The Ranger's Apprentice 9: Halt's Peril

This book is the ninth in the Ranger's Apprentice series, and I gave it a rating of five out of five. It's a continuation of book eight, as Will, Halt, and Horace search for Tennyson. Even though the rangers were able to stop his uprising in book eight, he has escaped and is looking for other areas of the kingdom to scam. The rangers' journey takes them through some rough parts of the country, and they encounter dangerous thieves along the way. They also discover that the two surviving Genovesan assassins have set up an ambush for them. As the title of the book implies, Halt finds himself in some serious trouble! The search for Tennyson is the main conflict, but "Halt's Peril" takes over the plot in the middle of the book.

I've enjoyed all of the books in this series, and you should probably read them in order. The relationship of the characters and elements of the plot often build off what's happened in previous books. This book probably has one of the most focused plots of the whole series. It follows the three main characters without many separate subplots. As always, the interaction of the rangers and Horace lends some humor to the story, and that mixes well with the seriousness of their mission. The author does a wonderful job of describing the events and building suspense. Some of his climaxes are very imaginative, although this one was fairly easy to foresee. I highly recommend the series. Boys in my class have been the main readers, but I have several girls getting into it this year.