Erak's Ransom (Ranger's Apprentice #7)

1. Interesting that this book breaks the mould somewhat in that it jumps backwards in time to events before books 5 and 6 when Will is in his final year of apprenticeship.
2. Starts off differently at a wedding!
3. And we are in a new part of the world,  a new desert climate in what appears to be equivalent to Arabia (a change from pseudo Western Europe and Scandinavia in the previous books), and it's cool to see how the rangers react to the new environment 
4. It's nice to see a full cast (less Alyss) and it's interesting that we are slightly off chronologically because we know and have foresight as to how some aspects of each respective character's journeys are resolved (because that resolution occurs in books 5 and 6) but this book acts as a gap filler for lack of a better phrase (it's certainly not filler material). This doesn't exactly spoil it I suppose but it's interesting nonetheless to observe the dynamic between say Will and Evanlyn
5. Although we haven't seen Gilan properly or at all (I can't recall) for a long time!! Long meaning since book..2?
6. "Would you trust him with your life Halt? Then trust him with his own"
7. It's hard to sympathise with Erak's situation given he was raiding a foreign land and caused his neighbours to get involved...
8. There's a part where Will is on his own again - not sure I enjoyed it that much
9. Tactics associated with chasing a party are on display, as are dessert battle tactics and espionage
10. Nomad and desert culture and customs are also explored.. including water discipline 
11. It gets exciting in the last third of the book
12. The formula of the story is kind of the same - Will hatches and executes a strategic plan to save everyone
13. Some of the events are quite coincidental or work out too easily for our heroes - which is not unexpected 
14. I did like the end game scenario which was a rescue from execution
15. The bittersweet situation with Evanlyn kind of continues but is only mentioned very briefly
16. I'd say it's no better or no worse than the previous couple of books..well ok maybe a bit better because there is a moment where Halt is heavily reliant on Will and it makes for a nice moment eg 4.15-4.25/5. Decent book. But I probably liked Battle for Skandia ie. Oakleaf Rangers better