“Ranger’s Apprentice” is yet another young adult series. (Can you tell I have young adults in my house?) There is much that is being published in this genre that is admirable. This series by John Flanagan is one of them.

          Will is “ward of the manor,” a foundling who has been raised with the charity of the lord of his region. The story opens on The Choosing Day, the day when he and the other 16 year-old wards of the manor are chosen by one of the many guilds If no guild takes them as an apprentice, they are sent to be a hired hand of a farmer in the region. This seems to be Will’s fate until he demonstrates curiosity, honesty and other ranger-needed traits when he passes an unknown test devised by Halt, the local Ranger. The Rangers are an elite group of men charged with being the King’s eyes, ears and hands throughout the region. Halt recruits Will into the Ranger Corp and begins his training.

          His ward-mate, Horace, is chosen for the Battle School. Both Will and Horace have character building struggles and misunderstandings to overcome during the coming year. In the end they both discover their strengths and find success in their chosen apprenticeship. At times their bickering and other choices seem juvenile and obtuse, but they are teenagers, after all. Male teenagers. With all the angst and fire to prove their mettle. They soon learn to value and rely on each other’s strengths.

          This is a wonderful series, showing characters making choices and experiencing the consequences, good and bad, of those choices. Admirable traits such as honesty, courage, determination and more are portrayed favorably while their negative counterparts are revealed as less desirable. Positive growth is seen in the characters and noble actions rewarded. Although obviously written for the young adult market, and somewhat lacking the intensity and complexity of more sophisticated stories, this is a series even an adult can enjoy.

          While I really like the entire series and I don’t know how he could tell the same story and not do this, I have one compliant. The books are not stand-alone. The story is not completely told in one book. The first book is complete, but 2-4 tell a complete story and 5 ends on a cliff hanger, with the fate of at least one person in jeopardy. If he fails to write, or his publisher decides not to publish the next book(s), this story remains in limbo. I realize one of the greatest stories of our culture, The Lord of the Rings, does this very thing. I know sometimes a good story does need to span several books. I just don’t particularly like this trend. I prefer stand-alone books. I love books that pick up the storylines of characters from previous books, telling more of those character’s stories (such as Harry Potter, the Enchanted, Inc series, the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series). I just don’t like a single story arc to span multiple books. I like all the questions answered, the story arcs complete and a rosy future, or at least an acceptable one, in the horizon. There are exceptions, though and “Ranger’s Apprentice” is worth reading even with this “fault”. In fact, I highly recommend it and am eagerly awaiting the 6th book.