Will is too small to be a knight, but when he becomes the apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, he discovers that the kingdom’s greatest weapon is invisibility. As a banished lord raises an army of savage beasts in the ruins of Gorlan, Will must master the art of the longbow and the shadowy cloak before the monsters reach the castle.
The exiled Lord Morgarath is scheming from the mountains, and his creatures—the savage, telepathic Kalkara—are unstoppable. The final hunt is edge-of-your-seat stuff. Will is too small to be a knight,
The exiled Lord of the Fens, Morgarath, plots to reclaim the throne. He unleashes his two terrible creations upon the fiefs: the Kalkara (massive, bear-like beasts with hypnotic eyes and toxic spines) and the Wargals (mindless, brutish humanoids under his psychic command). Will, alongside his mentor Halt and his friend Horace (a Battleschool apprentice), must stop the Kalkara before they assassinate King Duncan. The final hunt is edge-of-your-seat stuff
The protagonist; resourceful, agile, and courageous, though initially plagued by self-doubt. Will, alongside his mentor Halt and his friend
The Ruins of Gorlan is the 2004 debut novel in John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice
In the landscape of young adult fantasy, few series have captured the imagination of readers quite like John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice . While the series eventually spans twelve books and explores vast political landscapes, it all begins with a humble, unassuming start in The Ruins of Gorlan .
The Ruins of Gorlan introduces Will, an orphan from Castle Redmont’s ward who dreams of becoming a knight but is small, quick, and unremarkable by conventional standards. Chosen instead as an apprentice to the mysterious Rangers—stealthy, skilled scouts who serve the kingdom—Will begins training under Halt, a gruff but wise Ranger. The novel follows Will’s coming-of-age as he learns tracking, stealth, and marksmanship, uncovers growing threats to the kingdom, and faces the dark return of the malevolent Warlock Lord and his agents.