Ranger's Apprentice - Review

I’m currently in the process of rereading the Ranger’s Apprentice Series. The author, John Flanagan, has imbued this series with two of my favourite attributes: 1) it is funny and fun to read, and 2) it is long. With 12 books in the main series and two spin-off series, I’ll spend months hanging out with the characters before I have to say good-bye.

When I picked up the first book a few years ago I found myself somewhat bemused by the writing. While it was funny and the characters engaging, I found that there were some rookie mistakes* that I picked up while reading. The most apparent was Flanagan’s propensity to head-hop. Head-hopping is the tendency to start the scene off from one character’s point of view and then suddenly change to another’s. Fortunately for the reader, even though the change jolts you out of the narrative, the new point of view becomes quickly apparent. Despite this, I was so engaged with the storyline and was having so much fun with the character’s banter that I eagerly awaited the arrival of each new book.

This tendency slowly faded and by the middle of the series it had disappeared, leaving the quality of the books equal to books from some of my favourite authors - Rick Riordan and Tamora Pierce. I wholeheartedly recommend the Ranger’s Apprentice series to anyone who enjoys some historical fantasy and a lot of humour.

*Please note, I consider these rookie mistakes because they are mistakes I was scolded for when I started writing.