Customer Reviews

Heart of a Warrior

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(40)
1 star:		(63)

 

 

I had extremely high hopes when I heard that Dalden was getting his own story. Warrior's Woman and Keeper of the Heart are two of my favorite books by Johanna Lindsey. Though this book was good, I felt a bit disappointed. After experiencing the explosive passion of Tedra and Challen and Shanelle and Falon, these characters didn't strike the same spark..also I would highly recommend that anyone reading this book, read the first two beforehand, else some major confusion may set in.

Dalden heads to modern day earth in search of Jorran (a character from Keeper of the Heart) who has stolen mind altering rods from Sunder (also from Keeper of the Heart) in hopes that he can take over the planet. Brittany, a statuesque, construction working red head, first encounters Dalden at the local mall as he is attempting to speak with the mayor about Jorran's plan. His expression indicating that he is highly uncomfortable in the confined area, Brittany whisks him aside. Equally smitten, Dalden and Brittany converse with the help of his mother's Mock II computer, Martha (first introduced in (Warrior's Woman). Deciding that Brittany can be useful in the endeavor to capture Jorran, Dalden hires her to help him spot outsiders in her small town, while keeping his exact origins secert.

Jorran and his cronies are caught with little effort or time, and I am left wondering what I actually read that took up the first 200 pages. After the capture of Jorran, Martha transfers Brittany to the ship (as Dalden has claimed her for his lifemate earlier on). The next several chapters are of everyone, mainly Martha, doing their best to convince Brittany that the ship is real, Dalden is really from another planet, and everything isn't some elaborate hoax. Even landing on the moon doesn't budge Brittany, and her stubbornness is getting very frustrating at this point. Even upon arriving on his planet, Brittany is want to believe that it is some fantastical movie set in another country.

Dalden, frustrated with his lifemate's refusal to believe in his home, takes her out on what is basically a camping trip so they can be alone. Not obeying the rules to stay in the tent while he is away hunting, she is attacked by an animal. Tracking Brittany by her voice, Jorran (his home planet declared war on Sha-Ka-Ra for his mistreatment during his trip home) who is enamored, finds her and gets her to a meditech and she is fine. Dalden then finds himself having to administer a warrior's punishment (sexual frustration). Though this was a huge part of the story in the first 2 books, this one barely makes anything of it. They admit they love each other, he shows her the land where he wants her to build their house, all is well, the end.

As I mentioned before, it would be a very good idea to read the first two books before starting on this one. It will clear things up and probably make it a more enjoyable experience...it will also show you what kind of passion existed between Tedra and Challen (Dalden's parents) and Shanelle and Falon (his twin sister). I couldn't really find any reason that Brittany was drawn to Dalden other than he was taller than she was. All in all, it was a good book, it just seemed to lack her usual passion. Easily read and something anyone who has enjoyed the other books would like to read, however.

If you are a major Johanna Lindsey fan and have read Warrior's Woman & Keeper of the Heart, there is nothing I can say that will keep you from going out and spending your money & time on this book. I know, been there, done that!

The fact that the other reviews mostly agree that this book disappoints but then gives it three stars are more, will have you wondering if it just is not as good as the other two, but still a good read.

If this had not been a Johanna Lindsey book, this is one book most would have given no stars if possible. Save your money, save your time!

The begaining and ending of this book is it's only saving grace; however a Harlequin Romance could have done it better. Out of 368 pages, more than a 150 of them need to be rewritten. I found my self skipping pages just to get though it, and never did it occure to me to go back and pick some of thoes pages back up. I didn't miss a thing.

There are so many places she could have gone with this book but didn't, I just feel let down after years of waiting for Dalden's story. If you realy want to know how far she's come down read Warrior's Woman (5 stars) and Keeper of the Heart (4 stars) and cry for the waste she made out of this one.

Having waited years for the third installment in Lindsey's futuristic series, I was disappointed with this novel from start to finish. The successor to "Warrior's Woman" and "Keeper of the Heart" does not live up to the expectations of its predecessors.

To put a fine point on it, when a sci-fi fan opens up the third installment of an eagerly anticipated futuristic series, they expect it to actually take place in another time or dimension, they do not expect that the first 198 pages (of a 368 page novel) will happen on earth!

Another mark against the novel is the heroine herself. Brittany is, in a word, annoying. When the reader is finally transported from earth after 198 pages, their diligence for sticking with the book is then punished by a heroine who refuses to believe that she's on a spaceship (and then the planet Sha-Ka'an) for the next 150 pages. Instead, Brittany believes that everything around her is a great conspiracy and that her captors are merely trying to mess with her mind. And this for literally 150 pages!

As if that isn't bad enough, the freethinking computer Martha has more lines than either of the protagonists do. Martha does have her good moments and there are places in the novel where she is truly funny, but overall she is given far too much to say with Dalden being allocated not nearly enough.

The reason why Martha has too much to say in the first place brings me to yet another gripe with Heart of a Warrior, namely that in this installment Lindsey suffers from what I call "explanation-itis", or the need to over-explain things. Yes, it is necessary to give the non-initiated some background info to catch them up to speed, but the amount of information they are given basically recounts everything that happens in the first two books which is boring for people who have already read them.

My final complaint with this novel, and the one that broke the camel's back for me if you will, is that absolutely nothing new happens in this installment. In a futuristic, readers expect to be introduced to new worlds, new concepts, new plant and animal life, etc., but not one new experience is given to us in Heart of a Warrior. Everything we hear and see is rehashed from the first two novels which results in a predictability that is Boring with a capital B.

If you insist on buying it, I'd wait for it to come out in paperback!

... Brittany is supposedly an adult, strong, self-sufficient woman. But she acts like a total imbecile. Dalden beams out of nowhere into her living room and she barely bats an eye. Half a second later, Dalden offers her a job. Brittany has no clue what this job is all about or even if its for real, but she immediately agrees to quit her jobs where she is slaving away night and day to earn enough money to build a house  her lifelong dream - to go off with this guy and do who-knows-what. She doesnt know squat about him or how much hell even being paying her, for pitys sake. He is totally vague about what hes hiring her for and even says he has no money. He offers to pay her with his gold medallion, which Brittany, being the smart cookie that she is, thinks is fake. She says he can pay her later. But shell only accept a fair wage. She refuses to take advantage of his generosity. Puhleeze. Later he tells her some lame story about not having a place to stay, so she invites him to stay in her apartment. Glad Im not her roommate! He is a complete stranger. And she is a complete moron. He could be a murderer, a stalker, diseased, or just plain crazy. But she doesnt think about any of that stuff. After 28 years of sexual frustration, she just wants his bod. Little things like who the hell he is and what hes doing there matter not at all.

The thing that bugs me most is the way Lindsey goes on an on about what a modern, strong, independent woman Brittany is. Even Martha gives Dalden a lecture about how difficult it will be for Brittany to accept his way of life because shes so liberated. Funny  except for the fact that she doesnt believe in the whole spaceship thing, she has turned into the perfect little subservient Betty Crocker of a lifemate. With the exception of a few token protests, she does what Dalden wants, wears what Dalden wants, goes where Dalden wants. Nevermind her goals and dreams, her family, her friends, her life, or her freakin PLANET. And all because hes tall and hot. Halfway through the book she decides shes madly in love with him and it really doesnt matter after all if the whole thing is [untrue] as long as he doesnt dump her at the end of it. I have loved most of Lindseys work, but this one was just plain awful. It made me wish Brittany was a real person, so I could smack her upside the head. Ugh. I may never read a Lindsey again.

I own every Johanna Lindsey romance and have never been as disappointed as I am right now (I just finished reading Heart of a Warrior). I was skeptical about futuristic romances from the start but Warrior's Woman won me over. Now I have reverted to my original conclusion.

A lot of the other reviews have complained about Martha the computer, but I thought Martha was the best part of this book and that is VERY sad. Brittany and Dalden's characters were never developed nor was their relationship. I buy romances for the romance, which this book was sadly lacking. Not only was there no romance, there was also no passion. The plot was, in a word, 'stupid'. There were major holes which should have been filled, or at least addressed. (If Brittany is so close to her family, won't they be worried sick over the fact that she just disappers for years at a time?) Throughout the book some scenes were left unfinished and the ending was rushed and completely unsatisfying.

I eagerly await the next Lindsey book so that it can hopefully wipe this disappointment from my mind. Ms. Lindsey, next time go back to what you do best: HISTORICAL romance.

This book was, for the lack of a better term, ridiculous. It is with great hesitation that I pick up a Johanna Lindsey book these days. I'm not sure why HarperCollins felt this was appropriate for a hardback printing. Why didn't the editors or the powers that be demand some kind of rewrite? This was an insult to the fan base. Lindsey has a world full of fans, but a text such as this takes advantage of them; it takes advantage of their money and their valuable time. Publishers should not compromise the built-in fan base by (continually) printing mediocre stories such as Heart of a Warrior. This questionable business practice will eat away at the very thing that provides them profits. Huge challenges with the book: 1)The dialogue was primary, even dated. We are in 2001, where was the language relevant to the time? A setting in a disco? Are you kidding me? Discos went the way of velour shirts. 2)The amount of time it took to set-up the story was painful,it never flowed. Actually the whole book seemed disjointed, skimming forward to find interesting parts was a disappointing exercise. They never appeared. Finally, be wary of the quotes in the book jacket. Quotes from reviews should be viewed with a grain of salt, marketing people edit them very creatively to serve their purpose.

Heart of a Warrior, while it had many creative pieces, was only an okay book. Lindsey's most recent books have all had a feeling of hurriedness, as if she were writing just to have written a book, and this one was no exception. The characters were decent enough (although those in her last book The Heir were better developed) and the plot was interesting enough, it just didn't all mesh together. The ending was especially hurried, and for that reason altogether unbelievable. Basically, this felt like a second draft rather than a finished product, and I wish Lindsey would have spent more time and effort in smoothing this book into a work of art like all her older novels. It's worth checking out eventually, but I would save my money and just check it out of the library or wait for paperback.

Yuk, Yuk and Yuk. Lindsey loves to bring old characters from previous novels into more recent novels. I think this is an excuse she uses not to have to develop new characters. This book took the cake on revisting previous characters. In fact the book was more re-introducing you to them then it was a new story.

Her conversations were too frequent and boring. I did not like the Brittany or Dalen. They had no chemistry as far as I am concerned. I could not even finish this one, what a waste of cash.

I have been a fan of Johanna Lindsey since I started to read romance books some 15 years ago. I was anticipating reading the follow up to Warrior's Woman and Keeper of My Heart. I should have kept waiting. Keeping in mind of the poor reviews this book recieved, I had borrowed this book to find out first hand if the book would live up to my expectations of a Johanna Lindsey novel. I am really sorry to say it did not. The book dragged on with Brittany not believing what she was seeing. It had the potential of being a great book if the characters would just have some form of spark between them.

The book kept going over what had happened in the 2 previous books, which was a disappointment since I have read both books, repeatedly.

This does not prevent me from buying future books, however, I will be hard pressed to buy one just because Johanna Lindsey wrote it, which is what I used to do.

If you expect to see the father in the son - you'll be sorely disappointed. Dalden is NOT his father's son. This one in the series suffers from a lack of romance, good plot and is outrightly shallow. The fascinating world of Sha'Kaan is barely delved into and for this reader, Ms. Lindsay has done us fans an injustice. The heroine is hard to like or empathise with. She spends the last two thirds of the book in complete denial - if Ms. Lindsay is to believed - three months of being unable to accept Dalden for who he says he is despite both his and the brassy computer's repeated attempts. Oh, good grief!!

I had a hard time finishing the book and I wondered why I ever bothered to in the first place.