The Icebound Land

The Icebound Land is the third novel in the first Ranger’s Apprentice series, a fantasy series with 10 main books (as well as multiple spinoff series and a collection of short stories) by Australian author John Flanagan. Flanagan has worked in the writing industry for much of his life, particularly as a copywriter, but he primarily wrote thrillers until he started writing fantasy short stories in the 1990s to encourage his son to read and see himself in fantasy heroes. These short stories eventually became the Ranger’s Apprentice series. The Icebound Land was published in Australia in 2005, following the first two novels, published in 2004 and early 2005, respectively. The book was well received by critics, and the series has won or been nominated for numerous literary awards in Australia, including Aurealis Awards for both The Ruins of Gorlan and Oakleaf Bearers. The popularity of the series led to the bookstore company BookPeople creating a 2010 summer camp experience to teach children ages 9-14 skills from the series. 

The Icebound Land follows Will, an apprentice Ranger (an intelligence agent for the kingdom of Araluen), and his friend Evanlyn, secretly the Crown Princess Cassandra, as they struggle to survive enslavement in the Nordic country of Skandia. It also follows the adventures of Halt, Will’s mentor, and Horace, an apprentice knight, as they journey through the mainland to rescue Will, getting caught up in intrigue in the France-like country of Gallica on the way. While The Icebound Land follows many of the same fantasy and pseudo-historical elements in the first two novels, it is much darker, exploring themes including The Tension Between Personal Loyalty and Loyalty to Country, The Dehumanizing Effects of Power, and Community as a Resource for Survival as it introduces the reader to a wider world beyond Araluen.

This guide refers to the 2008 Puffin Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, animal death, addiction, and substance use.

Plot Summary

The novel follows two separate storylines in alternating chapters: the story of Will and Evanlyn, who have been captured and enslaved by Skandian raiders, and the story of Halt and Horace, who travel across the mainland to rescue them.

Will and Evanlyn huddle on captain Erak’s wolfship (a raiding vessel modeled on Viking ships) and narrowly survive a terrifying ocean storm that forces the ship off-course. With no other option, the wolfship makes for the island of Skorghijl to shelter out the storm season. Will tries to stay optimistic about their chances of escape and implements an exercise routine, but Evanlyn is skeptical; she eventually reveals that she is the Crown Princess Cassandra in disguise and expects to be ransomed when she reveals her identity to the Oberjarl (or ruler) of Skandia. Will worries that while Evanlyn’s status as the Princess will likely keep her safe, it will do little to help him. Erak, who has grown reluctantly fond of the two teenagers, becomes suspicious that Will is planning an escape. As he watches Will gather information about the tides from his second mate, Svengal, the damaged wolfship of skirl Slagor (“skirl” is the Skandian title for a wolfship captain) coasts into the harbor.

Slagor, who is widely disliked and only left during the storm season out of greed, quickly causes tensions on the island, as his crew crowds Erak’s and fights nearly break out. Slagor shares that the Oberjarl’s son died in Araluen and that Ragnak, unstable, has declared a Vallasvow (an unbreakable vow of revenge) against the royal family—meaning that Evanlyn’s life is in critical danger if her identity is revealed. This news mends Will and Evanlyn’s friendship as they unify again to attempt an escape. Will has them slip out to the tiny skiff in the middle of the night, but they discover that Erak has sabotaged the boat, and they barely make it back to shore. Erak punishes them both by restricting their freedom to move around the island.

Later, Slagor attacks Evanlyn when she burns his arm while serving dinner; when Will intervenes, Slagor threatens to kill him. Erak deescalates the issue by having Will demonstrate his knife-throwing abilities on a keg, scaring Slagor. Erak knocks Will out as “punishment” for scaring him. The Skandians continue to Hallasholm soon after, and Will and Evanlyn become melancholy while contemplating a future of enslavement. Erak, pitying them, tries to get them assigned to easier work together at the Oberjarl’s house, but Borsa, his overseer, assigns Will to the brutal work of the yard. Will quickly comes into conflict with the other enslaved people; he interferes in a fight, and the Committee (enslaved people who manage the others) assigns him to the paddles, nearly freezing him to death. Another enslaved person pretends to be his friend and gives him warmweed, an addictive drug that simulates warmth and makes its users mindlessly compliant.

Erak returns to Hallasholm after a brief trip and finds Will addicted, maltreated, and completely unaware of the world around him. Dismayed, he summons Evanlyn to his quarters under the pretense of making her his personal servant; he then explains that he has decided to help her and Will escape. He arranges for Evanlyn to escape late one night, giving her a pony and directions to a temporarily abandoned hunting cabin in the mountains. Evanlyn narrowly bribes another enslaved person to retrieve Will from the yard; to disguise their real escape route, Erak cuts a skiff loose and sinks it, convincing the Skandians that the escapees have drowned.

The journey into the mountains is difficult, particularly since Will is so addicted to warmweed that he can barely function. They survive through the snowstorm and make it to the cabin, finding sparse but functional supplies. Evanlyn struggles to hunt, eventually making a sling and killing a rabbit; she also works to wean Will off their rapidly dwindling supply of warmweed. When it’s nearly spring, she goes into the woods to hunt and narrowly avoids running into an unknown foreigner on a horse like the Ranger’s horses. When she returns, Will has recovered enough to recognize her and regain his personality, which makes her cry, confusing Will further.

Concurrently throughout this plot, Halt, Will’s mentor, struggles against the demands of the kingdom due to his desire to go and rescue Will. King Duncan has the Rangers hunting a lieutenant of Lord Morgarath, the villain from the previous two novels, but imposters keep popping up, preventing Halt from completing the task. When King Duncan refuses to see him, not wanting to forbid him again to go after Will, Halt decides to commit treason to get banished so that he can save Will. He gets drunk (or appears to) and speaks badly of Duncan in public. He is arrested and refuses to defend himself in court, dismaying his friends. Though tradition dictates that Halt should be executed, Duncan instead banishes him for one year. The Ranger Commandant, Crowley, is forced to take away Halt’s silver oakleaf, a symbol of his identity as a Ranger and his loyalty to Araluen.

Halt leaves for Skandia; he refuses to let his former apprentice, Gilan, come with him, but Horace, an apprentice knight and close friend of Will’s, eventually joins him. Halt and Horace travel to the mainland country of Gallica, which is in disarray due to a weak king and a collection of warring barons and predatory knights. Halt and Horace quickly run into these knights, who demand money or combat at various travel checkpoints, but Horace, humbly recognizing his own superior skill, jousts them and wins. This allows Halt and Horace to acquire a string of horses and armor from the defeated knights but also earns them notoriety across Gallica. At an inn along the path, a warlord named Deparnieux confronts them and nearly issues a formal challenge to Horace before Halt shoots the glove out of his hand with an arrow. Deparnieux leaves, humiliated (particularly by a peasant’s laugh at him); Horace grows increasingly dismayed and disillusioned with the decay of chivalry in Gallica.

Halt tries to set a false trail for Deparnieux, but he catches them anyway, trapping them on the road by pretending to be a weak knight. He escorts them to his castle, and Halt grimly decides to stay there as prisoners until the pass into Skandia has cleared of snow. Over their stay, however, they bear witness to Deparnieux’s extreme cruelty; he punishes people, including the peasant who laughed, by putting them in metal cages and exposing them to the elements until they die, and he kills other knights in brutal challenges. All his servants and soldiers are afraid of his cruelty. Deparnieux grows increasingly dismissive of Horace and eventually decides that Halt is no threat, either. After observing conditions in the castle, Horace and Halt trap Deparnieux into a formal challenge against Halt.

Halt and Deparnieux duel, with Halt using his bow and arrows to defeat Deparnieux, who rides a horse with a lance and sword. Halt distracts Deparnieux by pretending to try and shoot through his helmet and then instead shoots an armor-piercing arrow into his side. With the warlord dead, Halt gives control of the castle to his captain of the guard, under the stipulation that the captain get rid of the cages and allow any servants to leave if they wish. Halt burns the keep and sets off for Skandia with Horace once again.