Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan
Perspective: 3rd Person
Tense: Past
Length: 288 pages
Ranger's Apprentice is a book that I really enjoyed since the age of 12. I remember buying the 2nd book from the BYU Bookstore. When I moved further north from living in a desert, coincidentally that was when The Sorcerer in the North (the 5th book) was released. I remember gazing up to the sky in the sunroom of my house, where there was a couch, reading in the sunlight. Those were quite the days!
I think this is a nice blend of traditional fantasy like King Arthur and of more modern ones like Dungeons and Dragons (Tales of the Realms). The author is a fairly renown Australian who had worked writing dialogue for a TV show called Hey Dad! The tale innovates quite a bit. And much like Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, this book has world building of the real world but with a slight variation. For instance, Arulen is the equivalent of England, while Scandia is the equivalent of Scandinavia.
For instance the rangers are an intelligence branch of the kingdom of Arulen. It kind of takes the idea of a CIA / FBI back in medieval times and then throws in mythical beasts. The author tries to explain the mysteriousness of rangers by giving an explanation of how they move unseen or blend in (camouflage of their capes, two colors). Or even the gorilla-like creature's ability to stun its victim with its sight has some scientific reason, which for me is a bit of a stretch.The Kalkara are the principle hunters in this tale.
Morgarath is a figure similar to the Mouth of Sauron (Middle Earth),also experiencing a fall from grace. He was a ruler of a wealthy fief, yet lost his power when he sought to seize the throne and displace the young king. This book follows his quest to remove his opponents and again try again to overthrow the king, from the perspective of Will, an orphan who becomes a ranger. Among those on his hit-list is Halt, Will’s master or trainer.
The biggest reason why I like this book is it is the hero's journey! I remember wondering what the problem with modern fiction was until I came to that realization of how many books today have no character development. The protagonist grows and learns quite a bit.
Comments
Post a Comment