John (John Anthony) Flanagan

When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.

"For years, the Kingdom of Araluen has prospered, with the evil lord Morgarath safely behind the impassable mountains. For years, its people have felt secure. But the scheming hand of the dark lord has not been idle. . . . On a special mission for the rangers, Will and his friend Horace, an apprentice knight, travel to a neighboring village and discover the unsettling truth: all the villagers have either been slain or captured. Could it be that Morgarath...

After Ranger's apprentice Will battles Temujai warriors to rescue Evanlyn, Will's kingdom of Skandia joins forces with rival kingdom Araluen to defeat a common enemy.

Skandian outcasts Hal, Stig, and others do battle at sea against the Wolves and the Sharks, in the ultimate race across icy waters where not everyone thinks of the competition as play.

In a faraway land, a young warrior must protect an emperor from an uprising and train an inexperienced army, with assistance from his Ranger friends.

Halt, Will, and Horace set out for Hibernia, where a quasi-religious group, the Outsiders, is sowing confusion and sedition, and they find that secrets from Halt's past may hold the key to restoring order before the last kingdom is undermined.

"When the former Baron Morgarath escaped to avoid punishment for treason, an uneasy peace fell on the kingdom of Araluen. But Morgarath, now in hiding, is already planning his next move, recruiting an army of savage beasts known as Wargals. Newly crowned King Duncan knows he must assemble his troops for battle. To unveil the full extent of Morgarath's plans, Halt prepares for a seemingly impossible task-- climbing the deadly cliffs of the Mountains...

Determined to recover the Adomal and to prevent the pirate Zavac from doing more damage, Hal and his brotherband crew persue Zavac to the lawless fortress of Ragusa where, if Hal is to succeed, he will have to go beyond his brotherband training and face the pirate one-on-one in a fight to the finish.

"Will Treaty is a shell of his former self, and his first apprentice may be the only one who can save him"-- Provided by publisher.

With their honor restored, Hal and his fellow Herons leave Skandia again on a new mission - to track down and stop Hal's nemesis, Tursgud, a bullying youth-turned vicious pirate and slave trader.