Excellent YA coming-of-age fantasy novel. We have our underdog here, an orphan boy who longs to become a warrior but doesn't have the strength and size required. One of the mysterious rangers takes and requests him as apprentice. The writing is just functional, but then again it is targeted to middle grade or the younger end of YA readers. The plot is exciting and readers will be thrilled to follow Will's adventures and wishing he will succeed. ( )

- for middle school
- I think that this is a fantastic book that works with themes such as: complex family situations, empowering success, love, truth, honesty, and more. It is a book about a child who doesn't know his Dad because he died before he was born. He is an outcast but is taken in as a rangers apprentice and learns skills and learns to do great things AS HE IS. He is encouraged to use his unique talents and not someone else's. Great book.

I'm giving this 2 stars, but let me be clear, it's not because it's not a good book. I can tell that if I had read this when younger, I would have devoured it and absolutely loved the series. It's very good for a fantasy YA, but I think my personal tastes, now that I'm an adult, run in a different direction. There were too many things that felt like plot holes to me (the big bad villain has been exiled in a wasteland for 15 years, yet they talk about how he's hiring lots of mercenaries who will work for anyone who gives them lots of money - where is he getting this money?! He's exiled, alone! etc) and the story was enjoyable but very predictable, and the characters were fairly stereotypical and didn't have much depth. All that said, if you like YA fantasy, or you have younger kids/teenagers who like fantasy, I think this will be a very enjoyable read for you. ( )

Fantasy

What I expected, plenty of fantasy style journeys and fighting. Fun for someone who doesn't mind the lack of interesting girl characters, or a bit of fat shaming. ( )