Duel at Araluen by John Flanagan
Rangers Apprentice: The Royal Ranger Book 3. Random House,
2018. ISBN: 9780143785927.
(Age: 11-15) Highly recommended. Themes: Adventure; Battle; Royalty;
Heroism. As the third book in the Royal Ranger series it is
apparent that much has gone before, leading to the incredibly
capable Princess Cassandra having to defend her injured father, King
Duncan, and the remnant of soldiers in the Castle, while trapped
high within the fortified south tower. Her husband, Sir Horace and
the Ranger Commandant, Gilan, are similarly trapped in an old hill
fort, but far away, and unable to provide the rescue the Princess
will need to remain in power. The orchestration of this two-pronged
attack on the ruling authority of Araluen is down to Dimon, and it
looks like he has the upper hand. His engineers have also devised a
rather interesting device to launch an assault. If nothing else he
just needs to wait until all food and water is used up within the
Castle and the other fortress and he can take control of Araluen on
his own. But, he has no idea that he will be brought undone because
of a young female apprentice Ranger (Princess Cassandra and Sir
Horace's daughter, Maddie) and the Brotherband of Skandians who,
with their intense fighting skills, will be a formidable and
surprise force to be reckoned with.
John Flanagan knows how to write an exciting and dramatic adventure,
and even though I have not read all of his books, those I have read
I have not been able to put down. (Younger readers devour every book
in each series!) There is fighting, tension, incredible 'warrior'
strategy and some odd moments of humour from the interesting
characters. It would be unusual for anyone to dislike this book in
the spin-off series from the standard Rangers Apprentice
series. (Note: Book one in the Royal Ranger series was
originally published as Book 12 in the Rangers Apprentice
series. The Brotherband series is a stand-alone series, but
the two become linked at various points.)
The delight of this book is the heroine Maddie rising to reveal her
training as a Ranger has not been in vain, and her ability to lead
and strategise to solve problems in conflict is only matched by her
skills to evade detection.
Highly recommended for readers aged 11-15. (Both male and female
readers will love the action and adventure.)
Carolyn Hull
