books after that. I loved this series so much and I cried, and I laughed through the entire thing with fat ugly tears and full belly chuckles. I do recommend this book to anyone who just likes reading YA Fiction books that don't involve magic or fantasy but does involve world building and is a quick read.