Battle for Skandia

 

The Battle for Skandia is the fourth book in the Ranger's Apprentice Series by John Flanagan and is a nice ending piece for this story arch. 

"Still far from their homeland after escaping slavery in the icebound land of Skandia, the Ranger's apprentice and the princess's plan to return to Araluen is spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive by a Temujai warrior. Though still weakened by the warmweek's toxic effects, Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend, but an enemy scouting party has him fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand, unil old friends make a daring, last-minute rescue. The reunion is cut short, however, when they make a horrifying discovery: Skandia's boarders have been breached by the entire Temujai army. And Araluen is next in their sights. 

"If two kingdoms are to be saved, the unlikeliest of unions must be made. Will it hold long enough to vanquish a ruthless new enemy? Or will past tensions spell doom for all?"

General Thoughts: It's a good book. Probably my favorite of the first story arch. The scenes of Will in charge of the archers is one that has come back to me over and over throughout the years when I think of the series. 

Plot: This literally becomes "My enemies enemy is my friend." Those from Araluen and the vikings from Skandia have to put bygones aside in order to defeat the new enemy otherwise they will both be destroyed. It's nice to make new friends, and those can often be forged under dire circumstances. 

Setting: Much the same as the last one though on the greener side of things, we are in Skandia. Viking country. While the setting might have hindered or helped during the battle, it didn't make much of an impact on my reading. Often while tracking or searching we'd get some good forest descriptions or while they were in the Skandian capital, but because we didn't move around much in the story, it was easy to just forget. 

Characters: It's nice having many of the important characters back together. Erak really outdid himself in the third book and he grows on you even more here. His brash, Skandian attitude is fun and different than Halt's silent stoicism. Evanlyn develops more here as a leader as well, as does Will. Horace, as always, is a beef of a man even when he's still a teen. I enjoy having them all together to do their thing. 

Spice: 1/5 Spicy Chilis. As they cared for each other in the last book and their feelings for each other were beginning to bud, now it has a possibility to bloom, not much, but it can try. 

Overall: As I said before, it's a good ending to first story arch. We get a good, tactical battle sequence with a bunch of close calls, characters get to grow and show that they are competent not just some young sapling.  

Icebound Land

 Icebound Land is the third book in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. 

"Kidnapped after the fierce battle with Lord Morgarath, Will and Evanlyn are bound for Skandia as captive aboard a fearsome wolfship. Halt has sworn to rescue Will, and he will do anything to keep his promise--even defy his King. Expelled from the Rangers he has served so loyally, Halt is joined by Will's friend Horace as he travels toward Skandia. On their way, they are challenged constantly by freelance knights--but Horace knows a thing or two about combat. Soon he begins to attract the attention of knights and warlords for miles around with his uncanny skill. Even so, will they be in time to rescue Will from a horrific life of slavery?"

General Thoughts and Plot: This was a very somber book comparatively to the other books in the series. Will and Evanlyn get taken as slaves and will gets addicted to drugs, Evanlyn must save them both and are very close to dying even with the help of new friends, Halt and Horace both have to go up against a really nasty warlord and John Flanagan doesn't sugar coat things as much as he potentially could have. We really get to see what dire straits they are all in and it's not looking good for any of them. It's a good story that flows well and really punches home the problems that happen with addictive substances. In the future it would be interesting to see if Will ends up coming face to face with the Warmweed again though that would be for another story. 

Setting: It is interesting the world that John Flanagan has let expand for us. The Viking culture and warmongering French-esque countryside were interesting juxtapositions and comparisons. Very different cultures and how then a English-esque-man would deal with such differences, with some moments needing to be more delicate than others.  

Characters: It was great to see Evanlyn's character development as she has had to grow in a different direction than she though she would have. Growing and having to really learn how to survive not just in a Viking-esque longhouse, but also out in the frozen wild. Will doesn't get as much development because he is incapacitated, but Horace gets a chance to step up as well because there are things Halt can't do. It was intriguing to see how Halt stood up to the King. The King knew what Halt was doing and didn't like how Halt wouldn't do as ordered but also didn't want to lose a friend for a rash rescue of sorts. Halt was willing to throw everything to the wind if it meant a chance at saving Will and Will could have been long dead for all he knew. 

Spice: 0/5 Spicy Chilis. There was none. Hopes for maybe some in the future. But nothing whatsoever because they were too worried about surviving to let anything kindle. 

Writing Style: Again John Flanagan is very tell-y. He tends to explain everything as opposed to showing us what is going on. Maybe, it has to do with the fact that he was writing for a younger audience so he felt he needed too, but even in the later books he "slips up" and does it fairly often. It is probably just going to be how he writes. While it isn't bad, it is kind of annoying. 

Overall: Not my favorite book of his, but still a solid read.