Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Ruins of Gorlan

This introductory book to Rangers Apprentice is a great read. Will is a well written young teen character who is not presented as perfect and his mentor, Halt is well rounded. They are truly enjoyable to read. I look forward to their evolution as characters over the course of the series. It was also nice to see Horace, a bully end up becoming a much more improved character in just this first book.

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ailsaod's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reread - I must admit that this review is very biased as for a long time this was my all time favorite series. This series was a big part of my childhood and I would eagerly await the publishing of each book. Sadly, as is the case with many series, some of the later books set in the same universe were not as much to my taste so it has been a couple years since I have read anything by Flanagan and I wanted to see if I would still enjoy it. The short answer is YES! I think I may enjoyed it a little more when I was a ten year old but as an adult I still had a great time.

One thing I will say is that the opening of this book is WAY more cliché than I remember. As an adult it can make the beginning a bit meh - although I would argue that it is done better than other examples of the 'young adult chooses future profession in ceremony' trope, mainly because Baron Arald being frustrated that no one realises that he is joking like 80% of the time is funny. Poor man just wanted to be a comedian.

However once we get past the beginning and Halt - the Ranger the main character Will is apprenticed to - is introduced the book gets much better. Halt is undeniably the best character - certainly at this early point in the series - although this may just be my weakness for grumpy and sarcastic but secretly very caring mentor characters showing! A big part of this book is about the relationship between Will and Halt.

In the middle of the book there are a couple of very intense scenes (intense in a good way, don't worry!) which I think are the best parts of the whole book. However, one warning for folks - there are multiple depictions of bullying in this book, both physically and verbally, and while I would say that I personally found it not to be overly upsetting it is there.

The climax of the book was very good and had quite a spooky atmosphere which was very enjoyable. However, the last couple chapters become quite cliched again - it is necessary to show Will's character development and make him realise some stuff though so it wasn't too bad.

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