De ruïnes van Gorlan / De brandende brug

Ranger's Apprentice #1-2

by John Flanagan, Laurent Corneille (Translator)

Will is klein voor zijn leeftijd, maar slim en razendsnel. Hij wil niets liever dan ridder worden, net als zijn vader, die hij nooit heeft gekend. Tot zijn grote teleurstelling wordt Will afgewezen voor de krijgsschool van kasteel Redmont. In plaats daarvan wordt hij toegewezen aan Halt, de mysterieuze Grijze Jager, die geheime missies voor de koning uitvoert. Slechts bewapend met een pijl en een boog en gekleed in een camouflagecape verplaatsen de Grijze Jagers zich met hun pony's onopvallend door het rijk. Op een gegeven moment krijgen ze de belangrijke taak om het koninkrijk Araluen te beschermen tegen de boosaardige Morgarath, heerser over de Bergen van Nacht en Ontij. Lukt het Will, samen met zijn leermeester Halt en zijn vrienden, te voorkomen dat Morgarath het koninkrijk verovert?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Adventure

569 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

For mysteries by this same author, see John A. Flanagan.

John Flanagan grew up in Sydney, Australia, hoping to be a writer. It wasn't until he wrote a highly uncomplimentary poem about a senior executive at the agency where he worked, however, that his talent was revealed. It turned out one of the company directors agreed with John's assessment of the executive, and happily agreed to train John in copywriting.

After writing advertising copy for the next two decades, John teamed with an old friend to develop a television sitcom, Hey Dad!, which went on to air for eight years.

John began writing Ranger's Apprentice for his son, Michael, ten years ago, and is still hard at work on the series.

He currently lives in a suburb of Manly, Australia, with his wife. In addition to their son, they have two grown daughters and four grandsons.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Dragina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic. Emotional. Deadly.

[H J Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it woke?
Not at all.

Is it good?
'Ranger's Apprentice' is fantastic. Written for Flanagan's own small son, it explores a teen who is too small in stature to become a knight. Instead, he joins the ranger core - think medieval SAS. It explores bullying, honour, hard work, and morality.
Will is a great character, and he doesnt follow the overused and dangerous "mini adult" or "completely powerful with no work" cliches.
This first novel is in a short story format and has an easy reading level yet manages to still be a thrilling story for adults.
I highly recommend for children and adults alike.

Is it appropriate for your children?
There is no sexual content or swearing. There is one character that says, "Good Lord," and "Lord Almighty," once or twice in the novel.
There is violence, but it is not gory. It is centred on battle tactics and the combatant's skills more than the bloodshed.
This is a great battle story for kids without the mature content. It is enthralling and clean.
10-12+

[Matthew McNeill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a bit over the top in terms of the protagonists being prodigies and always winning. While everything works out for them there is a simplistic theme to the story. I still enjoyed reading it though as the characters have some fun personalities.

[Patty Zuiderwijk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Reread: Yes and I will definitely continue with this series!

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensie in Nederlands. Review in English.

Mam deze boeken moet je lezen en wanneer ga je deel 6, 7, 9 en 10 kopen? Deze zin kwam er in een keer uit bij mijn jongste dochter Miriam toen 12 jaar. Door deze opmerking wilde mijn 14 jarige dochter de serie natuurlijk ook lezen. Na meerdere malen het boek op mijn nachtkastje te hebben gevonden, "mam deze moet je echt lezen", ben ik er dan ook maar in begonnen. En je wordt inderdaad makkelijk meegenomen naar het koninkrijk Araluen. Genoten heb ik van de avonturen van Will, Arnaut en de andere wezen. Op de burcht is het bijna tijd om gekozen te worden. Gekozen in het ambacht wat je gaat uitoefenen. Will droomt er al jaren van een ridder te worden. Maar helaas is hij hier te klein voor. Hij wordt daar ook onnoemelijk mee gepest door Arnaut. Hij is dan ook hevig teleurgesteld als hij afgewezen wordt voor de krijgsschool van kasteel Redmont. In plaats daarvan wordt hij toegewezen aan Halt, de mysterieuze Grijze Jager wiens grootste talent lijkt te zijn dat hij zich onopvallend door het rijk kan verplaatsen. Met enige weerzin leert Will om de geheime wapens van de Grijze Jagers te gebruiken: een pijl en boog, een vlijmscherp mes en een onopvallende camouflagecape. Hij wil wel graag alles weten. Zijn favoriete woord is waarom. Maar dan wordt het spannend als de slechte Morgarath vreselijke wezens het koninkrijk instuurt. Wat kunnen de grijze jagers hieraan doen?

Mam, these books you have to read called my 11 year old daugther (now 15). And when will you buy the other books from volume 6? After this was said my other daugther wanted to read them alswell. And often I did find volume 1 on my desk. "Mam, you have to read this!". And I realy enjoyed it a lot. You easaly enter the world of the Kingdom Araluen. There we meat the orphan Will and the other orphans. Soon there will be a selection of the childeren of a certain age of with proffesion they wil learn. Will wants to be a knight but he is way to short. But Halt the Gray Hunter wants to have him. He has to fight with bow and Arrow, learns to use a hunters knife and has a cloack that makes him nearly invisible. He is still in training as the bad Morgarath stir the kingdom by sending bad creatures in to the kingdom to destabilize the kingdom. Will Hunt, Will and the othor hunters by on time to rescue the kingdom?

[Gijs Van der Hammen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik vond deel 1 en 2 van de Grijze Jager verrassend goed geschreven. Het verhaal is spannend, heeft veel vaart, en slokt je op. De karakters zijn zowel mythisch als (redelijk) modern in hun denkwijze. Uiteraard komen er genoeg cliche's langs, maar dit wordt nooit storend of plichtmatig, zodat het boek zowel voor kinderen als volwassenen bijzonder goed te pruimen is!

[Saskia (Smitie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erg vermakelijke fantasy. Het leest lekker weg en je wordt steeds nieuwsgieriger naar de wereld van de Jagers, de verschillende rijken en wezens die de boel onveilig maken. Alle personages zijn geloofwaardig en je gaat steeds meer met ze meeleven. Zowel het eerste als het tweede boek houdt het tempo er goed in zonder dat het te snel gaat.

Maar wat een open einde van boek 2, ik baal er gewoon van dat ik deel 3 niet in huis heb want ik wil verder lezen.

[Avsar2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

İ lives it. The end of the second book was so good but so irritating. I would totally recommend this book. The father and son relationship of Will and Halt is so fantastic. The character changes are so good and believable. The writing stile is also very good. Just the book for someone who loves action and friendships in a story.

[Wendy Zhou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I love it I love it I love it so much

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack thinks this series is better than HP. I don't know about that, but it is VERY good. We're both obsessed and can't put them down.

[Jennifer Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was well written and the charaters were very real. Will definately be reading more of this series.

[EA Solinas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if the Rangers from "Lord of the Rings" took apprentices -- what kind of life would that be?

John Flanagan does a decent job answering the question in the first two books of the Ranger's Apprentice series, compiled in "Ranger's Apprentice 1 & 2: The Ruins of Gorlan and The Burning Bridge." It's a solid duo of fantasy books with plenty of weapons, monsters, a medieval backdrop with some very familiar cultures, and a teenage hero who risks it all for his land.

Hoping to be selected for Battleschool, Will is shocked when he's chosen as an apprentice for the Ranger, Halt. His new life is out in the woods, doing chores and learning unglamorous lessons, but slowly he realizes the importance of the Ranger's skills. And at the same time, his fellow orphan Horace is being tormented at Battleschool by a gang of bullies.

Unfortunately, the kingdom is in new trouble -- the evil baron Morgarath is starting to send his monstrous Wurgals out once more, and there are even rumors that the ghastly Kalkara are also abroad. When it seems that the king himself may be Morgarath's target, Will and Halt are sent on a mission to stop the Kalkara -- except that the target isn't who they expect.

"The Burning Bridge" takes Will, Gilan and Horace out into the land of Celtica, only to find that the Wargals are swarming all over the place, and the Celts are missing. Even worse, the boys stumble across a tunnel and bridge meant to allow Morgarath's army out into the open -- and a vast collection of mercenary Skandians who have been hired to help crush the king's army. And to stop them,. Will may end up in the hands of his worst enemies.

The world John Flanagan conjures up here is pretty recognizably a medieval England-that-never-was, with hints of similarly semi-familiar lands to explore (Gallica, Temujai, Celtica, Skandia) and some nicely familiar weapons Except he also adds in some fantasy monsters, a complex backhistory to Araluen, and the elite woodland-warriors known as the Rangers.

The first half of "The Ruins of Gorlan" is a fairly slow experience, mostly made up of Will and Horace finding out what their new lives are all about (knife study, ponies, stew and tracking exercises). But then the plot speeds up into a darker, bloodier affair -- and by "Burning Bridge" it's expanded into a true epic with sabotage, clashing armies and a climactic duel.

And Flanagan has a knack for fast-moving, detailed prose and lots of suspenseful moments (such as the cat-and-mouse game with the Kalkara, or the infiltration of Morgarath's fortress). But there's a twist at the end of "Burning Bridge" that not many fantasy stories have, which will leave readers frantically scrabbling for the third book. Talk about cliffhangers.

Will is also an excellent hero in the Lloyd Alexander mold -- he dreams of being a valiant knight, but as he matures, he begins to see that the Rangers have a special value to the kingdom. Halt is quite the reverse -- quirky, taciturn and incredibly tough and deadly. And over the course of these books, he forms a sort of father-son relationship with Will and Horace.

The first two books in the "Ranger's Apprentice Collection" start off slow, but rapidly blossom into a solid, epic fantasy series full of kidnappings, monstrous enemies, and all-too-human characters. Definitely a good read... but have the third on hand.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hardcover edition combines the first two stories in John Flanagan's Ranger Apprentice series. It follows the adventures of a group of orphans, in particular Will (who has no idea who his parents are) and Horrace. Horrace is big, strong and a natural swordsman though of average intelligence. He is taken on as apprentice in the Battleshchool and finds it is not all he expected it to be. The main protagonist though is Will who is small, smart, curious and expert climber and hider. His dream has always been to become a great warrior (as he imagines his father must have been) and he is bitterly disappointed when he is not chosen for the Battleschool but is accepted by the stern and legendary Ranger, Halt, as his apprentice. Will learns a lot over the next several months - both about himself as well as ranger skills. Eventually, Horrace and Will are pitted against the major threat to the realm, Morgarath Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, and his terrifying minions. These two books go well together as both deal with Morgarath. The third book heads of to the northern lands of the Skandians.

I enjoyed reading both books. Flanagan is a great story teller. The main characters are interesting and likable. Some of the earlier parts of the first book reminded me a bit of my own writing - due, not doubt, to some common themes and subject matter. I love the realism (as far as I can tell) with respect to horses, military matters, distances etc. The world is clearly medieval Europe - with the map and people groups clearly referencing Great Britain (though the Mountains of Rain and Night are added to the map south of Brighton) and Europe. First published in 2004, Flanagan employs an omniscient narrator and can at times resort to info dumps, 'tell not show' (perhaps a temptation with using an omniscient narrator), but mostly the narrative hums along and it kept me interested with great action scenes, satisfying and emotional climax and conclusions.

Perhaps aimed at the lower end of YA, my 15 year old daughter still devoured the first 11 books of the series (for the second time) in a couple of weeks (literally having her nose in a book at every opportunity) and is waiting to get her hands on a copy of book 12. For my part, I will be reading the next book in the series.

[Chunju · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ranger’s Apprentice series is very entertaining. The world that John Flanagan created for this series is interesting because it mixes historical facts with some fiction. The countries and cultures present in the story are based on real countries from history (the Skandians, for example, are based on the Vikings of Scandinavia).

One of the things that I like about this book series is that it’s a story of the emotional and physical growth of Will (the main character) that starts from his early teens to his adult years. It’s a story of a boy becoming a man, and as such, everything isn’t perfect. In fact, a lot of things go wrong in these books, and I appreciate that Flanagan wasn’t afraid to put his characters into really bad situations (unlike some other authors of children’s stories).

Another thing that I liked about the books in this series is that the fight sequences are exciting, yet not overly violent (that I remember anyways). I felt like the violence was pretty well balanced to be kosher enough for anyone able to read and understand it. I also liked how the weapons and armor in stories were described well enough for me to make a good mental image of what they looked like.

I recommend this series to tweens to teens looking for an easy and exciting read set in a somewhat historical medieval time period. People who don’t like any kind of violence probably shouldn’t read these books though. Also, expect to take a lot of time to finish reading the series; it’s twelve books long!

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read de grijze jager #2 in dutch

[Kate Rijk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hij is echt geweldig. Ik heb hem al een stuk of 5 keer gelezen. Echt ik kan gewoon niet zonder!

[Fletwerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second installment in the Rangers Apprentice series

[the boss is awesome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book!

[RohanS · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book of Rangers Apprentice series about how the apprentice is a great hero that saved the kingdom. Amazing Book!!

[Sh_cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

<333

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure about now, but 10 year old me was addicted.

[H.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books!!!!!!