Ranger's Apprentice books 3 & 4

One of the things about reading a student recommended series is that patience is not the strong suit of adolescent boys. Every day Matt peeks into my room to see what book I'm reading and if it's one of the Ranger's Apprentice Series. There are 11 of the things and I've been going at a pretty steady clip but it's clear that he's waiting for me to hit some event in the series. To his credit, he's been scrupulously avoiding any hint of a spoiler.

Another thing I've noticed is that there seems to be an artificial cap on the length of YA series lit. It happened in the Underland Chronicles and it's happened now in the Ranger's Apprentice books. The Icebound Land and Battle for Skandia are really one book. The end of Icebound Land is abrupt and resolves little except to lead directly into the beginning of Battle for Skandia.

Virtually everyone warned me about The Icebound Land as well. The story introduces a drug based story line. I'm still a little unsure why I needed to be warned. Sure it's pretty grim, but I feel like the message is spot on and the horror of it. I think kids need more exposure to purely negative portrayals of narcotics: no allure, no sense of rebellion, just the raw truth of what drugs do. It wasn't easy to read, but I don't have a problem with it.

Battle for Skandia starts immediately at the point of resolution for the drug plot line, so strongly influenced by but not bogged down in it. I found Battle for Skandia very enjoyable, great adventure and camaraderie, and I love that Flanagan found a way to keep Erak in play.