Ztracené příběhy

Ranger's Apprentice #11

by John Flanagan, Zdeňka Tenklová (Translator)

Další z příběhů světově úspěšné serie Hraničářův učeň Většina legend Araluenu, od útěku hraničářského učně Willa ze Skandie až po Horácovu cestu do Nihon-džinu, od příběhu, jak princezna Kasandra přišla ke jménu Evanlyn, až po příběh o Alyssině věznění na hradě Macindawu, je dobře známá. Ale co ztracené příběhy – ty, o kterých lidé slýchali, ale dosud nebylo možné dokázat, jestli jsou pravdivé? Odpovědi byly nedávno konečně nalezeny v ruinách malého domku na okraji lesa… Co dělal Gilan, když se Halt s Horácem vypravili do Skandie zachránit Willa? Řekl Halt Willovi skutečnou pravdu o jeho rodičích? Co se stane s hraničářskými koni, kteří už jsou příliš staří na to, aby zvládli náročnou službu? Oženil se Horác s Kasandrou? Na tyto a mnohé další otázky dávají odpověď ztracené příběhy z araluenských legend.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Middle Grade, Medieval, Short Stories

408 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

For mysteries by this same author, see John A. Flanagan.

John Flanagan grew up in Sydney, Australia, hoping to be a writer. It wasn't until he wrote a highly uncomplimentary poem about a senior executive at the agency where he worked, however, that his talent was revealed. It turned out one of the company directors agreed with John's assessment of the executive, and happily agreed to train John in copywriting.

After writing advertising copy for the next two decades, John teamed with an old friend to develop a television sitcom, Hey Dad!, which went on to air for eight years.

John began writing Ranger's Apprentice for his son, Michael, ten years ago, and is still hard at work on the series.

He currently lives in a suburb of Manly, Australia, with his wife. In addition to their son, they have two grown daughters and four grandsons.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you loved the series, you'll love The Lost Stories, I know I did.

The Lost Stories are just a series of short stories that answer some of the questions left unanswered by the series. Most are only two or three chapters long and can be finished off pretty quickly. Personally, I normally skip these types of releases. Most that I've read in the past have felt more like "money-makers" for the author than anything with real content for the reader.

I really enjoyed the Ranger's Apprentice series though so I thought I'd give this one a try. As you'd expect from short stories, there's nothing to really sink your teeth into. But I still enjoyed reading them.

I have to admit a feeling of love/hate with this book. First I really loved reading about all my favorite characters again. Will, Halt, Tug... The list goes on and on. But then I hate it because it's just a tease. There is no real story to get me interested and hooked. Just as you're getting into it the story ends.

Some of the stories were a bit contrived simply to resolve "fan questions." But then again I guess you have to make the fans happy.

But in the end, I still enjoyed the book. It was definitely worth the read. If you're a fan of the series, you should definitely take the time to read it. If you haven't read the series, the book won't make ANY sense to you at all so don't waste your time. Get the first book in the series and start there. You won't be disappointed. It's a really good series. 

 

[C.B. Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good grief, I love these books. This one was just a collection of short stories related to the series, but it was so good!!! Lots of feels (as in, fangirl squeals and sobs...), although the last one didn't excite me that much (as I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of Alyss). I'm also not one of those people who likes to see characters grow up and get married and stuff... Just a personal preference to leave those things in my imagination. To make this review easier, I thought I'd do some superlatives for the stories.

Cutest Couple: Dinner For Five (I will always ship Jenny and Gilan. <3)
Favorite Ending: The Inkwell And The Dagger (And of course it's said by Gilan.)
Most Worrying For Me: The Roamers (When a dog is the central character, that is cause for worry. Seriously, guys, I thought Ember was going to die.)
Most Terrifying Title: Death of a Hero (Because I thought it was going to be about Halt and he was going to die. But it wasn't, so we're all good.)
Best Use of Skandians: The Bridal Dance (Nils is awesome. And also, Erak meeting Shigeru. <3)
Best Use of Ridiculous Words: Purple Prose (Will is worse at writing speeches than I am!)
Most Epic Use of Halt: The Hibernian (This whole story is should just be called "Why Halt Is Awesome." <3 <3 <3)
Most Tears: The Wolf (BECAUSE I LOVE TUG. <3 <3 <3 Seriously, this one made me cry actual tears.)

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is yet another (the eleventh in fact) addition to a wonderful series of YA books. I love them for their characterisation, for the rich world, for the fact that both men and women are heroes in this world, for the fact that it is set in a more pure older time with a clear distinction between good and evil and just because it's great entertainment as a series. And like all great book series both the target audience of 12-16 year olds and adult readers can enjoy them. I know this to be true because my mother loves them just as much as I do.

Obviously my world views are going to be different from other readers and so while I like the clarity of morality in these novels others may not. Although I choose to believe that that indicates more about a reader and their beliefs than about any novel itself. Still I feel that while some may hate the apparently cliche nature of these books they should not be judged for that. There are so many good things to enjoy such as rich writing (for a YA novel the vocabulary used is quite excellent), the down-to-earth humour and verbal jousting between characters and the enjoyable plotting. Only one thing really frustrates me across the series and that is John Flanagan's need to remind the reader later in the books about things he mentioned earlier in the same tale.

This book is no different to the others in quality despite the fact that it is made up of short stories rather than full tales. Yet each story is a brilliant gem of its own and for any fan of the series is well worth a read as a stand alone short story. Yet putting them all together equated to a brilliant novel all in all.

I for one cannot wait for the next John Flanagan book whether I'm 18 or 19 at the time I read it. Because these books are good stories on the whole and fully worth reading. So go read this book and enjoy it as it is.

[Rebecca May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, just a warning, this review contains spoilers.

Secondly, for the record, I would actually give this book 3.5 stars, which I rounded up to four.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this book - it is really well written, and I incredibly enjoyed seeing all the characters again, and getting all my questions answered, and seeing the marriages between Cassandra and Horace, Will and Alyss, and seeing the continuing relationship between Gilan and Jenny. But I give the book 3.5 stars for two reasons:

First: The wedding dresses are all described as exactly the same! For a girl like me, who is into that kind of dressing-up stuff, it was incredibly disappointing.

Second: (and most importantly): Tug! Poor Tug! I absolutely could not stand what John Flanagan did to that little horse! He's been our friend throughout the whole series, and then Mr. Flanagan has to go and cripple him! I understand that Tug had to make an exit from the series at some point, but to have it happen in such a way was unbelievably cruel. And to add insult to injury, Tug's name is taken and given to the new horse. Why did will need a horse almost exactly like the last one? Even worse, Will, after getting this new horse who looks like young Tug and acts a bit like Tug, begins to act as if the original horse doesn't exist! The "new Tug" didn't win the race in the Arridi Deserts, or ride with Will to get help for Halt when Halt was poisoned. The "new Tug" even gets to go to Will's wedding as "best horse".

I say again - poor Tug (the real Tug)

So, overall, a satisfying read with many answers to all our questions, but a cruel, sad and unnecessary ending to our relationship with the wonderful Tug.

[kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lost Stories is a unique book. The author John Flanagan writes a series of short stories that answer questions sent to him by his fans.

1. Death of a Hero--How Halt finds Will.
2. The Inkwell and the Dagger--What happened to Gilan when Halt and Horace went to Gallica to rescue Will in The Icebound Land.
3. The Roamers--an adventure that Alyss and Will have together.
4. Purple Prose--is an assignment Will and Halt have to capture some moondarkers who have been wrecking and plundering ships.
5. Dinner for Five--An adventure Jenny, the cooks apprentice has.
6. The Bridal Dance--The wedding day of Horace and Evanlynn
7. The Hibernian--The story of Halt's mentor, how he came to meet Crowley and join the Ranger Corp.
8. The Wolf--The story of the breeding program for the horses provided for the Kings Rangers.
9. And About Time Too--The best for last, this is the story of the marriage of Alyss and Will.

I really liked reading these short stories. It was similar to eating a feast and then afterward you can't help yourself you just keep finding little things to nibble on to fill in the corners as it were. Well that's what this book did for me, filled in the corners.

If you've managed to read 10 books in the Rangers Apprentice series and like me thought that was the end; you'll really enjoy these unexpected surprises.

[Avalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, just not as much as I have liked the other ones. The only reason for that is because someone dies that is important to the main character, but i don't wan't to spoil anything.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first three books in this series a while ago and couldn't for the life of me remember why I stopped. I mean, I LOVE rangers (Aragorn, Drizzt, and all you other trackers/scouts out there), so I was very much ready to fall in love with this series. But after reading Lost Stories, I remembered why I had stopped. I HATE Flanagan's writing style. For me, it ranges from just meh to "NO ONE SHOULD EVER PHRASE A SENTENCE THAT WAY!" His style is just so redundant. For example, "The farmer was already dressed in a nightshirt and it was clear that he was about to retire for the night." That sentence should have ended at "nightshirt." Obviously if he is wearing a nightshirt, he is about to retire for the night; that doesn't need to be stated and doing so insults my intelligence. Or "He placed a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet." Finger to the lips is the universal sign for be quiet, so that last bit also doesn't need to be stated. Now, I can handle these redundancies in small doses, but Flanagan seems to phrase most sentences this way. It gets to the point that there are so many of these poorly phrased sentences that reading becomes painful. And when his sentences aren't redundant, they are just annoying. "But he also knew that a duel like this was a chancy affair." Why did you add "like this?" Is there ever a duel that isn't a chancy affair? And the last reason I can't stand Flanagan's writing style is that he breaks one of the Golden Rules of writing: SHOW, DON'T TELL! An example of this: the whole book.

The stories:

Foreward, Afterword, Fragment: I really don't understand why it was necessary to add these. Why did we have to see a professor digging up these stories? Just tell me (or rather, show me) the stories; you don't have to contrive some reason for me to be reading them.

Death of a Hero: I actually rather enjoyed this one. It was interesting to see Will's parents and what had happened to them. It gave Will a little more depth as a character. It was also nice to see a slighly different side of Halt, who so rarely shows emotion. But even though I liked this story, it really suffered from just a meh writing style.

The Inkwell and the Dagger: I enjoyed this story too, maybe even more so than Death of a Hero. It made me remember that I really liked Gilan. Things I didn't like about it: the duel sentence from above and how the name comes from a cheesy one-liner that is the last sentence of this story.

The Roamers: I didn't so much like this one. I found the premise sort of ridiculous: Ranger going on a dangerous infiltration mission to save his. . . dog? Yup. His dog. Are you really out of cool ranger stuff for him to do that you half to build a storyline out of him saving his dog?

Purple Prose, Dinner for Five: I didn't read these. I read the last half first, so at this point in the book, I just couldn't go on anymore.

The Bridal Dance: I thought the whole assassination plot was a neat concept, but the clues that lead Will to the assassins seemed a little far-fetched and contrived. I had trouble believing that anyone could take those random, insignificant pieces of information and form them into a coherent suspicion.

The Hibernian: I wanted to like this one more than I did. I liked the idea of seeing Halt before the Rangers series takes place, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the writing style more than actually enjoying the story.

The Wolf: Warning: rant incoming (like there hasn't been a few of those already in this review). I hated this story. I hated the way the events of this story were handled, and I hated why this story was written. The premise: Ranger tracks down and kills wolf that has been harassing the countryside. Sounds cool; I wouldn't mind reading that. But the way in which Will tracked down the wolf was so surpassingly stupid that I lost all immersion in the story. The wolf attacks a farmer's wife and son, but is driven back into the forest. The wolf is easily identifiable because it is missing one of its legs. Thus, it should be a simple matter for a ranger to follow its distinctive tracks back into the forest to its lair. But instead of taking a brief account of the farmer's story and departing for the hunt, Will keeps cross-interrogating these poor farmers.
Farmer's wife: "The wolf came at him like a streak of lightning-"
Will: "But I thought you said he was lurching?"
WHO CARES?! Why are you interrogating these farmers? This isn't that big of a mystery: There was a wolf; you found its tracks. And you already knew it was missing a leg from those tracks, so this line of questioning serves no purpose. Stop cross-interrogating these poor farmers and go kill that wolf.
Then the next morning, having nothing more to interrogate the farmers about, one would imagine Will would begin the hunt.
Tug (his horse, and we'll talk about the fact that he can "talk" later): Are we hunting the wolf this morning?
Will: "I want to ask around some of the other farms first."
WHY?! You aren't hunting for a serial killer; you are hunting for a WOLF. Are you planning on giving this wolf a trial or something? You don't need to cross-interrogate anybody and you don't need to gather evidence. Even if this wolf attacked no other family, it has still proven itself to be highly dangerous and in need of slaying. JUST GO KILL IT!
Fortunately for my sanity, Will eventually tracks and kills it. But his horse, Tug, is seriously wounded in the process. Herein lies the reason why Flanagan wrote the story (so says his note at the end). He realized that horses can't serve their ranger forever and must eventually be "retired." And he does mean this in the literal sense: Tug doesn't die, he just retires. But Will would need a new horse, wouldn't he? Simple enough. He can now choose from a variety of trained ranger horses, right? But surprisingly, bafflingly the answer to that is no. Oh, no. For there is a breeding system in place for every ranger in which a stallion and mare are chosen that have nearly identical traits to the stallion and mare that bred the ranger's retired horse, hereby breeding another horse, seemingly identical to the ranger's retired horse, that said ranger can now use to take the place of said retired horse. WHY?! Why is this necessary and why did we need to frame an entire story around this ludicrous concept? This horse breeding system seems impractical and stupid. Why does he need to have a horse exactly like the old one? I don't think that's even possible, no matter if the parents of that horse are similar to Tug's. A horse close to Tug, yes. Exactly like Tug, no. Not to mention the fact that this HAS to have some adverse effects on the whole gene pool from which you are breeding your horses. I found this entire concept (and story) impractical, impossible, and stupid.
Side note on ranger horses: I really don't buy in to the whole fact that they can communicate with their rangers so effectively. The way it was described is that the horse can communicate with his ranger by way of nonverbal communication. I can understand this maybe for some simple communication, but some of these bits of horse dialogue are far too complex for that explanation. Even just taking the example I gave earlier: "Are we hunting the wolf this morning?" I simply will not believe that a horse can have such a diverse range of nonverbal expression as to put forth that sentence. If it were explained as telepathy, that would have been fine. I could suspend my disbelief for that. But nonverbal communication, no. Unless the anatomy of ranger horses differs from that of the horses we (the readers) know (and to my knowledge, it does not), a horse simply cannot physically communicate in this manner, no matter its mental capacity. This has been something that irked me throughout every Rangers book I have read.

And About Time Too…: This story too was just meh. It finally brought together the romance between Will and Alyss. I found it sweet, but I never really felt that their romance was a big part of the story. In the three books I read of this series, I hardly remember any significant interaction between the two. Maybe their interactions took deeper meaning later in the series, but for the books I read, their romance seemed hastily thrown in.

I know I've been harsh on this book and on the Ranger's Apprentice series in general. But I am harsh only because I so opened my heart to love it. And I tried to do just that; believe me, I couldn't rave for this long if I didn't care. And the whole time I was reading the series, I was on the brink of really liking it, but the manner in which it was told kept me just shy of crossing over. But in the end, story is what matters. Not necessarily what happens (that would be plot), but why and how it happens. Some may argue that Ranger's target audience is aimed for a young demographic (ages 9-12) and, therefore, simpler, but I honestly don't think that is an excuse. Consider Avatar: The Last Airbender (yes, I know it is a tv show and this is GoodREADS, but it is also a story). It too was aimed for a younger audience, but it is one of the most amazing pieces of storytelling I've ever encountered. Also consider Eoin Colfer, Cornelia Funke, and so many others. All aimed for younger audiences, and able to be enjoyed by the younger audience while still staying true to good storytelling; able to be simplified without becoming condescending. I'm not sure if it is because Rangers was simplified for a younger audience or if it is just Flanagan's writing style, but I did find the storytelling severely lacking. And that is the main reason why I disliked this book, and why I found the part of the series I read to just be meh where it had the potential to be truly good. Execution. It's all about execution.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat top om weer terug te stappen in deze wereld!! Het is een collectie van mini-verhalen, wat erg leuk was! Zo kon je over vele karakters weer lezen. Just topvibes in de grijze jager wereld 🫶🏼

[Lexie · Rating 5 out of 5]

8/10. A collection of relatively short stories, and they were all great. I barely got bored with this book and there was a lot of humour in this one. I loved reading in some different characters POV's, especially Gilan's haha, and loved reading about stuff that happened in between throughout the rest of the series. And some of the beautiful things that happened in this book, so great! I really liked this one. Have reread each of the stories multiple times!

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4.5**
Super książka!🥳 Dotychczas jedna z moich ulubionych w tej serii.
Jedynie to szkoda, że ostatnia historia taka krótka.🥲

[Vilius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apsakymų formatas nelabai tinka šiai serijai. Jie tiesiog per trumpi, kad atsirastų kažkokia intriga.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An omnibus of ten stories revolving around the Ranger Corps in the Kingdom of Araluen.

Flanagan takes an unique approach introducing this collection of short stories he has written around the Ranger's Apprentice by having an archeology professor in 1896 dig up a chest full of reports at a dig site. He ends with a fragment/afterword that introduces his new series, The Brotherband Chronicles.

All are in the Ranger's Apprentice series
"Hibernian", 0.25
"Death of a Hero", 0.5
"Inkwell and the Dagger", 3.5
"Roamers", 7.5??
"Purple Prose", 10.5
"Dinner for Five", 10.6
"Bridal Dance", 10.7
"And About Time, Too...", 10.8
"Wolf", 10.9
The Stories
"Death of a Hero" tells the story of Will Treaty's father and his heroic death on Hackham Heath along with how Will ended up at Redmont Castle in the Ward.

"Inkwell and the Dagger" begins with Ranger Gilan watching Halt ride off after being banished from the kingdom for 12 months and "stripped of his position in the Ranger Corps". Crowley decides Gilan needs something to distract them from the loss of their friend Halt and assigns Gilan to an investigation of a killer by the name of Foldar.

"Roamers" find Halt and Will capturing river pirates but only to arrive home and discover that gypsies stole Ebony. Alyss feels responsible and insists on going with Will to retrieve Will's still-young dog.

"Purple Prose" is a few months before Horace and Cassandra's wedding and Will is struggling to create a memorable speech in his role as Horace's best man. Unfortunately, the only copy is along for the ride when Will and Halt work to foil a moondarkers' plot to wreck ships. Truly, "Purple Prose" in the verbal and physical forms!

"Dinner for Five" results in a foodless dinner for Gilan when Jenny foils the silver thieves.

"Bridal Dance" finds Will suspicious of a pair of Toscan strangers and what their plans may be during Horace and Cassandra's wedding festivities. The wedding guests are a who's who of the series: Erak, the Oberjarl of the Skandians; Gundar Hardstriker brings the Emperor of Nihon-Ja, Shigeru, on his "Wolfwill"; and, the Arridi, Selethen.

"Hibernian" provides the back history on who first trained Halt and how he came to be a Ranger. It's also a fascinating early history on how low the Ranger Corps fell before Duncan became King.

"Wolf" is so sad. It takes place after Will has been a Ranger for 15 years and tells of how Tug is retired from the Ranger Corps.

"And About Time, Too..." is of Will and Alyss' wedding with Horace and Cassandra as best man and matron of honor, Tug and Ebony as best horse and best dog, Halt and Pauline, Jenny and Gilan, Baron Arald to marry them and Lady Sandra, and Malcolm and Trobar with Shadow.

The Cover and Title
The cover includes the embossed black arch across the top of the cover framing a highly-decorated round wooden shield with the Rangers' black oakleaf centered on it and a sword piercing it from top to bottom against a blue-green background of forest.

The title, The Lost Stories, refers to Professor Giles MacFarlane finding a lost cache of Ranger chronicles

[rachel, x · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really not a fan of short story anthologies so I am a bit nervous for this!

Discoveries | 1 star - This is me being completely selfish. I hate the idea of our characters being dead so that no one even remembers them, and all their things are buried and dead and gone, with these strange people digging them up and going through it.

Death of a Hero | 4 stars - I am so glad that we got to learn more about Will's biological family, and don't think it could have be explained in a better way.

The Inkwell & the Dagger | 4.5 stars - If you've ever wondered what Gilan got up to after Halt left for Skandia in The Icebound Land than look no further! I loved this story so much. It cleared a lot things up, and was just generally engaging. Gilan was always a favourite character of mine, but I felt that we didn't get to know him as much as I would have liked sadly. This short story was completely action-packed and suspenseful. It was surprising shocking, and the ending was unexpected in the best possible way. I wish we could get an entire book from Gilan's perpsepctive! I'd love to know what else he got up to when Halt, Horace & Will were off on their crazy shenanigans.

The Roamers | 4 stars - I didn't not expect that at all! Alyss is such an amazing character once you get to know her, and I loved that we got to see her and Will work together, just the two of them. And Ebony was back, so that was great too!

Purple Prose | 4 stars - This was delightfully hilarious! I loved seeing more of Halt and Will while they are still apprentice and master. I have never heard of Moondarkers before so that was also interesting, and the whole subplot of Will's speech for Horace & Evanlyn's wedding was simply adorable.

Diner for Fiver | 4.5 stars - Another story following Gilan (kind of). I seriously want a spin-off series featuring him in Araluen all the times Halt, Will & Horace were off on their adventures. This story had me smiling like a fool. I loved Jenny, she was smart, resourceful and brave, and I wish she had more involved in the main series.

The Bridal Dance | 5 stars - There were so many feels associated with this story! I am so, so happy for Evanlynn (she'll never be Cassandra) and Horace. Their wedding was super adorable, and it was good to see some of our favourite characters come back.

The Hibernian | 3.5 stars - I needed this story so much! Crowley and Halt have a fantastic dynamic but the story wasn't the best in the collection so far. I'm looking forward to The Tournament at Gorlan.

The Wolf | 3.5 stars - I never even thought about what would happen to Tug after he got 'old'. This was so much sadder than I thought it would be, and why I don't think it is a good idea to give the 'new' horse the same name, and make Tug change his name, I loved this little story as a whole.

And About Time Too | 5 stars - Beautiful.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have gotten 4 stars, but the stories just were too "uneven". One or two I really enjoyed, and would have preferred to have had them expanded to a whole novel. Others seemed to me to be nearly "filler", even if they did flush out aspects of the over arching story.

[Arthur Jonker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jahoor! Wat een boek weer! Een hele toffe twist in de gebruikelijke stijl van een grijze jager boek! Allemaal korte verhalen over de serie tot nu toe. Geweldig boek!

Nu de twijfel: ga ik door naar boek 12 of eerst de vroegere jaren serie lezen. (Ik ben 1 minuut geleden begonnen in de vroegere jaren serie dus eigenlijk is de twijfel er niet).

[Hopksiazka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ostatni z najlepszych tomów :( teraz już będzie tylko tendencja spadkowa

[Sally906 · Rating 5 out of 5]

And they all lived happily ever after.

The lost stories ties up all the loose ends. Centuries after the events in the Ranger’s Apprentice archeologists find a ruined cabin that belongs to the legendary Holt. Inside is a wooden chest which contains hand written stories about the characters that appeared in the first ten books.

Sad this series has come to an end. But there are two spin off series for me to start.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this enjoyable collection of short adventure stories set in medieval England (but called Araluen). These tales feature mostly Will and Halt, but also Crowley, Gilan, Alyss, Horace, etc. Will's dog Ebony and his horse Tug play key roles, too.

1. Death of a Hero--Halt finally tells Will the whole story of how both of Will's parents died and how Halt brought baby Will to Redmont Castle
2. The Inkwell and the Dagger-- Gilan deals with loose ends and fallout from book 2, The Burning Bridge
3. The Roamers-- Alyss and Will must rescue their poor dog Ebony from "the roamers" who snatched her for nefarious reasons. Fairly grim.
4. Purple Prose-- a humorous adventure tale. Will writes a speech for Horace's wedding (funny). Will and Halt must capture some clever "moondarkers" raiding ships on the southern coast. These are like pirates, only they wreck and plunder ships on land, on beaches.
5. Dinner for Five-- Jenny invites Gilan for dinner, but unwelcome guests show up. Jenny doesn't wait around for Gilan to save her bacon.
6. The Bridal Dance-- assassins sneak into Castle Redmont, doing their best to ruin Horace and Cassandra's wedding. Wedding guests include the emperor of Nihon-Ja, Arik and the Skandians, Selethin and the Arridins, etc.
7. The Hibernian-- One of the best in the anthology, set about 4 decades ago, when the Ranger Corp is falling apart, along with the entire kingdom. Halt left his home in Hibernia. In Araluen he befriends a young, despairing Crowley. We hear about the old Ranger who trained Halt.
8. The Wolf-- Sad story. Will and Tug must track down a dangerous lame wolf. Old Bob the horse trainer plays a major role. We meet Cormac, the retired horse who used to be called Cropper. We learn about the breeding program and lineage-keeping for horses in service to the King's Rangers
9. And About Time Too-- a short (but sweet) portrayal of the marriage of Alyss and Will.

[Red_Queen_Lover · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly found myself wanting to skip chapters just so I could finish the book. I hate it when people talk crud about a book they just weren't feeling, so I'm going to avoid that.
I think maybe I could give it another try later, but as of now, it's going to stay one star ;(

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been the cutest, sweetest, and funniest sequel in the whole series! I've never laughed nor was I touched like I did in The Lost Stories! A loot of progress that a reader can't help but tear up as he sees the characters mature page by.page and feel proud of them. That a reader can magically connect with the characters of a story is what made Ranger's Apprentice survive till the 12th book and enjoy such a loyal fandom ^_^ Well done, John!

[Cordelianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories were awesome and really added something to the overall story. But other stories were boring and did not really add anything. One of my favorites was definitely the wedding story! It was so cute, but still action packed!

[Marmoladka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeju i ten koniec który mi coś przypomniał "zaginione historie" to idealny tytuł.
Daniel jeju<3😭

[tentremxoxo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tak o to kontynuuje moja ulubioną serie! Ta część szczerze mówiąc szału na mnie jakiegoś wielkiego nie zrobiła. Wzruszyłam się troszkę na koncówce, jednak to nie jest to. Ciekawy pomysł był z tą książką bo jednak to nad czym się zastanawiałam - przeszłość Halta - jest wytłumaczone, ale nie dostałam tego czego chciałam czyli czemu odszedł z zamku. POLECAM PRZECZYTAĆ TEZ BO WIEMY CO SIE DZIEJE Z KONIAMI ZWIADOWCÓW. To jest dziwne jak dla mnie żeby koniowi później zmieniać imię i jakby przenosić go na młodszego XD
Czemu 3 gwiazdki? Była troszkę nudna xD. Nie rwało mnie do niej tak jak przy poprzednich częściach. UPRZEDZAJĄC, lepiej nie przeskakiwać żadnej książki tylko czytać po kolei bo w tej książce wszytskie te postacie się pojawiają na ślubie i jak nigdy orientowałam się kto jest kim XDD
Oczywiście będę dalej kontynuować serie zwiadowców, przedemną jeszcze trochę książek 🥹

[Asia · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Daphne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since these are a bunch of short stories, I'll rate them individually. I'm not a huge fan of this format and I didn't really enjoy the book in general. What I did like was the glimpse into the future, I almost wish that had been explored more instead of the stories.

1. Death of a Hero. 2/5 stars.
We have basically heard this story already, the only thing that was suddenly changed was how Will's mother died, and honestly, I think it was a bad change. Not everyone has to die in a herioc sacrifice to save Halt's life. All in all, pretty boring.

2. The Inkwell and the Dagger. 2/5 stars.
Predictable. The twist where Gilan saves the day by being smarter than the bad guy was no surprise. Neither was the cowardly traitor, yet again, being a fat man. (This happens in this book in particular a lot, what does the author have against fat people? It's so lazy to think: "Well I gotta write a pathetic villain who is greedy and/or cowardly. Let's make him fat and then mention it 700 times.")

3. The Roamers 0/5 stars.
Wow. This was a terrible story. The only small thing that was positive was that Alyss had a role in it but that wasn't enough to save it from getting a big fat zero. I've had issues with the way Flanagan wrote different countries / groups of people before, but never as much as this. He wrote a race that was obviously based on the Romani people. Then, he took every single terrible stereotype that has been used to oppress these people in the past in real life and applied them to his fictional race. They are thieves, they treat animals badly, they treat women badly. Every single trait he assigned to these people was a negative one. It felt incredibly racist to me, not to mention that it was just plain lazy writing. The only person that was treated with any sympathy from the writer's point of view wasn't even really one of them. Will had a line at the end about how he should just lock every single one of them up in jail (even though most of them were obviously innocent of any crimes) but disinfecting the cell afterward would be too much trouble. And this is the good guy?! I hated this story so much, if it had been the plot of an entire book I would have stopped. I almost did already.

(Also, the way Halt said that they saw women was bad implied that the writer thinks they are treated pretty much as equals in Araluen. This is laughable. Of the four female characters that have had any plot significance, only two have been shown doing anything important. It has been implied in the beginning of the series that diplomatics being largely a women's job is a pretty recent thing. Where are the female rangers? Female warriors? Secretaries?)

4. Purple Prose 2.5/5 stars.
Not very memorable. The most annoying bit was how much Will talked to his horse, there's only so much suspension of disbelief I can muster for the horse talk. Entire, pages long conversations is too much for me.

5. Dinner for Five 3/5 stars.
I mostly liked this story because Jenny had a role in it, even if I dislike that she's seeminly randomly paired with Gilan. Still, wish it had been more interesting or maybe just that we could see more different sides of Jenny for once, it barely explored her character.

6.The Bridal Dance 2.5/5 stars.
It was alright. The wedding was cute but I really dislike the trope where the main character suspects something & is obviously right but everyone else dismisses it until its too late.

7. The Hibernian 3/5 stars.
Again, it was alright. It was nice to have some more insight in the rangers and how much has changed since the time when Halt became one.

8. The Wolf 1/5 stars.
This was really pointless. I literally can't understand why you'd write an entire story where a horse gets hurt and has to be replaced, only to replace it with basically an exact copy with the same name. I don't care if it's more realistic that the horse gets replaced after a certain amount of years. It's even less realistic that they can have entire, complicated, conversations with humans. If the author had really wanted to explore the idea of Will getting a new horse, he should've made it an actual new horse. Not a creepy copy.

9. And About Time Too . . . 3/5 stars
Sweet but largely uneventful.

End result: 2/5

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a joy it was to be back in the Ranger's Apprentice world with Will and Halt and all the others. I had resigned myself to the fact that book 10 would be the last, so this was a very pleasant surprise! And while a series of short stories isn't quite the same as a full-length book, I still enjoyed it VERY much. I think my favorite was the story about Halt before he became a Ranger - probably because I've always thought that a series about his younger years would be just as great as the books we have of Will.

My one complaint with these stories is that Horace was pretty much absent. He makes a short appearance here and there, but nothing of any significance. I love the dynamic between the three when Halt, Will and Horace are going on adventures together and solving problems for people. Although I guess it was a trade-off since we got a lot more of Gilan, which I have been wanting as well.

All in all, this is a great one for fans of the Ranger's Apprentice series. I wouldn't suggest starting with this one, but if you've read and enjoyed the others, you definitely want to read this as well. Now I look forward to seeing what else John Flanagan has in store for us in The Outcasts! I have it sitting here waiting for me, so hopefully I can get to it soon!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Premise: This volume is a collection of short stories set in the world of the Ranger's Apprentice series. They fill in some of the gaps on reader questions that aren't specifically addressed in the novels of the series.

Flanagan's short fiction works well, but if you haven't read the series, you won't have a clue what's going on in the stories. This was definitely intended for people who are already fans. The stories cover most of the logical questions readers would ask: what happens to Ranger horses when they near retirement age? After all, horses have shorter lives than humans, and working horses can only work so long. How did Halt make his way from Hibernia into the Ranger Corps? The stories also cover Horace and Cassandra's wedding and a few other tidbits to please readers.

I enjoyed the series, and I enjoyed the stories. Flanagan ended the series at a good point. I think the series was beginning to run out of steam (too many deus ex machinas!) so he ended it before it could go downhill. These stories weren't good for episodes of another novel, but they complement the series well.

[Katrina Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was one story in this collection that bored me so much I thought for sure I would DNF. (the second story, where Gilan saves the day or whatever) But it turns out, that was the only one. All the others proved to be either absolutely hilarious or positively hit-you-in-the-feelsy. I definitely have my peeves with John Flanagan's style, but I've experienced the world of Ranger's Apprentice too long, and have gotten to know his characters too well, not to hold this series close to my heart. <3

I can't decide which is my favorite story. Probably the one called Purple Prose - where Will writes his terrible speech for the wedding. I laughed out loud several times while reading, because THAT TERRIBLE SPEECH, OMW. And HALT, guys. Just... Halt. xD Or maybe it was the one where Halt and Crowley meet for the first time. I really liked that one too. (am I the only one who pictures Morgarath kinda like Loki - like, the Tom Hiddleston Loki?? The resemblance in my mind is uncanny.)

Now excuse me while I go read The Royal Ranger.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

*stares at book*
*tries to remember how much I liked it*
*puts down 4 stars*
*changes to 5*
*more staring*

I like longer stories better, but these were quick and enjoyable to read.

And, please note that I actually did NOT read the book on the date mentioned below. It's just that I can't remember WHEN I did. X'D Whoops.

[_Blanca_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jakie to było dobre i przyjemne!

Opowiadanie "Napuszona Mowa" było najlepsze razem z "Najwyższy czas".

Oczywiście Halt błyszczy w obydwóch opowiadaniach, ale w tym drugim...

Natomiast za opowiadanie "Wilk" obraziłam się chwilowo, ale rozumiem, w końcu musiało to nastąpić.

Miałam jedną nieścisłość czasową, ale może źle coś zrozumiałam.