MG fantasy explores confidence

John Flanagan, a best-selling, international, Australian author, published a popular 12-book middle-grade series called the Ranger’s Apprentice. After hearing some excited readers discussing the fantasy series, I picked up a copy of the first novel, The Ruins of Gorlan.

The story starts with 15-year-old Will and his graduating ward mates. They have been raised by a kind and generous baron in his castle. Will introduces his fellow orphans, Horace, Alyss, Jenny, and George. It’s Choosing Day at Redmont Castle, and all the other kids get the apprenticeships they desire, but not Will. Poor Will knows nothing about his family. He doesn’t even have a last name. He imagines that his father was hero, so he aspires to be a warrior. Instead, he gets selected to be the ranger’s apprentice. People whisper about the mysterious Rangers, an elite Special Forces Corps in Araluen, because they seem to have this knack of being invisible or just popping up in unexpected and sudden ways.

Baron Auld acts as if this is a great honor for Will. He’s not so sure.

Will gets bullied by Horace, and has been since they were small, but now Horace gets bullied by second year soldiers, making him angrier than usual.

The story follows Will and Horace through their training and shows how the two become friends when they unite against a common enemy.

I like the story of the characters’ growth from overcoming their insecurities to growing into admirable young men during their initial months in their apprenticeships. I root for Will, who by all accounts, looks like the underdog. Yet, he has some special talents people either admire or begrudge.

Ruins of Gorlan includes number of foes

Readers understand that the rangers and warriors face an overwhelming foe in the wargals, semi-intelligent beasts, that have joined with Morgarath, a former Baron of Gorlan, a nearby kingdom. Driven away 15 years earlier, Morgarath, restless and hungry for revenge, seeks to regain his power. The people in peaceful Araluen suspect nothing, but their leaders notice oddities that put them on alert. One strange occurrence involves the sudden death of a healthy general. As the story unfolds, readers realize that Morgarath sent the last two Kalkara, very scary, screaming beasts, to murder key figures in the impending war. One of the targets is Will’s teacher, Halt.

Much of this book is laying the foundation for the next eleven, I suspect. Middle grade readers seem to love heroes fighting the gruesome beasts. This does add a scary element to the novel; however, I think that the story is interesting even without the fantasy characters.

Aspects to consider

While this is not a Christian novel, it is a clean novel. One of my favorite quotes is from Horace: “People will think what they want to. Never take too much notice of it.”

A few uses of damned in the speech raised some concerns at first, but it was not a constant thing. I think perhaps it was used three or four times in 280 pages. These were unnecessary, and I don’t know why the author chose to include them. Nevertheless, there were no other worrisome incidents.

Australian spellings and punctuation may cause some readers to pause, but these differences also don’t take away from the story.

Recommended for readers 10 and up

Because I admire brave Will, I intend to follow his story to see how it continues. I’ve learned a bit about his interesting father as the story unfolds too. It makes me wonder if he lost his life fighting a wargal and what this might mean for young Will.

Flanagan created characters to care about and adventures for readers to root them through.

 I recommend The Ruins of Gorlan for kids 10 and up.