This was a pretty interesting story. I know, sounds like a boring review. Especially since I had thought up one in my head and now I already forgot most of it. XD
Two of the characters remind me very much of some characters from the Ranger's Apprentice series. Neahl reminds me so much of Halt, since he is sarcastic in his own way, a little different from Halt, but nearly identical in many ways. And then Neahl's brother, Redmond, reminds me of a mix between both Crowley and Gilan.
Archer of the Heathland is full of adventure and fights with longbows during the night, as well as hand to hand combat. I almost wonder if J.W. Elliot got his ideas from the Ranger's Apprentice series, but I guess other people can imagine the longbow archers the same way.
I said it's pretty interesting, which is no doubt true, but I couldn't give it a full five stars because there were a few times that I lost what was happening, or something happened that I wasn't sure how it got to that point until I read the paragraphs around that point a few more times to clear it up.
I can't find this series in my library system that I use, so I had to buy the first book, just hoping it was going to be good. I'm glad I did, because I read the whole book in basically one day and am looking forward to the next, which I will have to purchase as well.
If you've read the Ranger's Apprentice series, I recommend reading this one as well. If you haven't read the Ranger's Apprentice either, read that as well as this.