"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.
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