Have any of your guys read the Ranger's Apprentice books?, If you haven't, you really need to. They're great. I'm on book 6 right now and love them to death. Most of the book(s) is really funny and the rest is really fast and exciting action.

Ranger's Apprentice Series
1. The Ruins of Gorlan
2. The Burning Bridge
3. The Icebound Land
4. The Battle for Skandia
5. The Sorcerer in the North
6. The Siege of Macindaw
7. Erak's Ransom
8. The Kings of Clonmel
And more to come
By (his pen name) John Flanagan
Or real name, Jon Anthony

Love them! I've read through book six. The only con is the occasional bad langague.

Well that depends on what you call "bad" language. I really enjoy them!!

I've read Ranger's Apprentice....they definitely fall below LoTR and Narnia on the fantasy scale....maybe a seven out of ten (after all, it's hard to displace Tolkien and Lewis) but I really enjoyed their plot, etc. I thought that they were pretty well written, but there's just something about the books that seems...well, almost cheap to me. I can't put my finger on it, but I still like the books. I've read through book five.

eruheran

They're not really even Fantasy... I mean, there's very little fantasy in it! Just a little bit of mind control, which we don't even get in detail. It's more of a European Parody...

Skandia = Skandinavia, the roman word for the general area...
Gallia=Gaul, also Roman...
Celtica= Drives me crazy. The word is Ceticia. It's an actual word. Why can't we use the real word?!! Also the Roman's phrase.

But they're very good. Until he's not an apprentice anymore and then you wonder what happened to the series. And very inspiring reading for someone who needs to practice archery more.

He did that on purpose. If you turn his map sideways, it is Europe. Even Tolkien did this, but not to such an extent.

Ah, but Tolkien was writing a mythology for England, remember?

Whereas, as far as I can tell, Ranger's Apprentice is simply an LoTR rip off, even more poorly done than Eragon. (A Star Wars rip off in Middle Earth.)

Morgorath (or was it Morgarath?) is the most obviously stolen character, with Rangers and certain creatures coming in close for "most ripped off element".

Can you tell I don't like them?

I liked Ranger's Apprentice for the plot. I don't know, they were 'rip-off' books but they were enjoyable to read. They held my attention to the end. I'm with you, Ana. They're good books.

eruheran

I've read through book four, and I thought Halt's description matched Aragorn (except for the height) but the gray flecked through his hair, his CLOAK!! I guess he's different enough, but he is very similar; HE'S A RANGER!!! LotR BLATANT RIP OFF!!!!

Lord of the Rings does not hold a monopoly on rangers. I had characters who were rangers even before I ever knew the story existed! I noticed no similarities between LotR and Ranger's Apprentice...

The biggest LotR rip-off I have ever read is Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. It didn't dawn on me until the second or third book but... yeah. All the way up to how it ends. That was so similar it was weird, and annoying. This one... maybe there are some Tolkien elements but it's hardly the same thing.

Maybe I'm paranoid. But you can't argue with Morgarath.

I did think that some of it was a rip-off on LoTR (mostly rangers... LoTR might not hold a monopoly on them, but they were still very similar.), but the plot was nothing like LoTR. I thought they were well written for maybe eleven or twelve year olds, but not much older.
In my opinion, the books got worse and worse. The first four were pretty good in terms of plot, but as soon as he became a full-fledged ranger, the stories lost their appeal for me.
Also, there were a couple bad words.

So I'm kind of in between Erutheran and Neil of Erk... they hold your attention, but you could probably find something better to read.

Morgarath was... lame. I mean, all he did was hold mind control over a couple of mythical creatures without which he was helpless. He was simply an exile who wanted revenge. There was very little to strike terror into your heart... He was a convenient enemy. Not exactly my impression of Sauron.

Okay, the rangers are similar. But that doesn't mean they're the same thing.

I just think that they're WAY too close. But I guess the plot is different, so that's OK. I liked the Battle for Skandia.

Or can I? It might have been a total mistake. My sister and I have thought of amazing elements or cool names only to find out that they had already been used, even in books I already read, but forgot.

The rangers do hold a similarity, but they don't hold long life, they aren't all from the same line, they don't use the same weapons, and they don't even do the same work.

I'm just spit-balling here, but maybe that means it was in the back of your mind and you were thinking of it subconsciously, and that's why you thought it was your idea.

Yeah, but that still means that it was a mistake.

I guess so.

I think they're really good. Maybe because I dislike fantasy with any amount of magic, so some of my favorite series are "Ranger's Apprentice" and the "Edge Chronicles." Both of which are mostly adventure stories set in a medieval European-ish world.

I have read cheap LotR copies and or adventures. Most of them have rangers, they've become almost a necessity in fantasy. John Flanagan's rangers are the most original view of rangers I've seen.

Chronicles of Prydain is not a LotR rip-off, it's based on Welsh mythology and has very little to do with LotR.

I love this series. I'm not a fan (or reader or watcher) of any of the LOtR series, so this was highly original for me. I agree though, they shouldn't be put into the 'fantasy' genre. They are more of a historical fiction with a spattering of fantasy at the beginning. His reason for that was that he wasn't comfortable writing about a fifteen year old boy shooting people, which is understandable.

I've read all of them up to number 9, Halt's Peril, and every one of them have been as good as the last. My family are reading number 10, Emperor of Nihon-Ja at the moment, and it is the first of his series to drag a little. Maybe it's because of all the chinese names he has in it.

The language isn't so bad. And I love these books especially for the humour! Maybe a lot of people don't understand the humour because it is Australian, but at times it can have my whole family laughing out loud!

I have actually met John Flanagan, and I'm of the belief that it is his real name. I don't think it's his pen name. He's quite a nice guy, actually. My family met him at a library visit once, and he had us all laughing. If you imagine every good character in his books combined, you'll be thinking of John Flanagan. I write to him over email occasionally. He's given me lots of advice on how to get published, which was very generous of him. He also signed my copy, "Keep writing! John Flanagan".

Yes, so me and my family are huge Ranger's Apprentice fans.

I'm currently on the first book.

Elly!! *glomps* You musteth tell me what you thinketh of it when you're done.

Hello Bushy! I'll let you know. Goes back to .

I've never read these but I'm always looking for good books to read. These will go on my list!

Do read them. You won't be able to put them down! My family loves them.

I love Tug and Will. I do feel sorry for Horace, when he was picked on by the second-year batteschool apprentices, but I think he should have managed himself better. I think that he shouldn't have brought out all of that anger on others. He should have saved it for fighting the bullies.

Same Elly. I did feel sorry for him too, but he was so naive that he believed it to be the way things was, so we can't really blame him for acting the way he did. He didn't feel "allowed" to stand up to the bullies, so he took it out on everyone else instead. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

The author is Australian??? I was about to wonder how you got the tenth book when I just got the night before I read that. That's so cool. I popped into to say: My library just got "Halt's Peril" and I'm really enjoying it. And yes, the humour is hilarious. Almost every other chapter has me snorting in laughter, and that's slightly unusual for me. Reading all eight books in a row tends to pull out the downsides more, but it's been quite a few months since I finished the last one, so I'm really enjoying number nine more than I would have if I'd got it right away.

Chinese names are cool. Lloyd Alexander did a really good book that was chinese fantasy.

Yes, the author is Australian. I've met him, actually. Really nice guy, and funny...! I nearly split my sides!

The ninth is one of my favourites out of the whole series! And I don't often laugh when reading books, because they aren't funny enough. But when I was reading these, I'd burst out laughing, and my brother would say, "What are you up to??!" My family is the biggest Ranger's fan.

We actually just finished the tenth not long ago. Compared to the others, this one lagged a little, but the ending was really good.

I know what you mean about errors. My brother is a R.A. expert, and he has picked out every single flaw in the series, and yet he still loves them!

I haven't read anything past the sixth book. But I'd like to read the others...

eruheran

They're good reads, the 7th is one of my favourites, and my brother loves 8. *glances across to nearby bookshelf where all ten are lined up neatly* We had nine of them signed by John Flanagan, and he wrote our last name in them as well.

Awesome! I love signed copies of any books I only have one signed book (and it's not fantasy ).

Also, being an oldie, it's interesting how when this topic first came up the books were kind of slammed and now everyone is like 'I love these!'

eruheran

Maybe they grow on people. Or maybe they are being polite since I'm Australian.

I've read six and then the eighth one. We couldn't find the seventh one at our library then and I couldn't wait since we'd already checked out the eighth.

When I first posted on this thread I think I'd just read six in a row. Obviously they weren't my favorite thing. But it's been a while, and this one was just so funny! I think it's totally cool that you've met the author. I mean, that's awesome. And you got them signed! That's also awesome!

It was totally awesome. I had emailed him a few weeks previously asking him if it was possible for him to visit our town library (it's a bit out of the way) he replied back that it wasn't in the plans at that stage. Two weeks later it's known that he's coming to our library! I was on cloud nine for weeks after that visit, I'm sure I wasn't walking on the ground when I left the library!

More books have come out since then, and they've gotten less like LotR as they went on.

I really need to read past like book...six, I think was the last one I read.

eruheran

I am always shocked how funny the books are every time I read them!
Has anyone heard of Ranger Camp?

I have heard of it fleetingly, but nothing in concrete.

I've heard nothing of it.

The "One Ranger, One Riot" saying that goes with them originated with the Texas Rangers. I found that fact interesting.

I found a link on Ranger's Apprentice camp, thought I'd post it here.
http://www.rangersapprentice.com/camps/

Ooh, coolness. Looks like fun!

It does look like fun. I shall have to use ranger tactics and camouflage myself so the flight attendants don't see me slip aboard a plane so I can fly to American and attend...

Looks like like a mix between LARP-ing and the paintball Big Games at the nearest paintball field.

Well, I love this series. Love the characters depth. Yeah, plot is cheesy but overall it's solid.

*grins* I love your username!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted here. I recently read the entire series. I enjoyed them very much. Not the best or most original story ever, but I had very good characters.
Halt is one of my favorite mentor characters of all time.

Ranger's Apprentice is great! We've read nearly all of them, and we've read a bit of the way through the eleventh book, The Lost Stories.

I'm in the beginning of the third one.