Ranger's Apprentice and how to do fantasy for kids

[@arc.gouda08]

This video was definetely necessary. Honestly, Ranger's Apprentice is a series that holds up well for a long age range. It's like those shows that you watch as a kid and enjoy, but grow to appreciate even more as you grow older and rewatch it.

[@SuperArinc]

yeah man I still read them after 10 years and I really enjoy them still

[@SuperiorPosterior]

@@SuperArinc I need to get the whole series. I have a couple of the books that I bought when I couldn't find copies at the library, but I seriously want to reread the series again, I've had too many nostalgia-moments recently.

[@andrewretherford8622]

It’s like Batman the animated series. A kids/young teen show but the themes and messages hold up even when I watch some episodes now in my 20s

[@CGFillertext]

Ranger’s Apprentice was one of my favorite series as a middle schooler! My friend group were all reading the books, and we all had a fun time talking about it together. Glad to see this video happened!

[@something9005]

same

[@eugenebebs7767]

That detail with nomads being good with supply lines and comms is really neat. One of the historic misconceptions about Mongols is that "there were sooo many of them" (literally the origin of modern meaning of "horde"), but in fact all their biggest victories were won at numerical disadvantage. They just moved so quickly they appeared to be everywhere at once.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

Thats i part that confused alot of people. Because they forget that the steps are a waste land that even today can barely hold a population.

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

That doesn't make any sense nomads don't have supply lines that is why they are nomadic

[@SuperiorPosterior]

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl But that does make sense. Their supply lines don't have a fixed start point, so they can take all the supplies from an area, send it off to the battlefield, and move somewhere else. It's not a supply route, but it is a supply line.

[@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51]

@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl exactly. They’re always moving so they basically are a massive supply line. It’s not like they’re leaving all of their things behind.

[@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl]

@@SuperiorPosterior you don't seem to understand they survive on the campaign by taking sheep with them and using them the same way they use them in their nomadic lifestyle. That and foraging in enemy territory and forcing the local into giving them supplies

[@ericamborsky3230]

I feel that in the beginning, the author wanted to include more magical or supernatural elements, what with Morgarath and his monsters and Horace being "a natural" with the sword, but as he fleshed things out, he decided against it.

[@ideasperson8899]

how many other people noticed "Temujai" is probably a reference to Ghengis Khan's birth name, Temujin

[@legendswithjasper]

James, my guy. I appreciate the video but I can’t believe you didn’t mention the snappy, witty dialogue and engaging character dynamics. They're one of Flanagan’s greatest strengths.

[@JamesTullos]

For once, I'm doing something positive.

[@huss1836]

I am proud of you James

[@birb125]

"And that day, his heart grew 3 sizes"

[@frostfire6579]

Hooray positivity!

[@chinii_eej]

The power of holidays really does change people!

[@mr.tomato4306]

This is so wholesome

[@iainhansen1047]

Dude the drug addiction in the northern Viking ark scared me for life.

[@The_Ajna]

Real shit man that was some dark stuff

[@frostfire6579]

I loved all the clever schemes and ideas throughout the series

[@tubb1]

I'd never heard of a book titled "The Oakleaf Bearers," but it turns out here in the US it is called "The Battle for Skandia." Interesting bit of trivia.

[@AnEdgyWeeb]

I really love this series. I still think it holds up as an adult as well. Definitely one of my favorite YA series, up there with Percy Jackson and CHERUB.

[@forwhy8723]

PJ is not ya

[@catfoy8888]

Oh my god I finally found someone who has also read cherub

[@djursic9695]

@@forwhy8723 yeah, it's what I wear to sleep

[@hoominbeeing]

I remember being bored out of my mind at a school assembly in grade 7 and finding a CHERUB book on the ground. I finished the rest of it in a day. Silverwing was also a pretty good YA series. I would say it's the best portrayal of animal characters in fiction I've ever encountered. Even more surprisingly, the author was quite original with what animal he used as well.

[@noraeld5020]

@@catfoy8888 Honestly that was so great

[@potato4481]

I like how the books are split up episodically, instead of contiguously, I feel like it makes it more realistic and shows that the world doesn't resolve around the characters

[@michelleruhl2595]

not enough people talk about Ranger's Apprentice. It really is so so good.

[@abcdef27669]

Morgarath sound like a frog trying to make an Evil Laugh.

[@ericamborsky3230]

This series was perfect for me in my early teens. It had the hint of edge with the whole stealth archer skillset of the rangers but the characters were always the good guys keeping order and protecting people.

[@alexb6318]

I always saw Morgarath’s monsters as a sort of early instalment weirdness.

[@atreides213]

This series is so amazing. The scene in book 3 where a certain character is forced to give up their badge of office was the first time I cried over something that happened in a book.

[@_dannyisthedog5317]

i know your comment is old, but that scene had me fr crying for several minutes dude. such good writing

[@alexb6318]

To play devils advocate to your point beginning 9:45, the Skandians are a raiding culture - they lack land neighbours organised enough to engage the skandians in actions larger than ‘local militia vs longboat full of not vikings’. This gives the Skandians the strategic ability to use ‘shoot and scoot’ tactics, attacking weak coastal targets with the advantage of surprise, minimising the period in which ranged weapons could be used against them. The lack of organised land neighbours means the Skandians very rarely fight organised land battles and therefor have no significant need to overcome a social taboo and form archery units. I just wrote a short essay about the military tactics of the not-vikings in a children’s book series. What am I doing with my life. Edit: also, since Skandian warfare is dominated by boats and raiding with them, there is not enough room to fit archers as well as a full complement of warriors. There is little point in reducing shield wall strength in exchange for a negligible number of ranged assets, who are too few to have significant effect. Thus, outside of extreme situations like that depicted in Oakleaf Bearers, there is no military niche large enough for an archery tradition to take root.

[@volodymyrboitchouk]

The real omission that strikes me in the Skandian kit is the lack of thrown weapons. Javelins were a regular feature of Viking warfare as the shield wall lacked any kind of offensive capability otherwise. Shield wall tactics throughout history tended to make use of javelins and throwing axes to gove them a "zone of control" where enemies that stray too close but dont engage in melee are still vulnerable. This is essential against cavalry because lancers have the ability to ride up and stab at soldiers in the shield wall outside the range of effective retaliation. Without javelins to throw in response the soldiers at the front of the wall would have to dash out of formation to strike at enemy cavalry, weakening the formation and making it vulnerable.

[@alexb6318]

@@volodymyrboitchouk that’s actually a really interesting point. I always read it as the Skandians deliberately fighting in environments like built up areas of towns or against foes lacking organised cavalry to minimise this sort of engagement. However, I do recall a description in one of the brotherband books of a Skandian raiding party getting wrecked by a cavalry force.

[@emilsinclair4190]

Okay the first part of your comment is true but when you talk about archers on the ship I have to disagree with you. You drastically under-estimate the effectiveness even a single archer can have since he can be used to engage people that are in an advantageous position. There is a spin of with the vikings and you see that bows are very important in many situations.

[@sophiejames5958]

@@volodymyrboitchouk I think in the brotherband series (in the same world as will with different character sand even showing characters that are in RA) in the training for the first book they learn spears and javelins and the main character has a cross bow (but its only him that has a cross bow)

[@striderpup1169]

@@alexb6318 The Temujai?

[@tomneilson9501]

Reading John Flanagan's weapon and tactic analysis at the end of each book has genuinely had me looking out for when he does weapon advice for other young fiction - Its happened a few times and leads to interesting detail

[@anne4634]

Ranger's apprentice was my favortie series as a kid, and I'm still keeping up with the spinoff series to this day. It's hard to overstate how influential these books were for me. It might be the most influential work of fiction in my life, just because it meant so much to me during basically the entirity of my formative years. (I don't think they're the best books I'll ever read, obviously, but theres something about media that you experience when you're young that just sticks in a way that stuff you experience as an adult just can't.) It's just always going to be the posterchild on how to make me care about characters and their relationships. I don't even mind the worldbuilding because i didn't see it as lack of worldbuilding, just that the series was set in some kind of "alternate europe" it's always seemd more like historical fiction that takes extreme liberties than fantasy to me. Especially since, like you said, theres no magic, and after the wargals stop being plot relevant the most fantastical thing is that a not-really-a-wizard from fake-britain somehow invented a primitive form holograms in the early middle ages. The series is actually quite popular in the Netherlands, where i'm from. Kids are about as likely to have read it as percy jackson, at least in my epxerience. I was sorely dissapointed when I found out it wasn't nearly as big in the english speaking fandom places I found myself in in my teen years.

[@papafrank2894]

I'm glad to see someone else who recognizes how hard these books slap

[@somatraseng]

I am 24. I read this series in my teens and re-read them not too long ago. This series still slaps even though I am older. I think I am going to love this series for life.

[@beedoingherbest3318]

As a quiet kid, this was one of the first books I remember where the main character was shy and introverted but those traits weren't treated as character flaws they had to overcome by the end of the series- although Will grew more confident, even by the end of the book he was still shyer than a lot of the main characters I was reading at that age, which was a really comforting thing to see in fiction :) thank you for this video

[@trombonemain]

I’m just now realizing that “Nihon-Jah” is basically just the word “ninja”.

[@robertgronewold3326]

Now, there IS magic in this series. It's just a lot more subtle.

[@heofnorenown]

Such as?

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@heofnorenown In the first few books there is mind control telepathy, and then in the one where they visit the fake sorcerer in the north, a spirit rises from a mound when all the characters are looking away. Like, there is magic within the world, but it's so rare and relatively untouched that really the characters themselves pay no attention to it.

[@jackofclubs6229]

Just because of how you worded it, all I can imagine is reading through regular ranger’s apprentice and suddenly there is a line like, *Will was prepared to shoot the people in the carriage when Halt suddenly waved him down. The carriage rolled off as Will questioned why Halt let them off so easily. “These Aren’t the droids we’re looking for,” Halt said, sounding mildly drunk. “What’s a droid?” Asked Will. Halt, seeming to just now focus, responded “What? What’s a droid?”*

[@Jacobjub8]

The magic is the dialogue

[@dinojack5567]

Yes- Morgarath's control over the Wargals, the gaze of the Kalkara, Keren's shiny blue rock and that weird spirit mentioned in the replies come to mind. On the other hand, the prologue/frame narrative for Lost Stories indicates that science still goes on much like our modern world. I wonder if Malcolm ever became famous a few centuries later, as a pioneer in basic chemistry.

[@ulysses7157]

Wow this type of story is actually something I like to read. A story centered around characters and not some grand plot to save the world thing.

[@meddlesome-]

all I remember is how they handled addiction, but it's been really helpful to remember the recovery process used in the book when my friends and I are struggling with eating disorders

[@noraeld5020]

This series was so great, truly lifted me up as a kid. The stuff with will's addiction as well as progression throughout the story and battle politics was handled really well.

[@Jane_8319]

Man Ranger’s Apprentice was good. Thank you for this video, James! I loved these books as a kid. Battle for Skandia was super good, I loved that climax.

[@id-wy6db]

Loved reading Ranger's Apprentice growing up. The related series were pretty good too.

[@JayPao]

One big thing I have against Flanagan is the Royal Scouts. They're mentioned once when Will is given the offer, and never again. Despite the Royal Scouts supposedly being in charge of training the archers of Araluen, in the later books it's mentioned that retired Rangers are the ones who train them. That's my main problem, the introduction of a supposedly influential corps that is never mentioned again.

[@frostfire6579]

I loved rangers apprentice and the brotherband chronicles

[@ThatsMySideProject]

I loved this series as a kid. The book about a kid learning to be a sneaky ranger perfectly primed me for the first adult fantasy books I found, The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks which was a kid learning to be a sneaky assassin (Wetboy). Then I read Lightbringer and eventually found my way to wheel of time, stormlight archive, and gentlemen bastards. This series basically primed me for all this and I'm so happy I got to read it in my youth. Watching this review made me remember just how dang good it was lol

[@usmansubhani7482]

I like how videos are shorter and have a point now that’s brief enough to not take an hour. It harder to watch 1 hour videos all the time, especially when you have other things to do.

[@JamesTullos]

I love video essays, including a lot of long ones, but I personally feel that many of them are padded to hell and back. A good example is Hbomberguy's RWBY video. He makes some great points, but he only has enough to fill up around 30 minutes. The other 2 hours is repeating the same things or going off on tangents that don't add to his overall thesis. And to make it worse, he only covers the first few seasons. A lot of essayists do similar things. So I've always tried to be concise with my content, both scripted and unscripted. If it requires more info, I add it, but if it doesn't, I leave it.

[@usmansubhani7482]

@@JamesTullos I could see that. That’s why your content is worth the time. I always like how to see stories in new perspective with your content, and even hear about new stories. Comparatively, Hbomberguy doesn’t really add anything new at times, but he has great editing to make up for it. And is also funny. Hbomber just has a different appeal than you. I still prefer your new videos though. Stories and fantasy just aren’t expansive enough to say something new every book. However, I like how you make them sound so lively and with passion. I’m here because of the nice mood. Even though I usually stick to slideshow-like videos voiced over most the time.

[@koolkdny]

"Nihon-ja" kills me because "nihon" DIRECTLY translates to "japan" in "japanese"

[@Mirekluk]

While Nihon-jin (which btw is how my localizers translated Nihon-ja) is Japanese person.

[@tygates4301]

Rangers apprentice is the piece of art that really sparked my creative drive when I was a kid and got me interested in telling stories. This was a nice lil bit of nostalgia

[@ieatbatteries7]

The summery of the difference between children's fantasy VS more adult fantasy is spot on. Makes me think how weird it is the Mistborn isn't sold as YA when it is indistinguishable from it.

[@thatnerdygaywerewolf9559]

At one bookstore in my area, Mistborn was put in both the YA and Sci-Fi/Fantasy sections, just with different covers.

[@ieatbatteries7]

@@thatnerdygaywerewolf9559 That's genius, get'em on all sides.

[@Toatony]

Thank you for making this video. Weirdly brought me to tears as it reminded me of how happy I was reading these

[@jan-Juta]

just seeing those covers is so nostalgic, still remember going to thrift store every day to see if they had the ones I was missing.

[@prismarinium]

Man I have to reread this, looking back this completely changed my taste in books and probably set some unrealistic expectations for what most Fantasy would live up to. Also didn't Will have an addiction to some sort of leaf when he was a slave? That was kind of messed up.

[@gabeberger803]

Oh yeah he did. That was probably the most messed up part of the series. Scared me more when I reread it recently.

[@notbaldfrost]

Yeah, our intrepid teenage protagonist was _this_ close to starving or freezing to death in a drug addled haze and it was only like the third fucking book.

[@benl2140]

Yup. I remember one part where his friend was trying to break his addiction, and Will didn't even recognize him. It was genuinely one of the most painful things I read as a kid.

[@selinbuyukcengiz6873]

It was written sooo good though! Remember how he got addicted to keep himself warm and how it was not a perverted thing that he did, but a bad attempt at survival? I remember the book did not shame the kid, but made us feel sad for him for the material conditions that brought him there. Seriously what a great portrayal- that is if I am remembering correctly

[@shadowkyber2510]

I was surprised they put drugs in a kids book but I think it was a good thing. No kid was gonna read it and want to do drugs just because of the book, if anything it would've made them not want to do it

[@brhettdavis7061]

Dude i forgot about these! I think i read the first 2 in middle school. I remember liking it a lot, i rarely ever read. I did that, school books, Maze runner and WoW books in highschool, and now i have a ton of real fantasy series under my belt. I think it could have been these that made me think reading could be fun

[@Jacobflamecaster]

I nearly cried at halts near death

[@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51]

I remember picking up the first book in fourth grade, I went home and literally read the entire thing. Read the whole series and a bit of the Brotherband books but ended up getting out of reading once I got into middle school. That’s changed a bit over the past couple years, though I still wouldn’t quite consider myself “a reader”. Anyway pretty much ever since I finished the series I’ve been thinking about reading it again. As I’m something like 10 years older than when I originally read it I wasn’t sure it’d be worth my time anymore, but you’ve got me questioning that. Great video man.

[@aggietrombonist]

I read Ranger’s Apprentice in college, and it was so great!!

[@torgan]

Notification: Fantasy for... Thumbnail: "Bruh" I was worried that you were going to lose your audience for a moment there.

[@JamesTullos]

My audience already hates me, it's okay.

[@tessatornetto7069]

Something me and my family love about this series is the history, my parents are both world history teachers so when they notice things about the past, the map isn't a fantasy world it's a world loosely based on our past world, the skandians and Scandinavians, the brothers in kings of clonmel are based on a real type of assassin that used to exist, in the 10 th book the characters are watching some negotiations, they get to see the fighting style from places like the Roman empire, and much much more, me and my family really liked this aspect because it was an interesting way to show that the past is more interesting than we think. * Sorry if I misspelled stuff I am really bad at spelling *

[@becca5161]

ohhh I loved these books in elementary and middle school! something about it and the character of Will was just so captivating

[@timmorrissey1607]

This series hits the nostalgic button hard.

[@7777777x7777777]

Damn, a series from this era which I haven't even heard of, that's crazy. Also great video as usual James :)

[@shadowkyber2510]

It seems like every Australian teenager/young adault who reads has read the series. Every library I've been to has the books, I think because the author is Australian they like promoting his books

[@TrickyTalon23]

I agree Battle For Skandia is definitely the best in the series. Erak's Ransom is a close second.

[@paulreveresluggage3921]

Yesssss!!!! My childhood favorites. I remember being so sad when will gives up his dog.

[@blacksparkles562]

Rangers apprentice was my childhood book series, I love it to this day.

[@LainVics]

This and the brotherband books were both big parts of my childhood

[@rocksnrolls]

I'm far from a kid, and I'm genuinely interested and want to read this book series!

[@josephfelderhoff1965]

Oh my, oh my, this takes be back to listening to these audio books with my sister and playing Legos.

[@sparrow_draws]

I love this series so much but The only thing that drive me insane is the way that the Wargals work. It’s so fantastical and magical and it feels so loose and hanging, I wish he would have done more with the seemingly magical forest or found a different way to explain it :(

[@SwordTomato]

I think the author thought he was going to write in more magic but decided not too after the first couple books

[@gabeberger803]

I'm so glad you did this video, James. I read the first four books when I was nine-ish, and recently picked them up again 2 years ago when I was in 10th grade. By this time I'd read GoT, the First Law Trilogy, LoTR and a bunch of other adult fantasy books. Ranger's Apprentice got me hooked, even more so than when I was nine. I appreciated many of the same things you pointed out in this video. I've read up to book 8 so far, and I have to say, while the series has flaws, the only other Fantasy book I've really thoroughly enjoyed this much is the Kings of the Wyld book Series. If I had to name a favorite children's book series, it would be this series. I even still have a cloak my mom made me when I cosplayed as Will to NYCC. Also, the whole naming scheme of the Temujai really entertained me, because it is said that Genghis Khan's original name may have been Temujin. Yeah, it was unoriginal, but it made me chuckle.

[@ricardoponcefernandez6339]

I read the first one as a teen and liked it, but never had any more. Glad to see it here.

[@dwntherabbithole9785]

Ranger's Apprentice was my favorite series as a kid. Thank you for doing this video :)

[@aptalsandvic5355]

I remember i read like 7 of these and used them for my book reports and my teacher got angry with me because she at first thought i was reporting the same book over and over again, i explained it to her and she said: ''Well these (fantasy books) aren't real literature anyways you shouldn't read this many of them'' Another literature teacher of mine listened to me explaining the themes of a sci-fi classic for five minutes, then told me to read ''real'' books as well, apparently sci-fi and fantasy novels don't count as novels because the events in them are impossible.

[@girthicusmaximus]

loved this series as a kid, listened to it on audiobook about a year ago still holds up pretty well

[@hurricaneofcats]

Thank you for acknowledging this books series. It deserves so much more love!

[@inkstripe1034]

I absolutely loooove this series by far favorite book series and not only is the plot fun and exiting but also the charachters are hilarious!!

[@someguy9893]

While I mostly agree with your statement on episodic fantasy books, children's books in particular have more of an excuse for it. Kids generally have less control over what order they read books in, at least when compared to adults. If they're getting it from a public/school library or a book fair, they may read a series out of order or even miss some books completely. Bookstores may also only stock some parts of a series, and not others. While ordering entire series online is an option, generally kids have less access to online bookstores than adults. I read the Warrior Cats books as a kid, but missed some parts of the series because I had less control over what books I had access to back then.

[@kaasmaster8892]

This series is still good to this day

[@greenergrass4060]

I love how they incorporated their real life bases on this book

[@dudeist_priest]

Happy to see you covering these! A favorite series of mine as a young teen.

[@richardmesquitajr4724]

Ive honestly been waiting 3 years since I first found your channel for you to make a video on this series. So glad you did. It’s been a favorite of mine for awhile now. Great video 👍🏻

[@Kona696]

I loved these books. I got a longbow after I started them

[@pendragon0905]

What you said about "starting off fighting bandits and then flying to the moon to kill an alien god"... That's exactly what happened in Naruto! Naruto's first enemy: A mercenary named Zabuza (although he mostly fought Zabuza's sidekick, Haku). Naruto's last enemy from Naruto the Last: An alien celestial named Toneri Otsutsuki (though Naruto merely beat the guy rather than kill him).

[@th01m3nn]

Gosh now that I see the English covers, the Dutch ones are waaay better 😂😂

[@dictyoptera_]

Memories unlocked, this series was my childhood. Well the dutch translation that is.

[@josiahstoehr1297]

Wow, this was quite a surprise! I think I read the first 2 or 3 books around a decade ago if not more but I couldn't continue since they stopped publishing them here in Italy. Now I'm curious to go read them again and hopefully read the others!

[@Dwoods451]

There is one magical thing. Those balguras or whatever from book one

[@sadieadler3065]

i honestly grew up along with these books. I started them at around age 9 or 10, and most recently read book 12 when I was I guess 14. I’m 16 now and about to read them all again for the good memories

[@seraph3264]

Note that according to audiobooks of this series, Morgarath was pronounced as mor-GARE-ith, which is a bit less dark-lord esque. Even still i think that this series has a bit of early installment weirdness for including some elements which are a bit less strictly mundane in the first two books, those being the wargals and the dude's ability to mentally influence them somehow. Unless I'm missing something, even the hypnosis explanation doesn't line up with reality completely. Not even getting into the fact that the wargals themselves have no IRL equivalent (the other beasts could easily just be big kodiak bears or smth). I do believe the reason for using fictionalized standins for real countries is so that the author didn't have to do a bunch of the justification of alternate events (which would be necessary if it was a pure alternate history setting), while still using what are effectively the same geopolitical entities. This allowed him to streamline the story for it's younger intended audience who probably wouldn't be as interested.

[@Halmska]

seraph sighting

[@seraph3264]

the hallam apparition

[@TimilehinOlaokun]

I haven't heard of this in a long while. It makes me happy

[@andrewdiaz3529]

This is the series that got me into reading. And my cousin hearing about how I was reading fantasy and giving me The Eye of the World for Christmas was how I got into Wheel of Time. And Regarding your opinion of book 4, while it certainly is one of the series highest points, I think every arc has a point that comes at least close to if not equal it.

[@digaddog6099]

I remember reading the first and a bit of the second in middle school. I think I'll start rereading them.

[@spencersholden]

What I noticed with the Skandians was how they start off with fictional gods, but later on Loki is mentioned as a trickster god.

[@abraham9305]

all I remember from these books was the overuse of the word "uncanny"

[@secondengineer9814]

I loved book 4. Didn't read anything after that but the tactics in that book were super fun for a detail oriented kid

[@PanzerIVAE]

I'm writing this before watching the video but damn I loved this series and have a lot of very fond memories of it and occasionally learn writing advice only to remember how well it handled things (I.E - A big plot important duel having good rising and falling tension, a Damsel in Distress situation where said damsel is actively trying to escape and not passively waiting for protag intervention) but what made me really sad is that I don't live in the western world I literally had nobody to gush about my love and interest for it The most I've done is sadly lurking on tumblr and deviantart years ago gawking at fan content for this series.

[@warstriker857]

I'm in middle school and Rangers Apprentice is my favorite book *series*. Halt is easily the coolest character cause I like his personality. Although the story has slowly gone downhill with these new books they're still good.

[@timz85]

I loved these books as a kid I read each book at least three times throughout my elementary school time

[@elijahtaylor4698]

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG FOR THIS. THESE BOOKS ARE MY CHILDHOOD!

[@marks4982]

I didn’t read Ranger’s Apprentice as a kid but I did read quite a few of the Brother Band Chronicles books, another one of Flanagan’s series

[@darcy7257]

Erak’s ransom was my favourite

[@Patchouliprince]

Woah, memory unlocked 😳 Had to read these in the 5th grade and I loved them but totally forgot they existed

[@frostfire6579]

Got to love those nessasary arm muscles

[@strauss-nf4qq]

Now I have to go to my libary and read the series again... It was my favoured series for a long time as a kid.

[@Copyright_Infringement]

I grew up with this series. It's a great piece of storytelling and I recommend it to everyone

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Ranger’s Apprentice couldn’t name a fantasy setting for shit, though. Like, it’s Warhammer Fantasy levels of “this is basically just Europe” world building.

[@bakthihapuarachchi3447]

Lol right???

[@oskarpalus2846]

Warhammer doesnt hide it though, even leans into it with ridiculous characters like "marco colombo" or "leonardo da miragliano". Ranger's Apprentice world is just enough different to feel like low effort copy. Its still a good series though.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

@@oskarpalus2846 Yeah, the elevated reality and tongue-in-cheek-iness of Warhammer gives it license to be silly. The Ranger’s Apprentice manages to tell a tale of serious fantasy intrigue while naming its Scandinavia stand-in “Scandia”, as though that isn’t silly.

[@notbaldfrost]

I usually get the sense that Flanagan knew what he was doing with such simple analogue countries, cuz kids' series. But it can get odd when he calls the hun/mongol guys the "Temujai" and the Arabs the "Arridi", then calls Gaul "Gallica", then almost calls Japan "Nihon", _THEN_ just calls the Celts "Celts". His names lie on every single point of the spectrum between vaguely reminiscent and literally just calling them what they are.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

@@notbaldfrost Shoulda workshopped it.

[@nab267]

I read this series in my late teens and it resonated with me

[@treekangaroo.7691]

ranger's apprentice was the shit

[@alexalexandrov9684]

One of my series ever

[@ZeMalta]

This seems like a novel I would’ve liked to read younger. And it also made me wish James reviewed the Witcher’s books. Although some of his thoughts I can already imagine

[@patrickmacken6046]

The "chosen one" trope is a big weakness in almost every story it's in. When I watched Nausicca or the Valley of the Wind I was completely onboard until they pulled that shit at the end for literally no good reason. I was so mad.

[@itme626]

Man I read way more of these books than I thought I did huh

[@NotoriousLightning]

But it's true what that chorus of men sang in Marcie Blane's seminal 1962 hit Bobby's Girl: You're not a kid anymore. But now, 'tis time to actually watch this.

[@aciad1703]

I posses copies of these books still,