Review – The Burning Bridge (The Ranger’s Apprentice, Book 2) by John Flanagan (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in The Ranger’s Apprentice series by Flanagan, there are twelve books planned for this series with a spin-off series planned after that. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (book 10) just came out in April.  This book was a good addition to the series; there is a lot more adventure than in the first book.

Will is sent on a mission with Galen and Horace to go talk to the Celts but when they get there something is terrible wrong.  Towns are abandoned and people are missing.  The local nobles are not cooperating and Halt is sent to deal with them.  The possible war with Mogarath is drawing near.

There is a lot more adventure and excitement in this book than was in the previous book, The Ruins of Gorlan.  Will and Horace are forced to show resourcefulness and take on more and more responsibility in hopes of preventing or at least delaying a war with Mogarath.  A new and interesting character joins the plot, Evanlyn.  Evanlyn is a noblewoman in disguise and is just as smart and resourceful as the boys she ends up traveling with.

I love that despite the serious scenarios in this book, there is a lot of humor laced throughout.  Halt is just as dry as ever, with a very sarcastic sense of humor.  Evanlyn also has a biting sense of humor.  This makes the book more fun to read and probably depicts human nature in an more accurate way…I love that the story doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The plot is well done, but again this book feels like only part of a larger book.  The book ends on a horrible cliffhanger; that left me kind of irritated.  I hate it when authors feel the need to drag the reader into the next book rather than just write a good story so that the reader picks up the next book in the series willingly.  So be prepared, if you read this book you will immediately want to read the third.

The worldbuilding is fantastic.  Flanagan has created a detailed world that is interesting to read about and very realistic.  It is not the most creative world, most readers have probably read about worlds like this before…but it is still well done.

Overall this is a very solid fantasy series.  I really enjoy the characters and the sense of humor throughout the book.  This book had more adventure than the first, which was nice.  I did not enjoy the horrible cliffhanger this book ends with.  If you enjoy this series I would also recommend The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney and Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.

This book goes to the following reading challenges:
– 100+ Reading Challenge
– Fantasy Reading Challenge