Customer Reviews

The Warrior Heir

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jackson Swift (Jack) has always had a normal life in the small college town of Trinity, Ohio. The only difference between the 16-year-old and his fellow classmates has been the star-shaped scar on his chest and the medicine he is required to take daily. Strange events begin to take place, however, after Jack forgets to take his medicine one day. When a rival named Garrett Lobeck tries to start a fight with Jack during soccer tryouts, Jack defends himself --- sending Lobeck flying across the soccer field.

Then his strange but cool Aunt Linda pays an unexpected visit to Jack and his mother, Becka. Aunt Linda decides to take her nephew/godson on a road trip to look up some of their family's genealogy. Jack invites his loyal friends Will and Fitch to join the expedition. What is supposed to be a tedious fact-finding mission turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, when the three guys discover that Linda is being stalked by a man looking to steal a family heirloom. Jack suspects that there is more to his aunt's story, but decides to help her locate the sought-after heirloom. The three friends get more than they bargain for during a night of digging around an old cemetery when they are attacked shortly after Jack uncovers a medieval sword that contains remarkable powers.

The road trip changes everything for Jack, and the truth about his heritage is slowly revealed. His Aunt Linda is an Enchanter and Jack is Weirlind, a member of an underground society of magical people that has been ruled by the feuding wizarding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose for centuries. The feuding houses determine who rules the Weir and its magical artifacts by playing the Game, a deadly tournament in which each house sponsors a Warrior to fight for their supremacy. Unfortunately for Jack, he is unique even by Weir standards and is a prime target as each of the houses scout for a new player by any means necessary. Fortunately for Jack he has some help on his side, which includes his old friend, the knowledgeable caretaker Nicodemus Snowbeard, and the mysterious new assistant principal Mr. Hastings, who teaches Jack the ways of the Weir and how to use the powerful sword called Shadowslayer as defense against known and unforeseen enemies.

Soon Jack is off to England, where he is thrown into a high-stakes chase from Dr. Jessamine Longbranch --- a wicked person who helped saved his life years before ---- and the Roses. Perhaps the most daunting challenge of all for Jack will be remembering who he really is underneath it all.

THE WARRIOR HEIR is a thrilling fantasy set in the 21st century that seems to be different from some of the other wizard stories out there. While I did wish that the novel contained further information about the Weir and that some of the mentioned characters of Jefferson Street were included in the storyline a bit more, I did find the book to have a great mix of relationships, historical references, action (at times gory) and suspense. I would suggest having an extra copy on hand because you might find it disappearing temporarily from your bookshelf once your family and friends see it.

And good news for fans of the book: There is rumored to be a sequel to THE WARRIOR HEIR tentatively titled THE WIZARD HEIR.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle (SdarksideG@aol.com)

Jack, a former heart patient, is simply living his rather normal teenage life until the one day he forgets to take his medicine. Suddenly he discovers he has a strength he didn't know he possessed, but worse than that, others who have been searching for him now know where he lives and they are coming for him. It turns out that Jack is a warrior, though born a wizard, and many wizards are now looking for him so that he can take part in a gladiator style fight for supremacy in the wizarding world. His aunt Linda tries to protect him but eventually it becomes apparent that Jack must fight, or spend his life running and hoping not to be killed.

This is a good story, with plenty of exciting moments and lots of interesting characters who are either intent on helping Jack or destroying him. However, there are a few problems that keep the story from being truly riveting. The different classes of sorcerers, enchanters, wizards, and warriors are never fully explained, and the rather optimistic ending just seemed a little too pat. Overall this is a good fantasy, but with a bit of editing and the addition of some explanations, this could have been a great one. Still, it should enthrall its target audience, and can be recommended for fans of the genre.

A fun little book, I was lucky to read an advance copy, and it's a good story. Wizards are a big part of this, but stop thinking about that Potter boy and enjoy the world created here. I'd give this three and a half stars. It took a bit of time to work through the five classes of the Wier. and they are not well represented, two are only mentioned in passing it seems.

But, YES, I would like to read more about Jack and the aftermath of this book.

Okay, I freely admit that part of my distaste for this book is that I'm just too old for it. I'm a twenty-year-old guy, which probably puts me at least seven years outside the target audience. I only read it because my little sister had it in her bag during a long car ride and offered it. So perhaps I'm not the best person to give this a fair review.

But...come on. I'm not THAT old. Harry Potter was great fun. Narnia was entertaining. The Dark is Rising books were intriguing, the Prydain Chronicles were riveting, even those Percy Jackson books were halfway decent. But this was just...I dunno, blah.

Pretty typical set-up for contemporary YA fantasy. Secret underground group of people with spooooooky powers, shamelessly cribbed from various mythologies with little interest in the original legends. Protagonist is the stereotypical plucky male (as opposed to the stereotypical Strong Female. Oh, she's there too, but the camera loves average-boy). Now all of this would be fine if the author had done anything even halfway interesting with it. But...she didn't.

This book feels like Chima wrote it with big dollar signs in her eyes. It sticks to the formula so closely I could probably have sketched out the basic plotline from the first few chapters' evidence alone. Boring teenage hero is in high school with a bunch of stock characters ("bitchy ex-gf", "bullying rich boy", "strong-but-gentle best friend", and "mysterious loner girl" all make heavy-handed appearances). He's always taken some sort of medication but never wondered what's in it or if he'll ever get better and be able to stop. Inevitably, he forgets it this one day, and randomly starts showing off his super powers, whereupon the "mysterious aunt" shows up to show him the path to his dessssstiny, but a bunch of bad guys have shown up too, and they're all going after a sword that's been in a grave for a coupla generations, but no one ever knew where it was till now (I mean, how could they? That would have taken, hm, actually checking three graveyards).

Anyway. Gets sword. Finds Yoda. Proceeds to train. Gets threatened by EVIL BAD GUYS, all the while blowing off concerned best buds and pursuing relationship with mysterious chick who anyone with half a brain can see is totally...wooooops, better not let that one slip!

Basically, the whole story feels contrived and silly. Our hero might as well be popping into existence in the first chapter. He has all the depth of a blow-up kiddie pool, and the supporting characters, with the sorta-kinda exception of Aunt Feminist-Babe, have the personalities of sitcom extras. There's no control over the world Chima's created. It's all "then this happened, then this happened". The characters don't respond emotionally to anything. They just stand around and say "dude, that was weird, hyuk hyuk". Are they all high? Has someone dumped laughing gas over this whole freaking town? Or is this just the author cutting corners everywhere she can, avoiding giving anyone realistic complaints because they're tough to write?

No one in this book seems capable of thinking. They all just go through the motions like automatons.

But enough ranting. Suffice to say, I found this book infantile and poorly conceived, a mediocre effort from an author who could do better, but is perfectly willing to spout off substandard crap because she knows she's operating for a young audience, many of whom don't know to expect better. This is just my opinion, but...avoid this book. I won't say it's complete trash, it's not like it's painful to read. But it just doesn't go anywhere, or do anything, that will interest you on any level except for the most superficial.

The Warrior Heir is a extremely fascinating book that keeps you guessing until the end. It leads you on an epic journey, that will satisfy the most 'picky' of readers. Jack is a teenager, that has suposedly heart problems. He takes medicine every day, but one day he forgets to take it. He feels amazing, better and stronger than normal. Vice Principal Hastings finds Jack, and Jack finds out a secret that has been kept from him since he was born. He is a warrior. Part of an ancient family of warriors before him. The tournament is brewing, and Jack is chosen to fight. The question is not Jack's ability, but his expeirience; and who will he fight? The Warrior Heir was an amazing book that I had a very hard time setting down.

I really wish I had some way to rate this book beyond the standard five star system, like out of ten, or with half star points, because this book deserves more than three stars but definitely does not deserve four. Given the choice, I would have given it 3.5 stars, or 7 out of 10.

This book was simultaneously better than I was expecting, and not as good as I would have thought. It wasn't really a disappointment, like some series I've read(*cougheverworldcough*), but at the same time, I can't shake the feeling that it is in need of some expansion and fleshing out to bring out its full potential.

By far the weakest part of this book was the characterization. There wasn't really any genuinely bad characterization, it was just . . . mediocre. The majority of characters were two-dimensional. Fitch, Will, Becka, Iris, Blaise, Garrett, Leesha, and Nick had only the sparsest development, the kind you'd expect for the most minor of characters. Jack himself was the epitome of the Standard Male Teenaged Protagonist. I didn't really get any sense of the characters' personalities or anything. I didn't necessarily dislike them or thought they seemed inconsistent, they were just . . . okay.

Longbranch, Linda, and Leander Hastings were a little better, but only a little. The most genuinely interesting one was Ellen, who's character concept I found rather intriguing. However, she was mostly wasted, only appearing in a comparatively small part of the book, and the author didn't really take much time to develop her or her relationship with Jack.

Aside from characters, the story, writing, and dialogue were all okay, and the story was fairly exciting. I found the concept of magic coming stones implanted in the characters to be interesting, though the author sadly took the rather cliche route by having the characters be born with their stones already in them. I felt that the book could have used some more history and worldbuilding, especially in regards to the Roses, and Ellen's life.

I genuinely liked the climax and resolution, and the ending was good, though if I did feel that the author went a bit too far in wrapping everything up nicely and neatly.

I am going to read the sequel to the Warrior Heir, though I am disappointed to learn that it will be from the point of view of some wizard bloke called Seph, rather than a continued focus on Jack and Ellen.

In an age when reading is less and less popular among both children and adults, Cinda Williams Chima has presented us with the next great series that will entertain people of all ages without the need of electricity. Though labeled a a novel for "Young Adults," the series will appeal to adults as well as teenagers. In The Warrior Heir, Chima brings to life a plethora of complex characters. Among them is Jack, the protagonist. Jack is neither an orphan nor the product of an unbroken home. As is so common in reality, and less common in most novels of the genre, Jack's parents are divorced. This is the first of many qualities that tie the main character to those who read about him. Jack's mother, a mysterious old caretaker, a new assistant principal at Jack's school, and others all bring Trinity, Ohio to life. Initially set in Ohio, the novel ties reality to fantasy in the combination that fantasy readers thrive on. The adventure explores a whole new, more sinister, way of life just when global readers thought they had finally conquered the Wizarding world. Pre-teens, teenagers, their college aged siblings, and parents alike will all enjoy Cinda William Chima's The Warrior Heir and the complex world of the Weir that it explores.

The Warrior Heir is an exciting fantasy from the middle to the end but if you're not a patient reader when it comes to begginnings then you may not like this book. At the first ninety to a hundred pages I absulutely hated this book. I planned on giving it a two-star review BUT as you read farther the suspence fills you up and you are staring at one great read. So do yourself a favor and try out "The Warrior Heir". You'll have fun - guarenteed!

Jack is just a normal sixteen-year-old boy... At least that's what HE thinks. The only thing thats different about him is the fact that he almost died as a baby and has a special heart surgeon: Dr.Longbranch come check up on him a certain amount of time per year. He has to take medicine for his condition but one day he forgets to take it. That day he has soccor tryouts and while scrimmaging he sends Garrette Lobeck, a rival into the net. He becomes faster, stronger and he feels better than he could ever imagine...
He knows that this is not ordinary, that the medicine he takes daily is enabling his inner strength... Soon Jack runs into a world of wizards, enchanters, and... WARRIORS.

Enjoy this book!

I really enjoyed this book. I had the day off and spent my entire morning reading it...once you get started it's hard to stop reading. It kept me geusing unitl the very end. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy books that involve seemingly ordinary people.

This book was gripping! I found myself staying up all hours of the night just to see what would happen next. A very captivating novel. Highly recommended!! I can't wait for the next book.