Halt's Peril (Ranger's Apprentice #9) by John Flanagan - Starting 11th January 2020

[Natalie]

The renegade outlaw group known as the Outsiders has journeyed from kingdom to kingdom, conning the innocent out of their few valuables. Will and Halt, his mentor, are ambushed by the cult's deadly assassins when Halt is pierced by a poisoned arrow. Now Will must travel day and night in search of the one person with the power to cure Halt: Malkallam the Sorcerer.

[Julianne]

I am so excited for this

[Natalie]

Me too! 😁

[Julianne]

Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[ okay Will is a certified badass (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[ well that didn't go as planned at all! Will really didn't read that situation and looked a bit silly but Halt said that Will has to make a few mistakes to learn properly (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Chapter 12(view spoiler)[ aw I love How Horace assumes he's invisible now that he's wearing a Ranger Cloak (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Chapter 24(view spoiler)[ so now we can finally see what the book is named after! Halt is really forgetting where he is in the world right now because of some poison! That's actually terrifying (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Chapter 43 (view spoiler)[ I'm dying at the end if this chapter. Lady Pauline must be a terrible fearful sorceress

Yes she's very slim and beautiful and persuaded Halt to have a haircut for their wedding

A sorceress indeed

(hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Finished (view spoiler)[ I actually really like how the team handled Tennyson in the end. They used his parlor tricks against him and turned it on his head. Pushing Tennyson's 'followers' away!

Not as much action ,overall, in this book. But I preferred the more suspense and less action of it.
(hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

...well you finished that quickly 😂😂 I’m only just getting the chance to read some of it now!

Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[I rather like that this beginning to the book both shows how strong Will is as a character and as a ranger, but also how even he can still be vested at times. Not the best way to spend 2 gold coins I’m afraid. (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Chapter 7: (view spoiler)[Well it appears as though O’Malley and his crew are now taken care of... but with past experience (John Buttle in The Sorcerer in the North/The Siege of Macindaw comes to mind) I’m not counting these guys out as threats just yet. (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

I had a whole day to read xD


Natalie wrote: "Chapter 7: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I DIDN'T EVEN THINK THAT THEY MIGHT COME BACK IN THE NEXT BOOK LIKE BUTTLE (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Julianne wrote: "I had a whole day to read xD


Natalie wrote: "Chapter 7: [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[It's where my mind went immediately because of the Buttle thing! You don't know for sure that they died, so it could 100% be a red herring! (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[Shame there’s no most nearby. I think Halt would have enjoyed getting the ungrateful farmer to go for a nice swim 😛

I do really love Halt’s plan to drive off the Picts. Shame it didn’t go quite as planned - hopefully Horace’s injuries aren’t too bad! But either way it was an ingenious way to get rid of them without getting caught up in some drawn-out siege. (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Chapter 18: (view spoiler)[IM SO STRESSED. I know that Halt is going to get injured (badly?) by the Genovesans - it’s in the damn synopsis - but I don’t remember WHEN or HOW and this whole scene is just one “is it going to happen here?” after another @-@ (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Natalie wrote: "Chapter 18: [spoilers removed]"

THATS EXACTLY HOW I FELT. Its in the TITLE. Very suspensful

[Natalie]

Chapter 23: (view spoiler)[I swear I’ve been putting off reading this because THE STRESS but even though Halt has technically now been wounded... considering the wound there is MORE TO COME.

And given that the Genovesans are assassins... that wound is poisoned, isn’t it? 😐 That scratch is probably a lot more serious than it initially appears and I am SO WORRIED.

UGH.

I swear that when I read this as a kid I wasn’t near as stressed as this 😂😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Chapter 35: (view spoiler)[Ahh yes. The bait and switch with a “dead” Halt. Bloody genius to use the Genovesan’s schedule to pull that ;D

Honestly the Genovesans dont have near enough discipline to beat Rangers 😝

And now I can stop STRESSING SO DAMN MUCH. THE WORST IS OVER.

Halt’s going to be fineeeeee. I’m sure of it now 😉 (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Chapter 39: (view spoiler)[He’s gonna be okayyyyyyyy 😭😭💕💕💕

But on another note... I think Horace has clearly been spending a lot of time around Rangers. The Horace of book one wouldn’t have been able to come up with that plan, let alone carry it out 😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Natalie]

Finished! (view spoiler)[And a really great ending too 💕

Thought the way that Tennyson was taken down was bloody clever, what with the return of “Ferris” and using his presence to discredit Tennyson’s false god.

But honestly... the best part of this ending is Ebony. I’m so glad that Will has a dog again. And a PUPPY? Shadow’s puppy? I’m so happy for him 😭😭 (hide spoiler)]

[Julianne]

Natalie wrote: "Finished! "

(view spoiler)[ I really enjoyed how they took down Tennyson! But it seemed like once they GOT to Tennyson, the book was over.


Love that Will has a dog now, I wonder how she will play into the end of the series and Royal Ranger?

Maybe they'll breed special dogs to hang out with their special Ranger horses! (hide spoiler)]