Bookworm Speaks!- The Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan

Bookworm Speaks!

Ranger’s Apprentice Book 6

The Siege of Macindaw

by John Flanagan

****

The Story: The kingdom is in danger. Renegade knight Sir Keren has succeeded in overtaking Castle Macindaw and is now conspiring with the Scotti. The fate of Araluen rests in the hands of two young adventurers: the Ranger Will and his warrior friend, Horace. Yet for Will, the stakes are even higher. For inside the castle, someone he loves is being held hostage. And now the time has come for this onetime apprentice to grow up.

The Good: The best part of this book is that we see the return of Horace. We see the friendship between him and Will again and that really is the best part of the whole series, the Friendships. Building off on that is the budding romance between Alyss and Will and how near the end it goes through a trial that many real-world romances undoubtably go through. They have both come a really long way and it is good to seem both Will and Alyss grow. 

A consistent source of praise for this series is the realistic depiction of combat. It is a lot more than just charging and swinging a sword around. It takes a lot of planning. Days could be spent planning for an engagement that may only last a few minutes. This is how it was done back in the age of castles and swords and how it is done today. 

The Flaws: Of all the books in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, this book along with its counterpart, the Sorcerer of the North, are the least memorable out of the series. This is a big indication whether a book or any form of media is any good. If one forgets about it after reading it then there is probably not much to go for it. Unfortunately that is what can be said about Book Six. 

There is only one detail Bookworm remember’s in particular about the whole text. The part where Malcolm gives will a ‘magic’ stone supposedly from a shooting star to combat the effects of the magic stone of Keren and it turns out to only be a pebble from the river. Turns out the power was within them all along, blah blah blah. That kind of thing has been done a lot and while more appropriate for this series’ age-bracket, it is very tired for older readers. Its not a bad message by any means, its just that we have heard it an awful lot. 

The realism of the series is a great bonus but it works to the stories detriment here. There is a great deal of talking with not enough action. As it says above that is how it is really done, but this is a fantasy book and action is kind of a necessity if the author wishes to keep the reader engaged.

Final Verdict: Overall, this two parter of the Ranger’s Apprentice, The Sorcerer in the North, and the Siege of Macindaw is really where the whole series sags. It is good to see Will on his own but that is not the premise that we fell in love with. We fell in love with Will and Halt and Horace and them going to new lands on exciting adventures together. Thankfully we get back to that in the next book. 

Three out of Five Stars

thecultureworm.blogspot.com