This book is about a boy named Will. He is a boy who is fourteen and nearly ready to be apprenticed to somebody. He wanted to be in battle school (that is where knights train). He is apprenticed to the ranger. At first, the ranger only uses him for doing the chores. But then, Halt (that is the ranger's name) starts training him in the ways to use the bow, the sax knife and the throwing knife. Will gets his very own ranger horse called Tug. He is a very gentle beast, but if there is any harm to his master, he will try to tug the person trying to harm his master's arm out of its socket. Then they go to a ranger meeting, where they meet an old apprentice of Halt's named Gillan. But then they have to pack up quickly because there is news of the Kaklara (they are beasts with the body of a large shaggy bear with incredibly waxy matted fur and the head of an ape. They are bigger than a man and can hypnotize people) - they have killed a lord without touching him. Halt and Gillan go off to find the Kaklara, and Will goes off to warn the king. Will gets to the nearest lord, but he has to use two horses to get there, Tug and Gillan's horse. Meanwhile, Gillan is tracking down the Kaklara to a place called the ruins of Gorlan. When they arrive, they are separated and each of them are attacked by one of the Kaklara. Will's warning comes just in time and three knights and Gillan kill the first kaklara, but Halt is left alone againt the other Kaklara. His bowstring is snapped and his knives are lost. Then gillan and the knights find out the kaklara's only weakness - fire. Halt realizes this too when it shies away from a candle flame and gets an idea. he soaks rags in kitchen oil and lights it with a candle and throws it at the kaklara. It misses, but the kaklara is scared enough that it dodges, and when it dodges, Halt gets his cloak on and hides in the ruins. Then, Gillan finds the second kaklara, but the kaklara has pushed Halt to the edge of a cliff. Halt falls off the cliff, but it isn't a very big cliff and he manages to break his fall. The Kaklara survives the fall too and they continue to fight. When the knights and Gillan get down there, Will tosses Halt his bow. Using some of the cooking oil and the lantern, Halt lights another arrow and fires it at the Kaklara with wills bow. It hits the Kaklara and makes it burst into flames. Then it is dead, and the threat is over....for now. At the end, they all have a big feast and the local lord offers Will the chance to become a knight. Will says no, and says he would prefer still being a ranger.
What I liked about this book is how they figured out how to make the Kaklara die, because I really didn't like the Kaklara. I'm glad he chose to be a ranger, because the book showed that being a ranger is more interesting than being a knight, because rangers can go all over the kingdom, they get better and faster horses than knights do, and they can travel into territory where the enemy is, where a knight would attract attention. I liked all of this book - I rate it a 20 out of 20.
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