Customer Reviews

Warlord (Chronicles of the Warlands, Book 3)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I absolutely adored WAR PRIZE, her next one was OK, but WARLORD is exceptional. I know it was better because I had read WAR PRIZE, so if possible read it first. If not you are still caught in a wonderful world and will want to read it the first chance you get. Elizabeth Vaughan is one very talented writer, I find it hard to believe this is her first series of books. I can't wait for the next one.

Lara and Kier have finally reached the Plains, now she must prove herself to the people. She and Kier are seperated and she is taken to the heart of the plains to go before the Elders. Many are very welcomeing and many are not. There is treachery and betrayal at many points but Lara comes through as a sincere loving woman willing to give up much for her Warlord and his people.

Kier is busy rounding up support and sneaking in to hold his woman in his arms. Togather they will face every trial and with the solid support of friends and admirers they surely will prevail.

This book is so great, never a monent of boredom, always something happening. It is never the expected always the unexpected. I adored it. It held my attention from cover to cover. Do not miss it.

And so it ends. Warlord brings to a close the stories of Lara and Keir which began two years ago in the surprising debut of Warprize and continued in last year's Warsworn. In a genre full of vampires, werewolves, dukes and carriages, this series brings the reader back to a simpler time when all people had was the earth and each other to rely on.

Warsworn brought us from the city dwellers and onto the journey of Lara and Keir to the Plains where Keir would present his Warprize to the Council, be affirmed, and begin to effectuate change that would benefit his people. The people of the plains were dying at a greater rate that the society was being repopulated. Some of it was because of internal violence. Some of it was because of disease. Keir the Cat saw an opportunity to tie himself with a city and avail his tribe of the richness and knowledge that the city had with the traditions, customs and knowledge of the Plains people.

During Warsworn, however, many of Keir's people died of a plague that was brought upon them by Lara's insistence on treating a village who were plague striken. It is honorable to die in combat but not because of sickness. Keir, as Warlord, is responsible for his people and the Council will judge accordingly.

The strength of these stories is the unique world that is created. There are specific customs that must be followed as Lara becomes affirmed as a Warprize. It is an honor and Lara has the opportunity to return to the land of Zy and the comforts and familiarity of home or even choose a different Warlord. During much of the book, Lara is separated from Keir due to customs of the Firelanders as Keir answers for the loss of his warriors and Lara's status as Warprize is debated. Lara's life is at risk, as well, as many within the Firelanders fear change a city dweller like her shall bring.

I loved the imagery of the people, their way of life, and the beauty of the plains. This is no wall paper fantasy story and much of the magic lies within the detailed recreation of celebration of elements (earth, wind, fire, air) and the rules and customs by which the Firelanders lived. Less loved by me where the constant heroics of Lara in the field of medicine and the lengthy separation, not to mention everyone's seeming captivation with chess, a game that Lara has introduced.

At the close of the book, however, I couldn't help but want more. Surely there is more story to tell as Keir the Cat and Lara of Xy attempt to merge together a better future for their people. B.

I LOVED Warprize and enjoyed Warsworn as well, so it's not surprising that I ate up Warlord, just as excellent as the first book of the series, in my opinion.

This book takes place where Warsworn left off (if you haven't read Warprize and Warsworn yet, stop reading right now and go read, otherwise the rest of this review won't make sense) with Lara, Keir, and the others headed towards the Heart of the Plains.

We end up in the Heart and meet some great new secondary characters along the way. I love the way Vaughan develops the secondary characters. They're not filler like in other books and are actually developed and engaging. Each character serves a purpose in furthering and enriching the story.

Of course, there are conflicts once Lara arrives for her confirmation. She represents great change, after all, and that's never an easy thing to accept. Her presence among the People of the Plains creates great conflict and tension in the novel, as well as great tension in the romantic relationship between Lara and Keir. They are separated for a good 100 pages almost, by the rule of the Council, but you never stop feeling their yearning to get back to each other and it's very touching (especially in one scene where they're a bit naughty and break the rules).

The falling action had me at the edge of my seat, I totally didn't know what was going to happen next and there were some really great emotional scenes here.

I agree with what one person said about the ending being a bit unresolved, but, I guess, Elizabeth Vaughan was trying to be a bit more realistic since times are uncertain in this world (think back to Marcus's "death comes in an instant") and although the hero/heroine are happily together at the end, they still have a lot of work ahead of them in merging and improving their societies.

This is the third book in Elizabeth Vaughan's trilogy featuring Xylara, Queen of Xy, and Keir, Warlord of the Plains. The first book, "Warprize", was a brilliant work of fantasy with a slow-burn and engaging romance. The second book, "Warsworn", didn't quite reach the same heights for me as our heroine Xylara seemed to be the cause of an awful lot of suffering, although whether she was to blame was debatable. Still, that book ended with hero and heroine having learned that trust in each other is something that has to be earned.

"Warlord" begins as the army of the People of the Plains is travelling to the Heart of the Plains (sort of like their capital city only made of tents) to have Xylara validated as Warprize. It seems throughout this story that people tend to keep Lara in the dark - they don't seem to spend a lot of time explaining cultural matters to her, and as they travel towards the Heart of the Plains she doesn't really know what her validation involves. Keir's time as they journey is spent in trying to keep his army together after the devastation of the plague and to counteract the machinations of Iften, Keir's second in command.

We meet some new characters such as Keekai, one of the Elders who will be making judgement on Lara's status as Warprize and we learn a lot more about the Warrior-Priests who have had a very bad reputation since book one and which Keir has vowed to destroy. When Lara arrives at the Heart of the Plains the descriptions of life there are excellent - the reality of a harsh nomadic life is tempered by joy of their dances and community spirit. However, by the time Lara arrives, news has arrived from other locations which paint her as an evil city dweller who has spread plague, who lies and who cannot be trusted and she has to fight her corner in a culture so different that it is hard for her to know what's right. She is separated from Keir who hasn't really told her what to expect, so Lara has to make her own decisions and choices to try and help things to turn out right.

There were some really excellent parts to this book - particularly the ehat hunt - and as in the other two stories the world building and the cultural differences between Lara's and Keir's people are very well written. We understand the confusion of each of them when dealing with strange aspects of the other's world and yet their bond of love is stronger than these differences. The lifestyles of the Plains people, including homosexuality, are very strange to Lara but she is able to accommodate within her limits (such as still bathing privately) in a way which is a good model of cultural merging.

Whilst reading this trilogy I wondered about Iften, the apparent baddie. Would he change? Would we understand and appreciate his opposition to Keir? Would he prove to be a worthy and stalwart supporter at the end? He has some chances to change in this book and we hear just a few hints about his life but I think a little more could have been done with his character.

What I particularly liked about this book was that it didn't take the easy option of everything working out fine in the end. It was a satisfying ending and one that felt possible but our characters are by no means now headed for a life of plain sailing and there were still a handful of loose ends for the reader to think about after finishing the book.

All in all this is an excellent series and very well written and enjoyable.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book [...]Helen Hancox

Seldom have I read an author whose third book is as good as (and maybe even better than) her first. NEVER have I read an author whose characters live and breathe and get inside my head as Lara and Kier have. I think in their language. I now drink kavage.

You have to understand, I am an English teacher. I read a lot. I stayed up until 2am to finish this book. I had to get up at 6. It was worth it!

At the end of Warprize, I wanted to immediately turn the book over and start again. After Warlord - I *am* going back to the beginning and reading all three, in order, again. I can't help myself. Letting go of Lara and Kier right now would be letting go of good friends.

Thank you Beth for these three wonderful books. I look forward to hearing about she of the red gloves...

Vaughan is an amazing writer! I'm an avid reader and this is one of the best series I've EVER read--don't miss any one of the 3 books in the series. I was extremely sorry to see it end. But does it have to? As other reviewers have noted, there were a few loose ends: children dying--why? Keir wants to be Warking--why and what does that mean?

Ms. Vaughan--maybe there are enough loose ends for you to be persuaded to write a 4th book??? I'd love to read a lot more about Lara and Keir and their children, about Keir's continuing journey back to Warlord and maybe Warking, about the continuing merging of cultures, about how Lara's kingdom fares through all of this, about the downfall (or evolving) of the warrior-priests, about the evolving of the High Council, about many of the secondary characters, and on and on. Will you consider a 4th book? Please???!!!

Warlord, book 3 of the Chronicles of the War Lands series, is not your standard romance novel. For one thing, it's written in first person, just to warn all the people that hate that narrative style. Secondly, all though it's marketed as a paranormal romance but that is not true at all. The series is a fantasy for sure, but it focuses not on magic but a clash between two made-up cultures. It's more similar to Kate Elliot's "Jaran" novel, than say, Johanna Lindsay's space barbarian series. Elliot writes about a woman from a highly advanced society adjusting to the culture of the nomadic plains people who adopt her. Lindsay creates a culture around the sole idea of indulging her female domination kink.
Lara is the princess of Xy, a kingdom that came under the attack of the warrior tribes of the Firelands. After winning the love of the Warlord, Keir, she has been traveling with his army back to his lands to be confirmed as the Warprize, a sort of living peace treaty for the Firelanders. Keir, for his part, also hopes to use Lara's expertise in herbs and healing to change some of his culture's often brutal customs concerning sickness and injury. Throughout the series Lara has found herself as stranger in a strange land trying to reconcile her ways with those of the Firelanders.
Not all the Firelanders are supportive of Keir and would like nothing more than kill Lara. This conflict comes to a head when Lara finds herself separated from Keir by the council of tribal elders and charged with bringing curses to the plains by her enemies. Lara must use all her wits to win supporters and survive the assassination attempts of those that would see her dead.
This series has always been about culture and characterization. The culture of Firelanders has been meticulously developed throughout the series, and the tensions between the Xyians and Firelanders is done in a realistic way. It also features a large cast of memorable characters. When the novel was over, I was sad to it end. I hope in the future Vaughan will return to this world and tell the stories of some of the other characters. I think there is plenty of room to explore the continued relationship between the Xyians and Firelanders, and some of the side characters are just so wonderful, I'd be sad to see them go.

Warprize pulled me in, but after reading the disappointing Warsworn, I was reluctant to move on to Warlord. As it turned out, I went ahead and read it (after all, I'd mail-ordered it from the library) in order to see if Ms. Vaughan would tie up the loose ends that emerged during the second installment. Not so.

Lara, our protagonist, raises all sorts of questions during the second and third books--what did the dead healer's notes reveal about treating the plague? Who was the dead man that died in the Xy village that looked familiar to Lara? Did Keir have children? (If so, what was there to indicate that he would value his child with Lara any more than the others?) What of finding a use for the sticky excrement she'd collected after the hunt? What of the mushroom that Ishten chewed on? What of the army still residing at Xy? Why the prolonged ceremony to determine if Lara would be confirmed as warprize once Keir was no longer warlord? Why no closure in the Liam/Marcus storyline? What hope was there that Keir's aim of uniting the two cultures would ever materialize? Why was the idea of warking brought up as if it were significant? Again, no closure.

I also found myself wondering how all those tents and supplies were packed so quickly--with no mention of wagons. And did Marcus cook for the whole blooming army? Thousands of warriors were mentioned, but all gatherings seemed strangely intimate. Vaughan seemed to skim over the surface of the story, skipping explanatory details (except when it came to intimate relations between Keir and Lara and their back-to-back-to-back trysts). Far too often, Ms. Vaughan resorted to such vagaries as "there" in her descriptions. Repeatedly, it was, "She stood there," "He sat there," etc.

Beyond his body, what did Lara see in Keir? Early in the second book, I began to feel that the sex was the point of the story and all the other faltering aspects of the plot existed merely as filler between trysts. This continued throughout book 3.

While there were magical, imaginative aspects of the trilogy--mostly in Warprize--I was sorely disappointed in the many parts of the storyline that fizzled to nothing. So much sex, so little substance.

I loved the first book, Warprize, skimmed the so so 2nd book Warsworn just to half-heartedly keep up w/ the events, and the 3rd book really got emotional. It's a great ending, however, the book ended in a similar manner to the other 2 books. Battle is won but the war of change is still continuing. I would have liked to have follow up books to see how XyLara the Queen brought about cultural and educational change to the Plains. Also, what is the significance of Kier's desire for becoming a Warking.

If you haven't read the first 2 books, I would not recommend this book. This is definitely not a stand-alone book. You might be able to read it but the reader's emotional ties to the main characters won't be very strong.

In this book, after all the sacrfices and heartache that Lara has received to become the Warprize, she finds that being a Warprize is not a sure thing until she can be confirmed by the Council of the Plains. With multiple assasinations attempts, political conspiracies, and everyone thwarting any attempt at change, the road as a Warprize has just gotten more difficult.

Of the 3 books in this trilogy, this book is the most overtly romantic, whereas the other 2 could fall in the Fantasy realm. Lara's understanding of the culture is a lot more deeper than the other 2 books, as a result, the plot is a little more cookie cutter. The first book was the best in terms of setting up a new world in the eyes of a complete outsider.

It is still a extremely good ending to the trilogy. The scene of Lara demanding the body of a loved one from the council and completely ignoring anything they had to say was heartbreakingly emotional.

The only thing confusing about this trilogy is the Paranormal Romance labeling. Other than a couple of possible ghosts in the 3rd book, there is nothing really that would mark this trilogy as paranormal. The world is a mixture of fairy tale princess w/ a mad king of a brother, who meets a Saxon-Celt-Native American like warrior general. Aside from the fairy tale kingdom, the rest of the world is similar to the Native Americans. That is if the Native Americans wore chain mail, broad swords, clubs, and etc. Because the world building is completely fictional, it's almost a fantasy, but not really.

OK, the covers of these books are a bit cheesey. But they are really good books, you will want to read every waking minute! I couldn't resist #3 when I saw it on the Walmart shelf. And I finished it in less than two days.
What an imaginative, creative world the author has created. Very enjoyable! Loved them all, but #1 and #3 were my favorites.