(SPOILERS) The Battle for Skandia (Ranger's Apprentice #4) by John Flanagan

Book Synopsis:

For Will and Evanlyn, freedom has never felt so fleeing.

Still far from their homeland after escaping slavery in the icebound land of Skandia, the Ranger's apprentice and the princess's plan to return to Araluen is spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive by a Temujai warrior. Though still weakened by the warmweed's toxic effects, Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend, but an enemy scouting party has him fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand, until old friends make a daring, last-minute rescue. The reunion is cut short, however, when they make a horrifying discovery: Skandia's borders have been breached by the entire Temujai army. And Araluen is next in their sights.

If two kingdoms are to be saved, the unlikeliest of unions must be made. Will it hold long enough to vanquish a ruthless new enemy? Or will past tensions spell doom for all?

My Review:

4.25 stars. This installment wasn't as good as the previous two in the series, but it was still very enjoyable. The middle dragged and was a little boring, but then the pace picked back up again and stayed that way until the end. I loved the ending. The characters were great as usual, but I don't like the way John Flanagan writes female characters. That fact was obvious a few times in this book.

I was glad to see Will and Halt finally reunited toward the beginning. That was very cute because their dynamic is one of the best parts of the series. All of the character dynamics in this book were great. Horace and Will were being buds, Evanlyn was fitting in, Erak and Halt were begrudging friends. There were a lot of fun character moments throughout.

The pacing of this book had some issues. The beginning was good, but then the middle felt slow and boring. There was a lot of planning and organizing, which was somewhat interesting, but it went on too long and I got a little bored. Once the actual battle started, however, things got exciting again and I read through it a lot faster.

Another complaint I have, as mentioned earlier, is with John Flanagan's female characters. There was a moment in this book that demonstrated the issue. Will was practicing, and a random girl only mentioned this one time, came up and flirted with him. She was described as pretty, and Will loved the attention. This was the third time Will saw a girl and immediately noticed her beauty. Every time a girl character is mentioned for the first time, they are almost always described as pretty, and through a male character's eyes. His female characters still have personalities and play a role, but the fact that they're introduced like this is annoying.

Going back to the things I liked, I loved seeing Will be a leader. Him training the slave archers and working with them, influenced by Halt, was nice. It showed good growth for him.

The ending was very sweet. It was hopeful and didn't end on a cliffhanger. The epilogue feel of it was reminiscent of the first book's ending. It also set up some interesting character dynamics with Will and Horace and Evanlyn that I'm curious to see play out.

Content:

Language: h*ll, d*mn, God's name taken in vain

Sexual Content: a mention of concubines, a mention of a man having three wives

Violence/Gore: death, blood wounds, horses dying

Drugs/Alcohol: mentions of people getting drunk