Bookworm Speaks!- The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
Bookworm Speaks!
Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan
by John Flanagan
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The Story: They have always scared him in the past—the Rangers, with their dark cloaksand shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice. What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied. . . .
The Good: The coming of age story is a classic one that is sure not to die out anytime soon and with good reason. Seeing a character grow right before your eyes is a great joy and Will is a joy to follow. He has talent for sure but he still needs teaching. He is confident but still feels intimidated by how big the world is outside his childhood home. It is hard to write children and teenagers accurately but the author does a good job of that. Growing up is a long, hard road and the author portrays the ups and downs realistically.
Halt is a very good character as well. It is true that he fits the usual gruff mentor stereotype but the truth is it is excusable for how much fun he is. He is mysterious but it is clear the author makes an effort to make him not some mystical warrior, he lives in a normal house and he does paperwork. He is human, a very skilled one at that. That is what gives this volume some weight. The characters are not superhuman…they had to work and practice in order to get where they are now. These are lessons that need to be taught to everyone…not just fantasy characters.
This book follows a lot of cliches but it takes all the good parts of cliches and throws in some memorable characters to pull the whole thing through. That really is the strength of this book as well as the other volumes in this series: The characters. In many fantasy and science fiction books, the author focuses more on the setting, wowing the reader with dragons and wizards hurling fireballs. This does not happen in this book and it works swimmingly. The setting is a ‘realistic’ portrayal of medieval life with a focus on the main character, the life he lives and the relationships he forges, which is really what a story is all about. Setting only takes you so far.
The Flaws: For hardened fantasy readers, like Bookworm will be before too long, there is not much that the book offers that has not really been done before. This is very much the beginning of the series and that is always a risk, as the author has not quite gotten his sea legs yet. Once again we are treated to another fantasy story that takes place in Europe. There is a whole world out there and many years of history…why can’t we have some fantasy that take place in Africa or South America or a world inspired by the Antebellum South! It is up to the writers of the future to break the mold.
The book also portrays an idealized version of medieval life. What people forget is that it was called the Dark Ages for a reason. Baron’s were the undisputed masters of the realm and could pretty much do whatever they wanted to the people of their lands. Since the orphans of the castle were fifteen, in medieval times, they would have been married with children by that point, especially pretty and blonde Jenny, and Halt would be something of a rarity, living to how old he was. Other writer’s such as George R.R. Martin have addressed this. Historical accuracy is not the most important thing to consider when writing high fantasy in particular but as Bookworm gets older and reads more, he does start seeing the fallacies in taking such a direction.
Final Verdict: The Ranger’s Apprentice Series is a wonderful series in young fantasy and good for readers of all ages. Bookworm owns all of them and hopes many others do the same.
Four out Five Stars
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