The Royal Ranger

So I might have stayed up really late last night finishing this book. Devouring it whole is probably a fairly apt descriptor. And now I want to read it again. Reread the whole series, really.

The marketing of this series fascinates me. I know I need to check the children's section of my local bookshops if I want to find them. They are classified as juvenile fiction, or maybe sometimes as YA (I can't say as I have ever found them shelved in the YA/teen section, however). When the series starts, Will and his friends are fifteen years old, but by this last book they are, at an absolute minimum, in their mid-30s. That's a huge range of ages for a series of books aimed at children, but somehow it works.

A transitional story from the original apprentice series to the next generation (and series) of rangers. Halt has retired; Will has matured. He’s also taken on an apprentice. She is not just the first female trainee, she’s also his goddaughter and the only child of his two best childhood friends Queen Cassandra and The Oak Leaf Knight Horace.

I like that the story acknowledges physical differences in strength and finds ways for Maddie to still be a ranger without making her into Wonder Woman or some kind of super freak. This makes me look forward to this new series as the author tackles a heroine as the central character.

The beginning of this book is so sad, my heart broke for Will and all of his friends on their loss. I am hopeful that this isn't the end of that story and that future books will bring a surprise somehow but I will not hold my breath. I loved Maddy's story arc in this novel and the addition of female Rangers to the core.

Looking forward to the rest of the books in this series.

With this book being the last one in the "Ranger's Apprentice" series, I had high expectations, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Flanagan brings the series full circle with Will, probably in his forties at this point, taking on his own apprentice to train. This book has all the characteristics that I've come to expect from Flanagan: nail-biting suspense, lovable characters, quirky humor, page-turning action, nasty bad guys, and a few surprising twists. However, I was a bit nostalgic for the feel that came from Will being an apprentice with Halt as his mentor that came from the earlier books; but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Royal Ranger." It's been a long time since I've been so sad to finish a book series. I'll definitely be show more looking for more books by John Flanagan! show less

A great ending to a wonderful series.
In book 12,”The Royal Ranger”, the saga turns full circle. This time it is Will who has to take on an apprentice. The book begins with Will suffering from an immense tragedy in his life and seeking revenge for his hurt. His friends are very worried for him and believe that the right apprentice just might help him recover his equanimity. John Flanagan does not disappoint in his final addition to this series. Will has become a master and has definitely learned enough to become a teacher himself but how will he take the suggestion? Will agrees however but taking on an apprentice is not easy and there are many challenges both Will and his apprentice must meet.
There were many small things in the show more story that harked back to the first book in the series, when Will was an apprentice to Halt, and it is a fitting way to farewell all the characters that readers have come to know and love through the RA stories.
The book is filled with action, humour and tragedy and there was plenty of natural dialogue throughout the story and some of reactions of the characters made me laugh.
There is also enough in the book to sow the seeds of ideas for a new spinoff series to the Ranger's Apprentice books. Could this happen? show less

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer   Synopsis 15 to 20 years after The Lost Stories, Will is dealing with one of life's most grievous blows. At the same time Horace and Evanlyn are dealing with their rebellious daughter.   My Thoughts First off, Will's wife is dead (hide spoiler) . Once you get past that, then the story moves on.     Will is turning into a shell and Maddy is running so wild that she is in danger of becoming a danger to the Royal Family.   Everybody show more else gets together and comes up with a plan to force them together. It works. Will gets happy, Maddy grows up and they rescue a bunch of stolen children and give justice to the killer of Will's wife.   I found this slightly disgusting to be honest. I thought that Will's story should have ended back in The Lost Stories and this just smacked of something slightly off. I don't have a problem with more stories about the Rangers or this land, but either go with a different ranger, or skip a generation and start a new sub-series.   Also, this smacked of trying to get the girl "vote". Keep your "girl power" story in another time line. Don't force into characters that I've already spent 11 books worth of time with. Like I wrote before, write this story. Tell this "girl growing up" story. It is a good story. But it isn't a Will Treaty story.   I guess it came down to that I didn't want to read a new Will Treaty story, but was willing to read a Will Treaty story and this was NOT about him. He was ancillary.   Rating: 3 of 5 Stars   Author: John Flanagan " show less

I never would have thought the Flanagan would bring this series to an end, choosing to instead let it just sort of hang out there. This book wraps up the series, in my opinion as it has been quite a few years since the previous book. It is great to see Will back in action, even as an adult.

Basic Storyline: Will is torn up by the unfortunate death of his wife, and is on a spree to kill the man./men responsible. To bring him out of this dark side, Halt and Galin propose to give him an apprentice to train. Turns out that Horace and Cassandra's daughter is of an age, and they are currently exasperated with her teenage rebelliousness. Long story short, she is assigned as an apprentice to Will, bringing about the acceptance of females into show more the Ranger's, as well as a new weapon they can use.

Though much of the story was somewhat predictable, and the writing set obviously for a more YA crowd, I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the tale of the Rangers again. show less