Oakleaf Bearers (Ranger's Apprentice #4)

1. A solid addition to the series. Whilst the first 50-100 pages was slightly slower, I enjoyed the further exploration of the geography and world of RA
2. It's better than book 3 but that's probably because of: 1) the fact that all of our characters are finally reunited and working as a team; and 2) just as books 1 and 2 were meant to be one book, it appears book 4 is merely the second half of book 3's story - it concludes the story arc of the search for Will and Evanlyn. 
3. (Although books 1-4 feel like 1 big book or saga really split into 2 sections)
4. One of my favourite themes of shaky alliances is explored well in this book
5. Plots, counterplots, archery and battlefield tactics and coordination make for great reading in the last part of this book! The feels!
6. Some of the earlier dialogue appeared to me to be a bit..cheesy and skewed towards eg young readers or antiquated views re the traditional role of girls and boys, but I turned a blind eye to that. 
7. It's particularly uplifting to see Will regain his fitness, and it's interesting to see a new enemy and country brought in the series (including their tactics, military structure and way of fighting) - also interesting to see Halt's backstory weave into their introduction
8. We also learn more about the Skandians and their country, fighting style and attitudes (building upon what we learnt since book 2) which adds to the flavour of the series in addition to what we know of Gallica
9. I have to say though that the Skandian's rudimentary knowledge of fighting / war tactics seems a bit too unbelievable and naive. Halt is certainly a tactician but some of his advice is common sense
10. Our main characters also finally get the reward, closure and payback us readers have been looking for - with everyone caught up with their exploits since book 2 and 3 - though not without a twinge of bittersweetness at the end
11. Minor gripe: the title of the book is a bit weird - why Oakleaf Bearers? Seems a bit more anticlimactic and evocative than previous titles
12. I'd probably score this 4.25-4.4/5