Ranger's Apprentice - Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel

In the neighboring kingdom of Clonmel, a mysterious cult, The Outsiders, has sprung up, promising defense against lawless marauders in exchange for people's riches. Their sermons attract audiences from miles around, but there's a dark side to this seemingly charitable group, prompting Halt, Will, and Horace to investigate. But what the trio uncovers could threaten the safety of not only Clonmel, but their homeland of Araluen as well.

 

Language

'Damn' is used 3 times, 'hell' twice, 'devil' is used twice. I began noticing that not all uses of the Lord's name were capitalized back in book 5, but didn't take much notice. This time, when I decided to differentiate, of course, there was very little uncapitalized usage, only 1 use. Capitalized, it was used 6 times.

Violence

There's the usual fighting, and at the end there is a duel to the death. Several people are assassinated. There's a large battle, and The Outsiders kill people without regard.  It should be taken into account that it takes a lot of violence before I notice it. I personally feel that the violence levels in these books aren't really even worth mentioning, I would, without hesitation, if not for the language, hand these books to my mother's friend's 7 year-old. He'd actually probably really like them...

 Sexual Content

There's a passing reference to the girls in Gallica (see book 3 The Icebound Land) in little detail.

Spiritual Content

The Outsider's religion is complex and disturbing. They claim that their god [ the name of whom escapes me at the moment ] loves the people and wants to protect them. All very good and well, sounds slightly like Christianity. However, this god does not care if they like other gods better [hm...] he simply asks that they sing to him and, mostly, give his priests money. Essentially the message is 'this god loves you, and you can continue believing whatever you believed before, you just have to give us money'. This may be a sticking point for some people. I found it disturbing, but not problematic, exactly. I think this should be dealt with discerningly.

All in all, as usual [ I seem to be coming to the same conclusion each time...] I loved it, it was amazing. Who knew Halt's brother could be such a ninny-head? [haHA now you have to read it] I recommend it highly, and rate it PG for violence, language, and weird religion junk.