The Group For Neglected Books discussion

Tada! Go ahead and talk about the Rangers Apprentice series, but try to refrain from too many spoilers.

Quote!!!
From the Emperor of Nihon-Ja
Gundar seemed to come to a decision.
"Well, as my old mam used to say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck."
"Very wise," Halt said. "And what exactly do your mother's words of wisdom have to do with this situation?"
Gundar shrugged. "It looks like a channel. It's the right place for a channel. If I were digging one, this is where I'd dig a channel. So. . ."
"So it's probably the channel?" Selethen said.
Gundar grinned at him. "Either that or it's a duck.”

I read book 1 once a couple years ago. Yet another series I never got around to finishing even though I liked book 1.

"Ah, Signor Halt," he [Selethen] said uncertainly, "you are making a joke, yes?"
"He is making a joke, no," Will said. "But he likes to think he is making a joke, yes."

The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (the book that everyone knows is a lie because it totally said it was the last one!!!!)

Halt waited a minute or two but there was no sound except for the jingling of harness and the creaking of leather from their saddles. Finally, the former Ranger could bear it no longer.
What?”
The question seemed to explode out of him, with a greater degree of violence than he had intended. Taken by surprise, Horace’s bay shied in fright and danced several paces away.
Horace turned an aggrieved look on his mentor as he calmed the horse and brought it back under control.
What?” he asked Halt, and the smaller man made a gesture of exasperation.
That’s what I want to know,” he said irritably. “What?”
Horace peered at him. The look was too obviously the sort of look that you give someone who seems to have taken leave of his senses. It did little to improve Halt’s rapidly growing temper.
What?” said Horace, now totally puzzled.
Don’t keep parroting at me!” Halt fumed. “Stop repeating what I say! I asked you ‘what,’ so don’t ask me ‘what’ back, understand?”
Horace considered the question for a second or two, then, in his deliberate way, he replied: “No.”
Halt took a deep breath, his eyebrows contracted into a deep V, and beneath them his eyes with anger but before he could speak, Horace forestalled him.
What ‘what’ are you asking me?” he said. Then, thinking how to make the question clearer, he added, “Or to put it another way, why are you asking ‘what’?”
Controlling himself with enormous restraint, and making no secret of the fact, Halt said, very precisely: “You were about to ask me a question.”
Horace frowned. “I was?”
Halt nodded. “You were. I saw you take a breath to ask it.”
I see,” Horace said. “And what was it about?”
For just a second or two, Halt was speechless. He opened his mouth, closed it again, then finally found the strength to speak.
That is what I was asking you,” he said. “When I said ‘what,’ I was asking you what you were about to ask me.”
I wasn’t about to ask you ‘what,’” Horace replied, and Halt glared at him suspiciously. It occurred to him that Horace could be indulging himself in a gigantic leg pull, that he was secretly laughing at Halt. This, Halt could have told him, was not a good career move. Rangers were not people who took kindly to being laughed at. He studied the boy’s open face and guileless blue eyes and decided that his suspicion was ill-founded.
Then what, if I may use that word once more, were you about to ask me?”
Horace drew a breath once more, then hesitated. “I forget,” he said. “What were we talking about?”

This one is really long. The Battle for Skandia.

Halt eyed them balefully. They were all being so obvious about not mentioning his sudden reappearance that it was even worse than if they had commented on it...

'Oh, go on!' he said. 'Somebody say something! I know what you're thinking!'

'It's good to see you up and about, Halt,' Selethen said gravely...

Halt glared at the others and they quickly chorused their pleasure at seeing him back to his normal self. But he could see the grins they didn't quite manage to hide. He fixed a glare on Alyss.

'I'm surprised at you Alyss,' he said. 'I expected no better of Will and Evanlyn, of course. Heartless beasts, the pair of them. But you! I thought you had been better trained!'...

'Halt, I'm sorry! It's not funny, you're right... Shut up, Will.' This last was directed at Will as he tried, unsuccessfully, to smother a snigger.'

I should get a box set wit these. I would be laughing all the time.

I have a lists of box sets/complete series to acquire and these books are on it fo sho

On to my wishlist you go!

I just read The Royal Ranger, and it was great but sad. :(

I know right?

Poor Will with his mostly gray beard

My opinion of an after-The-Royal-Ranger ending:
(view spoiler)[ no body found=not dead. I picture Alyss being alive somewhere, slowly being nursed back to health by strangers; maybe with some form of amnesia to explain her absence. Then, one day, Will stops by the town she's in. Their paths cross, her memory slowly comes back (triggered by Will's appearance), and Will recognizes her. They go back home and live happily ever after because they deserve that. (hide spoiler)].

I didn't really like The Royal Ranger, mainly for petty reasons such as: I wanted Will to be able to laugh at Maddie when she fired the bow without an arm guard as Will did when he was learning to shoot. But then she was smart about it (girl power, I guess?) and I felt so let down.
It was also really sad, and I don't like reading about my favorite characters when they're out of their minds with depression (or doing something embarrassing: see Halt in the beginning of Icebound Land). However, it was really nice to see the story come full circle with Will having his own apprentice.

I agree. But Alyss!

Yeah. Alyss.
John Flanagan and George R. R. Martin should get together. They could form a club for Authors Who Kill Off Favorite Characters! J.K. Rowling could be in it too (although she had good reasons).

And don't forget veronica roth.

Her too. Also Suzanne Collins.

basically every author ever.

Oh, totally. Here's an awesome quote about killing off characters:
"If a story includes the death of a character or characters, the act should be integral to the plot and interaction with other characters. This applies doubly to murder."
Some authors follow this to the letter. Others... not so much.

I LOVE RANGERS APPRENTICE

Ikr?

whats Ikr mean

I know right.

Well he did kill off Alyss, but at least Halt survived. It's a miracle!

Oh, I love Halt. Sarcasm is The best.

halt is the best i did not like alyss

Really? I loved EVERYONE in that series!

i did not like will

Oh no. You shouldn't have said that. Gabbu is a bit picky about Will.

why?

You also don't like Harry Potter. What's wrong with them?

Harry Potter is a stuck up sorry for himself brat and i just dont like daniel radcliff. Will Treaty well i guess he is not bad i just dont like him as much as the others my favorites (beside Halt) are the skandians

"Stuck up sorry for himself brat"...
Isn't that a bit contradictory? Being stuck up would imply vanity; being sorry for yourself would imply low self esteem. Two complete opposites.

And there is a fine line between disliking a character and disliking their actor. If you don't think Daniel Radcliffe did a good job portraying Harry, it shouldn't influence your opinion of the character itself.

he is both and i dont like radcliff and potter from the book is better than radcliff but i still dont like him

my fav is Snape

I love Halt, Horace, and Will. But, Halt is my favorite and I really like his and Horace's interactions.

Yes! Oh my gosh, yes!

Indeed

Elvina wrote: "I read book 1 once a couple years ago. Yet another series I never got around to finishing even though I liked book 1."

I have a LOT of those...