Ranger's Apprentice Series by John Flanagan

Note: The names of the books, in order, are: The Ruins of Gorlan, The Burning Bridge, The Icebound Land, The Battle for Skandia, and The Sorcerer of the North. There are other books out and more soon to be published, but these are the ones I have read so far. Click here for book six.

Plot: when Will is chosen to become a Ranger's apprentice, he doesn't know what to think. The Rangers are an elite group of warriors that protect the kingdom. They have mastered the arts of archery, invisibility (or at least the ability to remain unseen), strategy, observation, and many more such skills. Will is apprenticed to Halt, one of the best Rangers in the kingdom, and he teaches Will all he knows.

Comments: I loved the first four books in this series, but I didn't really like the fifth one. In the first four, Will is a teenager, learning the secretive arts of being Ranger, and he has all sorts of dangerous, live-threatening adventures. But the fifth book skips ahead to when Will is an adult, a fully-fledged Ranger himself, and I didn't appreciate that. I would have preferred to continue reading about the apprentice Will instead of the Ranger Will. However, I'm about to read The Sorcerer of the North again and I'll do my best to lay aside my prejudices and see if I enjoy the book better this time.

The characters are very different from each other, and even the minor characters show up vividly in my mind. John Flanagan has a skill for describing people using their appearances, their actions, and even their speech. They interact smoothly and a lot like I would imagine people in modern day to interact. The characters fit the settings well and don't seem out of place even when they kind of are.

I love Will's cheekiness and enthusiasm and Halt's mock-seriousness and patience. They fit perfectly as apprentice and teacher, and I like that Will makes Halt less grave and more appreciative to life and laughter - though Halt rarely smiles. I like how every story is different and that I am always interested throughout the books. These are great adventure stories, and I might have even learned a thing or two about war tactics and strategies.

Rating: I shall rate this series (so far) a seven and a half out of ten. Very well written.

The Last Apprentice Series by Joseph Delaney

The names of the books are, in correct order, The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse, The Spook's Secret, The Spook's Battle, The Spook's Mistake and The Spook's Sacrifice. However, the names of the books as published in the USA, in correct order, are: Revenge of the Witch, Curse of the Bane, Night of the Soul Stealer, Attack of the Fiend, Wrath of the Bloodeye, and Clash of the Demons.

Plot: The seventh son of a seventh son, Thomas Ward, is apprenticed to a spook, a dangerous trade envied by no one. Spooks protect their counties from all manner of mysterious and magical creatures, and Tom is training to become such a protector. These are the chronicles of Tom's lessons, adventures, and life as the spook's last apprentice.

Comments: I love this series! The books are great for fantasy-lovers and can be read all at once or a chapter at a time. Though the plots (and settings) vary dramatically, the main characters and general concepts are the same; Tom Ward training from John Gregory to become a spook. The characters are well described, and I have an easy time imagining them. I can relate to a lot of them, and it makes it so much easier to imagine someone when you understand them.

I don't like how the Spook believes he is always right. Like with Alice, Tom's young witch friend; the spook thinks he knows best, and maybe he does, but he leaves Tom no choices and I don't appreciate that. But I suppose that's just his character, right? I love how innocent Tom is, the way he trusts almost everyone (though the Spook soon warns him to discontinue that habit), and how he doesn't believe in any kind of violence. Sometimes I get annoyed with how he doesn't stand up for himself or - occasionally - others, but I guess that's just how he is. He's always polite and fair, and I wonder how he rarely gets angry or thinks about himself.

I think this series is intriguing, mysterious, and fun to read. The plots become a little predictable as you proceed further into the series, but the stories are still very different from each other and individually enjoyable. I definitely recommend this series!

Rating: I will rate this series an eight out of ten.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Also known as Th1rteen R3asons Why. This book has mature content.

Plot: Clay Jensen comes home from high school one day to find a mailed box of cassette tapes with no return address. When he starts listening to cassette number 1, side A, he realizes these tapes were recorded by Hannah Baker, his old crush, who had recently committed suicide. On these tapes, she says, are the stories of thirteen people, the reasons why she decided to quit this world. Clay is apparently one of the thirteen people, and he is forced to listen to all the tapes to find out what role he played in Hannah's death.

Comments: this was an amazing story. I read it all in one afternoon, but it took me hours. Here's what I recommend: find a day where you have nothing you need to do (a weekend?) and start reading this book sometime in the morning. Have snacks within reach, maybe a pillow or a blanket, and just read all the way through. The reason I strongly suggest reading this book all at once is because it's a rather difficult read. It's a great book with an important lesson, and I highly recommend it, but I have a feeling that if you read half the book and put it down, you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to pick it back up. As I said, it's a difficult read; it's not exactly an uplifting book. But if you read the entire story, you'll feel better by the end. Trust me; I was not in the best of moods throughout the book, but by the time I read the last words, I felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders; I felt enlightened.

This book is not meant as light-hearted reading, and I warn you that there is some adult content. There is some swearing, sexual content, and general details and concepts related to suicide. I do not recommend this for anyone younger than thirteen, or better, fourteen.

The way this story is written, you have extremely limited information about the characters. In fact, the most important characters, the thirteen reasons, are revealed one by one, so that new people are being introduced and described from Hannah's point of view (along with Clay's thoughts and memories) throughout the story. However, this doesn't restrict your image of the characters; I can easily imagine these people, these thirteen reasons, and the way Jay Asher describes them and portrays them through Hannah's eyes has the incredible effect of making you feel like you know the character, know them for what they really are. Though a lot of the traits of these characters are somewhat unfamiliar to me (the bad ones), I feel almost like I am Hannah Baker, and I think I understand why she killed herself. Though I never went through the things she did, and I don't know what those thirteen reasons are like, I almost understood why she gave up. This is part of the lesson, showing the readers how cruel people can be without realizing it, how a joke or a rumor can blow up into something that results in suicide.

The rest of the lesson I'll leave for you to find out. This book is written extremely well, but sometimes the story line was a little confusing. Hannah would be talking and Clay would reflect on a memory or think about something in between her words. It was hard to concentrate on two totally different things at the same time.

Rating: I rate this book an eight and a half out of ten. A must-read.