What do You think about The Ruins Of Gorlan (2006)?
I was searching for a book that doesn't have any magic like in Eragon. So i began searching and came stumbling across this book. Hmm, rnager's apprentice. Catchy title. I began reading it. It was soooo good and exciting! All the emotions and action felt so real when you read it. I couldn't put down the book until either it was done or i was too sllepy to continue reading. SO far what happened was that Will (the main character) gets declined from being a warrior/knight because of his height. SO Halt (his soon-to-be-mentor) took him as his apprentice of his newfound skill: the art of being unseen. Will's friends, Horace, Jenny, George,and Alyss, all got accepted to their own schools. Will began to be trained as a Ranger, while Horace was being trained as a warrior, Jenny was being trained as a cook, George trained as a scriber, and lastly, Alyss was trained as a diplomat. Throughout the training, Will and Horace gon through some adventures together and some were just Will and Halt.I finally finished my book! I love it! i cant wait for to read the next series! Will was so brave to go with Halt and Gilan to hunt down the Kallras. If I was him, i waould be totally freaked out and too scared to move... to even think when i see them. Also Will complete a solo ride back to the castle from where he, Halt and Gilan was to summon help. It takes less than a day, and he insisted to come back, even though he was tired as sh*t. I would sleep all day if i had to do what Will did. Then even more amazing, was that he finished off the last Kallras when he was their only hope. This reminds of how a cornered rat can fight back in amazing strengths. Thats what Will was; a cornered rat. Also, Will was determined to help his mentor and that summoned his strength needed to complete his tasks. That's really impressive!Raw power from the ones you want to protect.
—Jason Yee
I love this entire series. This is a reread for me, but I feel the need to rant about how much I love it.One thing that pleases me is how detailed yet succinct Flanagan is in his descriptions of Araluen's history and politics and such. He gives you all the info you need, but doesn't overload you with unnecessary trivia. Also, the writing is excellent. It never bored me, ever, even throughout all ten books, as far as I can remember. The characters are all distinct, and yet each maintains a level of wit and humor that just tickles my fancy over and over again. Speaking of characters, I love them. All of them. Once again, they all have distinct personalities, so I never feel like a character's actions are used just as a plot-furthering device. Best of all, Will serves as one AWESOME protagonist. Honestly, I'm madly in love with his character. I'm madly in love with all of the characters, but still. Will is my favorite. And yet Halt and Horace and the others aren't secondary characters. They're all main characters, too, especially as the series progresses. The more personalities that are on the forefront of these adventures, the more interesting it is. Flanagan got that right. There's not much more to say, because once I get going about one book, I start talking about them all. But one last thing I'm amazed by is that Flanagan's world is so effortlessly colorful. And it's his own, too. Obviously knights and rangers and Vikings and such aren't his creations, but he manages to take these ideas and characters and make his own variation of them. I don't feel like I'm reading Lord of the Rings 2.0 or anything, although you might find people who disagree with me. Basically, I'm really biased towards this series. I can't find anything to complain about concerning this book, so I'll just end it here. Read this series. I'm certainly going to. Again.
—Karen Kaiser
I've never been one of those guys with lots of friends. Actually, I kind of always had to turn to book characters to cover my lack of real relationships. Thus, in the first year of college, when I discovered this series, I couldn't have been more glad for it.The first reason is that I felt that I could relate to the protagonist after only a few pages. Will is, at first, a solitary little kid who doesn't know his place in the world. His situation only gets worse when the time for him to be chosen by one of the task masters of the castle approaches. What he didn't know is that his destiny was not to be an orthodox worker for the realm. Despite him not knowing why, he is chosen to be one of the realm's rangers, men that are responsible for the strategical defense of the land.One of the strongest traits about Flanagan, as I see it, is that he really takes his time writing his story. Nothing feels rushed and crammed, so you can actually perceive character's development.As soon as Will finds out what he is supposed to be, he brings out his utmost dedication to learn how to be a ranger. By following Halt's teachings, he soon becomes visibly one of the most promising young apprentices of his age. What he couldn't possibly have known is that his skills would soon be tested as an evil force that seriously threatens the King's well being approaches the realm.Despite the adventures, what I remember liking the most about this book is the growing father-son relationship between Will and Halt. As I never had a close relationship with my own father, I always find this kind of story really touching. Also, the level of detail on Flanagan's descriptions of scenario and atmosphere are really good. As in perfect balanced good. He describes just enough so you can get a clear picture of the scene without being smashed by useless amounts of detail, as sometimes happens in other fantasy/fiction books. Interesting quotes that I didn't include in the review: “People will think what they want to," he said quietly. Never take too much notice of it.” The Last Passage(view spoiler)[ Will sat quietly for some minutes. Almost unthinkingly, his hand went to touch the bronze oak leaf symbol hanging at his throat. Faintly, the evening breeze carried the sounds of the Battle-school drill yard to him, and the nonstop hammering and clanking from the armory that had been going on, night and day, for the past week. They were the sounds of Castle Redmont preparing for the coming war.Yet strangely, for the first time in his life, he felt at peace. (hide spoiler)]
—Ademilson Moraes
