It happened as quickly as that. One moment there was nothing. Then, in the blink of an eye, the figure was there, fully formed. Huge and menacing, black against the mist, a shadow figure of a giant warrior in ancient, spiked armour, with a massive winged helmet on its head. It must have been twelve metres high, he thought as he stood, rooted to the spot in terror.
Will has finally completed his apprenticeship and is now a fully-fledged Ranger, assigned to a small, safe fief. But even a small, quiet fief holds challenges to test Will’s ranger skills. Then his friend Alyss arrives, bearing news of a secret assignment, and Will must travel North, disguised as a jongleur, to seek answers to the mystery of a ghostly Night Warrior. Here, Will must use all of his Ranger skills to solve the mystery and protect the future safety of the Kingdom.
The Sorcerer in the North is the fifth title in the wonderful Ranger’s Apprentice series and sees Will on his first top secret mission as a Ranger. He is no longer under the instruction of Halt, the Ranger to whom he was apprenticed in earlier books, but Halt is still a figure in this book, as are other favourites including Will’s friends Alyss and Horace. The story stands alone, though readers who’ve read the earlier books will have an advantage.
Exciting fantasy reading.
Ranger’s Apprentice: The Sorcerer in the North, by John Flanagan
Random House, 2006