The Sorcerer of the North: Book Five (Ranger's Apprentice) Paperback – June 25, 2009

The media could not be loaded. As the fifth Installment of the Ranger's Apprentice series this book gives life to characters we have learned to love. This book drops you right into Will's first mission as a full-blown ranger. John Flanagan provides us with lots of fun and mystery in this one. I approve. If there was anything missing from this book it would be Will's graduation ceremony as in there was none! I mean I'm 5 books in and you think I don't wanna see this kid graduate. 😂

Easy read

My wife and fifteen year old love John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice series. We've been listening to the audiobooks for a few years now, always when we're on long trips so we can get a whole book in. This Thanksgiving we got away for a few days, and we listened to The Sorcerer of the North, the fifth book in the series of ten. Our trip was shorter than normal this time, though, but we ended up listening to the book during the quiet hours of our stay at a rental cabin.In this book, young Will is a man hand has his own territory to cover as a Ranger. He's pretty much a law unto himself, a spy and a force for the king. It was odd seeing Will in action as a man instead of a teen, although he isn't a very old man, barely into his twenties. I missed seeing him a Halt's side, or trying to figure out how to play the odds against the adults. But it was also nice to see him pretty much full grown and doing what he was trained to do.The plot is complicated in this book, and it took a little while for all the pieces to come together, but Flanagan is a gifted author when it comes to plots. Will is tasked with finding out what sickness has stricken down Lord Syron and who is truly loyal to him, and maybe sorting out who the eventual inheritor of the lands should be.I liked the plotting and the characters, the hiding and the spycraft that goes on throughout. Alyss, Will's friend who is also a spy, joins the mission and things really heat up on all fronts because during the action Will and Alyss discover that they're drawn to each other in ways they hadn't expected.Flanagan's sense of the world is awesome in this one. As Will traipses around the castle, the castlegrounds, and the forest outside the walls, the environment comes to life on every page. Flanagan has a vivid imagination and shares if quite elegantly with his readers.I also enjoy the author's subtlety, the way he leads you down a path and you start expecting events to take a certain turn, then he twists everything around so that you don't know quite what is going on or who to trust. Flanagan is at his best in this one.The only thing that will put some readers off, especially the new ones, is how the book ends with so many things left hanging. I howled when we got to the end, not prepared to let go. My son patiently reminded me that every book Flanagan does is more or less two parts. And that's true. Books five and six basically form one large story, as did the first pair of books and the second pair. However, the other two were not truncated quite so suddenly as events come to a halt in this one.I've got the sixth book in the series. I'm just waiting on another family trip!

The Saga of the Rangers Apprentice is a great coming of age series of stories for teen aged boys especially NYT for girls too.

After six years as an apprentice to the legendary Ranger Halt, Will has finally graduated. As a newly minted Ranger, he's sent to the relatively sleepy Fief of Seacliff. Not much happens in Seacliff, which means Will can get his feet underneath him and get used to relying on making decisions without Halt to guide him. As it turns out, Seacliff is not quite as boring as it first appeared. Before he is even properly settled, Will must deal with an angry and dangerous local man, as well as a wolfship full of raiding Skandians that comes ashore not far from Seacliff Castle. Successfully resolving these difficulties gives Will a much needed boost of confidence and it comes at the perfect time.After a visit from his childhood friend, the diplomat Alyss Mainwaring, Will is headed off on a secret mission to the icy Fief of Norgate, charged with investigating the mysterious illness of Castle Macindaw's Lord Syron. Though small, Macindaw occupies an important defensive position for the Kingdom of Araluen, protecting a significant pass through the northern mountains from the Scotti tribes to the north. With rumors of sorcery surrounding Lord Syron's illness, King Duncan needs someone he can trust on the scene to determine exactly what is happening. It's up to Alyss and Will to uncover the truth and perhaps save Araluen from invasion.Although The Sorcerer of the North is officially book five in The Ranger's Apprentice series, chronologically it follows Erak's Ransom (book seven), which fills in some of the three years that pass between books four and five. Like all the books of The Ranger's Apprentice, The Sorcerer of the North is exquisitely crafted, filled with the kind of description and detail that draws the reader directly into the story. Of all the books in The Ranger's Apprentice series though, this one provides the least amount of battle action. This does not mean it suffers from a lack of suspense. This is more a novel of espionage, although I expect to find some of Mr. Flanagan's trademark battle scenes in the second part of this story, The Siege of Macindaw.

John Flanagan moves the Ranger's Apprentice series forward in flawless fashion. While our young hero, Will, is older now, Mr. Flanagan has aged him believably and Will continues to be a vibrant and rich character. Anyone that has read the previous books in the series knows Mr. Flanagan is a master at ending a book with an old style cliff hanger that is reminiscent of the nearly forgotten pulp stories of yesteryear. This book is no exception. The ending leaves you hanging and wanting more. For me, that's the sign of an excellent storyteller, and John Flanagan is one of the finest in this genre. A well imagined plot, believable characters, and witty humor rarely seen in today's storytelling are finely crafted within the pages of The Sorcerer of the North. I highly recommend this book as well as the entire Ranger's Apprentice series.