By John Flanagan
Will Treaty has come a long way from the small boy with
dreams of knighthood. Life had other plans for him, and as an apprentice Ranger
under Halt, he grew into a legend—the finest Ranger the kingdom has ever known.
Yet Will is facing a tragic battle that has left him grim and alone. To add to
his problems, the time has come to take on an apprentice of his own, and it’s
the last person he ever would have expected. Fighting his personal demons, Will
has to win the trust and respect of his difficult new companion—a task that at
times seems almost impossible.
I was incredibly excited when I found out John Flanagan was
going to add one last book to my beloved Ranger’s Apprentice series. When I
found out that it would feature an older Will with an apprentice of his own I
was even more excited. The dynamics of this particular Ranger’s Apprentice was,
of course, different and took me a bit to get into as I was expecting a solo Will
and a younger one. The jump in time was hard to adjust to, but once done I was
right there enjoying seeing old friends and getting to know new ones. Maddie,
Will’s new apprentice, is an arrogant spoiled brat. Oh and she happens to be
the Princess of Araluen. Her parents are desperate and hope that training as a
Ranger will help iron out Maddie’s attitude. Needless to say, it’s fun to see
Will in the situation that Halt was in when Will became his apprentice. Will is
the greybeard famous ranger now, with more than a little in common with Halt,
but thankfully, still very much himself. The best part of this book was seeing
old friends and also the epilogue. One thing I really appreciate about John
Flanagan’s books, he never leaves you feeling sad or anxious. Everything, while
not perfect, is good. He always leaves his readers smiling and hopeful. This
has been a wonderful series, and here’s to Mr. Flanagan letting us see his
Ranger’s characters in Brotherband every so often!
This gets a 3.75 out of 5- dangerously close to a 4.
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