Author: Cinda Williams Chima
# of Pages: 426 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great - until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts.
Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: he is Weirlind, part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At their helm sits the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game - a magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death. The winning house rules the Weir.
As if his bizarre heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he's not just another member of Weirlind - he's one of the last of the warriors - at a time when both houses are scouting for a player.
Review: Original Rating: 5 stars
Second Rating: 3 stars
Why did I make the decision to reread this series...
I read this book years ago, and I loved it. The Warrior Heir is the first book I read from Chima and the wonderfulness of it led me to read The Demon King (and the rest of the series), which I love a lot. Since The Enchanter Heir was published last year (2013?), I thought rereading The Heir Chronicles will give me the full effect of the new book.
One aspect of the book that bugged me is the third person POV switching. Although I don't htink it is as bad as first person POV switching, it still disrupted the flow since there were time overlaps.
Also, the development overall for the story was poorly executed. Most of the background was done through dialogue through rapid-fire question and answer between characters. To top it off, some aspects of the magically world would repeated throughout the book to other character BECAUSE OF THE POV CHANGES. The reader doesn't need to hear the exact same fact twice just so you can show that a certain character is informed of the information.
The plot didn't progress as quickly as I remembered it; not much happens in this book in general. There were too many contrived plot devices.
It should be noted that The Warrior Heir is among the first of Chima's books, if not THE first published work of hers. Her writing has improved in The Seven Realms series. It's a little bit like John Green's books; many people began to read his books starting with The Fault in Our Stars and then working their way BACKWARDS through his works (which means his writing becomes worse and worse and worse...).
I was forced to drop my previous perfect rating of this book down two stars. It wasn't bad, but it was far from the amazing book I once saw this book as. I recommend that you check this book out at your local library and give it a try. However, if you've read The Demon King and loved it, don't expect The Warrior Heir to be as good.
No comments:
Post a Comment