Ranger's Apprentice 12- Characters

One thing that was really interesting while reading this book was how the characters had changed since the last book. The time gap is multiple years from book 11 to book 12. In fact, Will's gray beard is brought up multiple times, which means Will is probably about 35-40 by now. Will was very grim and humorless in this book, whereas Halt actually was more upbeat and optimistic than normal. All in all, though, I tended to think of the story having two Halts, one being more upbeat than the other, than there being a happy Halt and a sad Will. Will is described a lot like Halt was in the first few books.
A few of the other characters stay the same, however. For example, Jenny is still a very positive and friendly to everyone, and Gillan is also very optimistic and smart. These characters help keep the story similar to the other books instead of bringing an entirely new storyline. Even with the new character twists, though, this book is a great end to the series, and I recommend it to all.

Ranger's Apprentice 12- Building Suspense

The author builds suspense in this book through ways that most people do; through unexpected events and lots of detail. Throughout this book, there are many surprises, instead of just one or two. I will name a few, trying to be vague so I don't spoil anything. But this is still a MINOR SPOILER ALERT. The reason that Will became so mad and unhappy was a huge surprise. The fact that he was willing to get kicked off of the Ranger Corpse in order to get revenge was another. It was also surprising who Will's apprentice was. Finally, Will was captured in the end and almost killed. END. There were also a few other smaller surprises, but those were some of the main ones.

The way that the author is able to stretch out a story without making it boring is also a big reason why this story has a lot of suspense. It's like those times in other books and movies when you know what's going to happen in general, and you think you know how, but whether or not it actually happens, you never would have guessed how it did.