Customer Reviews

Warrior

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What a refreshing spin on the world of magic! I loved every minute of reading it! As soon as I was done, I went out and bought the sequel at a bookstore so I wouldn't have to wait for shipping.

Just in case you're not aware of it, there are 4 books similarly related. "Warrior" is the first in the series, followed by "Witch". "Doppelganger" is the same as "Warrior", and I'm assuming that "Warrior and Witch" is the same as "Witch" they seem to have renamed the books.

On the back of the book cover are a couple of sentences that caught my eye and made me want to purchase "Warrior" It reads: "When a witch is born, a doppelganger is created. For the witch to master her powers, the twin must be killed. Until now..."

This book is not what I would call a non-stop fast paced book, but it kept me enthralled just the same. Marie Brennan breathes life into her characters that gives them substanance. Although some of her "side-line" characters aren't as developed as her core, they are still believable and "warm."

Welcome to a world of magic and two strong-willed women.

Mirage is a Hunter (think more like a bounty hunter for hire, sometimes a detective, assassin, or even a bodyguard). She has worked and trained all her life to become the best in her trade, and she is. With speed and reflexes beyond her counterparts she hates magic and distrusts the Witches who wield it. Her year-mate (school-mate) has offered her part in a commission. What Hunter assassinated the Witch Tari, and who is behind the assassin and why? Will she survive the commission? If she does, can she survive who's behind it?

Miryo is a the daughter of a witch. She has studied since she was 5 to become a full-fledged Witch. Finally on the day of her testing, she passes, only to find that she is incomplete. Her doppleganger lives! While Mirage still lives she does not have the control or focus to wield her magic. Try a spell as simple as lighting a candle and she could succeed or she could turn into a human torch! She is told to become whole again she must find and kill her doppleganger, but can she do it? She has never killed before. Will she stay with centuries of tradition and kill her doppleganger to make herself complete, or will she see Mirage as a person and not an "it" and search for the Goddess' help for another path?

In the end, "Only one can survive..."

This was a painful read in the beginning. This book started out extremely slow. Several times I came back to read the Amazon reviews, to make sure I didn't make a mistake and get the wrong book. The beginning was extremely slow and approaching the middle of the story I started to lose hope but things picked up a bit. What kept me reading was the concept and originality of the book. I'm strictly an urban fantasy reader and found the middle and ending of this book enjoyable. The book has a good amount of action and intrigue. I am even going to read book two. Hopefully that won't be as painful.

I picked up Doppelganger (Warrior) because Marie Brennan is a graduate student at Indiana University where I also went to grad school, so I felt a connection there. (How she's managing to write novels while in grad school, I'll never know!) Overall, Doppelganger is a good debut.

At first the story follows the separate lives of Mirage, a kick-butt warrior who has recently graduated from warrior school and makes her living by being commissioned for various dangerous tasks, and Miryo, a witch who has been in school and has just failed her "final exam" because of the existence of Mirage, the doppelganger. Every witch has a doppelganger who is supposed to be killed while they are babies so that the magic power can be controlled by the witch. Because Mirage was not killed, Miryo must hunt her down and kill her. Meanwhile, Mirage and her friend Eclipse (he's also a warrior), have just taken on a murder investigation that ends up uncovering the plot of some rogue witches to let the doppelgangers live. Eventually, Mirage's and Miryo's paths cross as each woman sets out to meet her own goals which end up colliding with the other's.

Doppelganger was well-written and Marie Brennan has a good ear for dialogue. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of both Mirage and Miryo in their respective school programs. It was obvious to me that Ms Brennan is using her own grad school experience because I've been through the exact same thing. The way she talked about Mirage and Eclipse, as year mates, being like brother and sister was right on; I likewise had a male year mate who was like a brother to me during that ordeal. I could totally relate to that, and to the other aspects of school (advisors, qualifying exams, studying) that she described.

The story was interesting, but I had some issues. First of all, it annoyed me when characters didn't ask some obvious questions of their advisors or the people they worked for. As one example, why didn't Miryo ask her advisors why she had to kill the doppelganger herself? She had no travel or fighting experience and the witches had the resources to hire others to do this sort of job. At first I thought this was a plot hole and was surprised at what seemed like a graduate student's lack of logic. But, later this question was answered logically and reasonably, but I still wondered why Miryo didn't think to ask it at the beginning.

One other thing that I felt needed improvement was the description of the major characters. I had been assuming, based on the cover of the book, that Mirage had long hair, but I was surprised to find out half way through that she had "cropped" hair. Also, Eclipse was never well-described which disappointed me because, as the only "good" male character in the novel, I would have liked to have been able to visualize him. The villains (Ice, the bad witches, Wraith) could have been deeper and more impressive characters with a bit more description of their looks and mannerisms.

Despite these issues, I think Marie Brennan writes well (which is more than half the battle won) and therefore, this is a good debut from a promising new author.

I usually give 3 stars to a book that has promise but is flawed.

I bought this book after reading Midnight Never Come-- an intriguing fantasy set in Elizabethan England that I rated very highly. Warrior though is a double quest novel with more than one Big Reveal. The story is told in alternating viewpoints. The two viewpoint characters are individually interesting at times. At other times I wanted to an icepick in my head to stop the throbbing as the author dragged on and on with more information about the culture than I needed at the time. Miryo's stay at the Keep was pretty painful. In addition, the author included fashion comments and way more information about the entertainment than I wanted to know. Some nuggets of important information are buried in the exposition, but too few nuggets to too much exposition.

The first Big Reveal comes about half way in and if you didn't see it coming you weren't paying attention. The story picks up after that but it still drags a bit on the inevitable and not surprising conclusion.

This seems to be half a book, my guess is that about half of this book could have been cut out and the remainder added to Witch to make one book and it would improve the situation.

But no matter what, do not give up on this author. I think she has some very good books ahead as she continues her historical fantasy series that begins with Midnight Never Come.

With equal servings of dark assassin and innocent mage, Warrior is a really good work that is well worth reading. The main characters are interesting and the world is complex and intriguing, and Brennan's writing has a good voice and flow.

Keep your eyes on the characters, imagination and writing and you'll be well satisfied. But the book isn't perfect. The plot is slightly distressing at times, with a central investigation whose leaps of logic would make any flatfoot wince, and the ending is a little unsatisfactory - both sudden and unfortunately predictable.

However, it's an enjoyable work - carried mostly by the subplots and characterization - and I'll definitely be following the author (I'm currently in the midst of the sequel, Witch).

I'm giving this five stars to counter-act the reviews with one star. Otherwise I'd say four stars simply based on comparing it to other works in the genre. If you like purely paranormal romance, don't buy this. This is a great SciFi / Fantasty story. It's certainly not the most complex storyline but it creates a world which allows you to escape. Using the glossary in a story that creates an alternate world is always a good thing.

As for the story itself, I'm not one to give away too much because I don't like too many details before reading the story. Strong female heroines are always fun and this didn't disappoint. The action and adventure were also quite good. Pick it up if you like this genre, you'll enjoy the ride. I look forward to more works by Ms. Brennan.

To begin, "Warrior" was a quick read, which I often seek out when it comes to fantasy novels. I'll definitely be making the short trip down to my local bookstore to pick up the next book in the series, "Witch", sometime this afternoon. Just to give you an idea of my preferences, my ideal novel is 400-500 pages in length with 70-75% action and 25-30% character development and/or historical/environmental discussion (although these certainly don't have to be mutually exclusive, if done correctly :) I found the pace and length of this novel nearly perfect. I finished it in about a week, with a few hours of reading most days.

In regard to the story, I thought the twist regarding the concept of how the main character becomes "attuned" to magic was very creative. Anyone who reads a lot of fantasy knows that this if often a deal breaker. If the author's conceived method for teaching/attuning/etc. the main character(s) to magic is not unique or interesting, often the book either fails miserably or lacks believability. In this case, I thought the author did a fantastic job of "melding" magic, inherent physical strength/agility, and spirituality in a very interesting and cohesive manner. In addition, there was just enough humor to lighten things up when needed.

My 5 star review is based more on a fun factor scale vs. a literary one. If you're looking for something with a literary kick, anything by Tolkien, Asimov, or Zelazny will do the trick. As an aside, I do highly suggest the complete Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny to anyone who loves fantasy/sci-fi. It's easy to find these days in a thick, large paperback version, which shouldn't cost you more than 10 bucks at a used bookstore. It's truly an outstanding achievement, and as it's broken up into several smaller books, you end up getting the best of both worlds; i.e., a series of shorter books, each of which have at least cursory beginnings and endings, as well as a larger, deeper, grand scale Epic which really is incredible.

To finalize this review, I'm glad I picked this book up the other day, and am really looking forward to "Witch". If you haven't read the other reviews, do make note that it looks like "Warrior" is identical to "Doppleganger" and "Witch" is identical to another book of which I not know the title.

If you choose to pick it up, I hope you enjoy "Warrior" as much as I did.

Cheers,

H

I really liked the first of these two books although with the different language it seems a bit hard to follow at first the idea is interesting. I cant wait to read the second one and see where the author took this adventurous tale.

Miryo has just failed her initiation test. The urge to use her magic will overwhelm and kill her (along with innocent bystanders), unless she hunts down and kills her doppelganger, Mirage. Unfortunately for Miryo, Mirage has spent her life training as a hunter and fighter.

This book is teeming with good-book traits - women who fight and think and aren't primarily seeking or worrying about romance, a world that feels ancient, where the consequences of misremembered history are real and painful. I'm impressed.

Some books barely make it to my bookshelf once I've bought them. They're constantly at the ready for me to pick up at any free minute, just to get a few more pages in, and are usually devoured in two or three days. However, other books hook me in the store, receive my undivided attention for about 100 pages and then find themselves bookmarked and shelved for a long afternoon or weekend of bad television, cast aside for other new bookstore treasures. For me, this book was the latter, and when I picked it up the second time, I felt absolutely stupid for not giving it more of a chance.

It's a world-building fantasy, which I'll be the first to admit is not my favorite type of fantasy. I personally gravitate towards paranormal fantasy or urban fantasy. That's just my preference, and it's no fault of the book. The pacing doesn't demand that you turn pages as fast as humanly possible just to catch the next sentence of action or witty dialogue. However, the story is rich in detail and intrigue. The book features female doppelgangers, a warrior and a witch. The first to learn of the existence of the other is the witch, Miryo. To complete her training, she must hunt and kill her other self, Mirage, who is a powerful fighter. While each woman is strong, neither will fare particularly well against the other. Magic is the warrior's weakness, and fighting is the witch's weakness. The interest for me in this book was the fact that both characters are likable for different reasons, and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking that I didn't want either one of them to die. Once they meet, they don't take long to decide that they will not fight to the death. Rather, they will sort this out and resolve it in a way that both can go on living. The finale was well worth it, and I'm looking forward to picking up the next one. My advice to you is push through even though the pacing is slow at points. The resolution is clever and not one you'll soon forget.