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A review by isauldur
The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan
3.0
This review originally published in Phantases and Other Funny Words
Note: Below, my review is split into two parts. The first gives my general thoughts on the book, and the second details spoilers and major plot points. Be warned.
Part One: Overview
Much of what I said about the previous book applies to The Burning Bridge as well. The characters, yet again, are developed on a very basic level. The world is hardly expanded, and even the new things we learn about Araluen and its surroundings are based so heavily on the real world that they’re hardly new information.
Morgarath, whose name should have told anyone who ever met him that he was evil, is not much of a threatening villain. While he does pose a threat to the main characters and to the kingdom of Araluen, he’s not exactly memorable or interesting. He is, simply put, an obstacle to be overcome.
However, I had fun reading The Burning Bridge. It’s another adventure with very simple but passable characters. This time Will and Horace are together for most of the book, and that allows the reader to notice their budding friendship. It’s not as iconic as that of, say, Sherlock and Watson, or Frodo and Sam, but there is potential in the way the characters are written. The battle scenes were written with great attention placed to the strategies of the armies. This did get a little tiresome after the eight or nine of nothing but battle, but it is still impressive how far Flanagan went to make his battles feel realistic, planned out and intelligent.
Overall, an enjoyable read. I’ll continue reading the Ranger’s Apprentice series to see where it goes.
Part Two: Overview
The only major problem I had with the second entry in the series was that only three events of major importance happen in the entire book: Celtica is invaded, the titular bridge is burned and Will is captured by Skandian mercenaries. Quite frankly, these details could have likely all been covered in the first book. The Burning Bridge ends with the final battle against Morgarath, so thematically, this book could have been coupled with the first one to make a single, cohesive novel. As it stands, it’s not bad at all, but it is a little slow and does drag at times, especially in the scenes where the characters have little or nothing to do except sit around and talk to each other.
The reveal of Evanlyn not being who she says she is was a little transparent. However, it’s maybe excusable because the author never pretends that this is some grand mystery. From the moment that Evanlyn/Cassandra is introduced, she shows hints of not being who she says she is, and even the characters draw attention to this. It’s not so much a mystery for us, the readers, as it is for the characters themselves.
I, for one, am glad that we’re done with Morgarath. He wasn’t very well built-up as a force to be reckoned with or even as a decent antagonist. As I already mentioned, he was but an obstacle for the main characters. I hope that the next books are less conventional, with more twists and turns to the plot than what The Burning Bridge gave us. It was a small-scale adventure that advanced the overall narrative only marginally, and which culminated with a grand battle.
Note: Below, my review is split into two parts. The first gives my general thoughts on the book, and the second details spoilers and major plot points. Be warned.
Part One: Overview
Much of what I said about the previous book applies to The Burning Bridge as well. The characters, yet again, are developed on a very basic level. The world is hardly expanded, and even the new things we learn about Araluen and its surroundings are based so heavily on the real world that they’re hardly new information.
Morgarath, whose name should have told anyone who ever met him that he was evil, is not much of a threatening villain. While he does pose a threat to the main characters and to the kingdom of Araluen, he’s not exactly memorable or interesting. He is, simply put, an obstacle to be overcome.
However, I had fun reading The Burning Bridge. It’s another adventure with very simple but passable characters. This time Will and Horace are together for most of the book, and that allows the reader to notice their budding friendship. It’s not as iconic as that of, say, Sherlock and Watson, or Frodo and Sam, but there is potential in the way the characters are written. The battle scenes were written with great attention placed to the strategies of the armies. This did get a little tiresome after the eight or nine of nothing but battle, but it is still impressive how far Flanagan went to make his battles feel realistic, planned out and intelligent.
Overall, an enjoyable read. I’ll continue reading the Ranger’s Apprentice series to see where it goes.
Part Two: Overview
The only major problem I had with the second entry in the series was that only three events of major importance happen in the entire book: Celtica is invaded, the titular bridge is burned and Will is captured by Skandian mercenaries. Quite frankly, these details could have likely all been covered in the first book. The Burning Bridge ends with the final battle against Morgarath, so thematically, this book could have been coupled with the first one to make a single, cohesive novel. As it stands, it’s not bad at all, but it is a little slow and does drag at times, especially in the scenes where the characters have little or nothing to do except sit around and talk to each other.
The reveal of Evanlyn not being who she says she is was a little transparent. However, it’s maybe excusable because the author never pretends that this is some grand mystery. From the moment that Evanlyn/Cassandra is introduced, she shows hints of not being who she says she is, and even the characters draw attention to this. It’s not so much a mystery for us, the readers, as it is for the characters themselves.
I, for one, am glad that we’re done with Morgarath. He wasn’t very well built-up as a force to be reckoned with or even as a decent antagonist. As I already mentioned, he was but an obstacle for the main characters. I hope that the next books are less conventional, with more twists and turns to the plot than what The Burning Bridge gave us. It was a small-scale adventure that advanced the overall narrative only marginally, and which culminated with a grand battle.