Yea!! Yea, yea, yea! Another Ranger’s Apprentice! Just when I thought all was lost. Just when I lamented that there would never be another story about Halt and Will, John Flanagan comes through for me! Yippee!!!
Now, the good or the bad first…
Okay, it’s actually not so bad, but the book is really only a compilation of additional stories. Nine stories sandwiched between a Foreword and an Afterword. Personally, I would have called them a Prologue and an Epilogue because they are a part of the fantasy. There are little Author’s Notes at the beginning of some of the stories which are a part of reality. Which is it? Fantasy or reality? I guess I don’t need the little explanations for “why” a story was written. I just want to enjoy the story.
I actually like the idea that latter-day archeologists are uncovering the hidden manuscripts from Halt and Will’s time (the Words.) It just doesn’t work as well, because the author hasn’t fully committed. His archeologists can do the talking for him OR he can choose to insert his own thoughts. Just not both, please. I like to stay suspended in the fantasy.
The premise is questionable. Rangers are merely legend to modern day people. There are only ten accounts of them and they are all about Will and Halt. But their existence has never been proven until now. So… the Lost Stories prove the previous ten books? Were they books or oral tradition? It doesn’t say. There is no elaboration. If I had gone to the trouble of doing it this way, I would have had a great deal of fun with it and ELABORATED! Sorry for yelling.
BUT. The stories were good. There are nine stories and each is around five chapters long. There is also a single chapter bonus at the end! My favorite of the stories is called Death of a Hero. In it, we finally learn about the true origin of Will. It was quite powerful. It brought tears to my eyes – the good and happy kind of tears where you almost cannot catch your breath because of the joy.
The stories cover everything from more about where Halt came from to additional missions not formerly mentioned. Ranger Gilan and the Jenny, former ward of the state, also get their own stories. I don’t think I would be spoiling anything by mentioning that one story is about the Royal Wedding foreshadowed in the tenth book. Thanks to Will, it all ends well!
There were only a couple of stories included that I could have done without. One, the Roamers, involves a group of people that are obviously Tinkers or Gypsies and they are given no mercy. They have been painted very stereotypically as thieves. I was, quite honestly, surprised. The other one was Wolf. The wolf was the main character at the beginning of the story and I was cheering for him, but alas, it doesn’t end well for the animal. Nor for Tug, Will’s pony, either.
I think that Emperor was a much better ending to the series. Of course, now I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Outcast, the first in the Brotherhood Chronicles by Flanagan!
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