The Ruins of Gorlan

The Ruins of Gorlan is the first novel in the Ranger's Apprentice series by the Australian author John Flanagan, released in Australia in November 2004 and in the United States in June 2005. Flanagan began the world of the book in stories he told his own son, which is why the training of a boy by a gruff mentor sits at the centre of it.

Will is a ward of the castle who is afraid of the Rangers, whose dark cloaks and silent habits have convinced the villagers that they practise magic. On the day he is to be apprenticed he is chosen by the Ranger Halt rather than by the warriors' school, and the novel follows his training, the other apprentices, and the suspicion he meets in the villages.

Flanagan writes short, plain adventure with a small cast, and the first book sets out a system in which the Rangers serve as scouts and intelligence rather than as fighters. It was followed by many more volumes, and the series became widely read in schools.