Book Blog #74: The Lost Stories by John Flanagan

Title: The Lost Stories
Author: John Flanagan
# of Pages: 422 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Unconfirmed accounts of a group of Araluen warriors - tales of adventure, battle, and triumph over evil - have spread for centuries throughout the known world. Most notable is a clan shrouded in mystery, phantom warriors known as the Rangers.

Two names pass the lips of every storyteller: Halt, and his apprentice, Will. They and their comrades in arms are said to have traveled throughout the kingdom and beyond its borders, protecting those who needed it most. If true, these rumors can be only part of the story.

Only now, centuries after these men and women walked the earth, do we have confirmation of their existence. Behold The Lost Stories, Book 11 in the Ranger's Apprentice epic.
Review: Holy crap. Flanagan is truly amazing.

I decided to read The Lost Stories because of the release of the last book, The Royal Ranger (I had The Lost Stories sitting on my bookshelf for the longest time. I didn't want to read it yet because I wasn't sure if it was going to be the last book or not).  I was a little surprised when I heard that The Royal Ranger came out already. How come I didn't hear of it?! Anyhow, I finally convinced myself that now was the time to read the eleventh installment of the Ranger's Apprentice series.

What I found mildly confusing was why this book was the eleventh book. I knew from reading the inside cover that The Lost Stories was a collection of stories that answered questions from some of the readers. And it was true; the "story" is about Will's past. The second "story" is about Gilan during The Icebound Land (as requested by the readers). However, the rest of the stories seem to shape their own new plot, set in the time after the tenth book until "stories" seven and eight, in which Halt's past is revealed and a mini sub-plotline of Tug and Will takes place. Then the ninth "story" resumes where the sixth left off/

It's all very confusing, and overall it seemed like a long epilogue and a bunch of extras (or "deleted scenes," like in the movies). Even though John Flanagan said somewhere (I think) that he planned to write twelve books for the Ranger's Apprentice series, it almost seems like he planned to stop with this one.

I think one of my favorite "stories" it the Purple Prose. I found it EXTREMELY funny, and I got a good laugh out of it, which I haven't had in a long time. Will's constant conversation with Tug was hilarious too. But, speaking of Tug, I almost cried when I was reading The Wolf. Will was heartbroken when he realized that he could no longer work with his horse whom he worked with throughout Will's ranger years. But, the funny thing was that I felt like I lost a friend too. The fact that Tug is replaced didn't help much either. I really hoped that Flanagan would let Tug keep his old name and just give Tug #2 have a different one, but no such luck. To me, Tug should be Tug, not this look-alike horse. Really, really sad.

Honestly? If you've gotten this far, then it shows that you're pretty dedicated to the series (like I am!). So, yes, it's a must read! A lot of stuff happens in this book, so don't think that you can just skip over it and read the twelfth one. Defiantly recommended.