46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sensual Medieval - historically correct treatment of women, May 5, 2003
This review is from: The Warrior (Paperback)
This is one of my all time favorite historical romance novels. I don't know what that says about me because this is a politically incorrect romance novel for today's woman. This is a book that portrays the treatment of medieval women as was probably most accurate for this time in history. If you want historical novels that allow women the freedoms we enjoy today or want to ignore the mistreatment women endured, this novel is not for you.
The Warrior begins with the hero, a Norman knight under King Henry, arriving at his new home awarded to him by the king for his loyalty and performance on the battlefield. The former owner of this castle keep has been accused of treason and the king has therefore given the treasonous lord's property to Ranulf, our hero. Expecting opposition from the former lord's daughter and vassals, Ranulf has with him a large number of knights and soldiers, faithful to him and in his service. We first see Ariane, our heroine and the daughter of the former lord, contemplating fighting off Ranulf and his men or opening the castle to them. Ariane is in a very difficult position. She does not believe that her father is treasonous and she has been betrothed to Ranulf, the new lord, for five years.
Ranulf is truly a magnificent hero even if he is pushy and has a driving need to always be in control. He is the typical Alpha male and all one could dream up for such a hero. Adriane is very well written, assertive and a little rebellious. She tends to be a little too mouthy at times but Ranulf actually deserves much more ill treatment than she gives him.
One of the things that really sets this book above others is the amount of interaction between the leads. This book exceeds 400 pages and at least 350 of those pages involve the leads in direct or indirect communication. To keep someone's interest for that many pages when the primary story revolves around the leads' relationship is truly remarkable. Page after page, we read delicious dialogue between Ranulf and Ariane. He sometimes borders on abuse but it is somehow leveraged with other interaction that just adds pleasantly to the tension without him actually abusing the heroine. Sometimes he is the hero you love to hate. You can't wait for him to get his just rewards for mistrusting or mistreating Ariane. When he finds he is wrong about her again and again, you just feel such victory that he is getting a little of his own treatment.
This book, as mentioned previously, reaches a little further than most romance novels do into the ill treatment of a lady. I cannot say more about this treatment because it would give away too much of the storyline. Although Ranulf's treatment of Ariane could be considered cruel or possibly abusive by today's standards, I don't think it exceeds the actual treatment medieval women had to tolerate. And please note - this ill treatment is not at all extreme or even a little kinky. Ranulf and Ariane fight a fantastic battle of wills that is absolutely the best of the best. You don't have them caught in the usual "I treat you like I hate you but in secret really love you" scenario. They are both exceptionally written characters that have a lot to work out in themselves and eventually, with each other.
In addition, the story line is just really good! There is no time spent on silly misunderstandings and this is definitely not formula writing! There are interesting plot twists and we get to know several secondary characters well. The secondary characters are not boring. We see the issue of trust as the core of this story.
Nicole Jordan is one of my favorite authors. My choice of romance novels has evolved into choosing well-written stories with non-typical plot lines and tender romance. I want the lead characters well developed, mature, and spending time together. Although sensuality plays a part in a book selection, it is not necessary to have many sensual scenes. Jordan's writing is highly sensual compared to most romance novels. However, as I have chosen to leave behind known sensual writers such as Susan Johnson, Robin Schone, Bertrice Small and Thea Devine, I still love to devour a Jordan book. I believe her writing is excellent and she does not allow the sensual scenes to drive the book as I perceive these other authors usually do. I rate this book about a 4.5 out of 5.0 for the sensual scenes (please see More About Me for rating guidelines).
This is my second time to read this book and it is the first romance novel that I have read more than once. I had no inkling that I would be so enchanted reading this the second time (it had been over a year since my first read). I did not want to put the book down and found that this is not a fast read. Those four hundred plus pages are small print with no wasted space. You cannot skip hardly a paragraph. You find yourself laughing, weeping, and cheering for the underdog and more! It is an emotional book to read and one for the keeper shelf...
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful love story, deeply satisfying...and hot..., July 1, 2005
I have come to enjoy Nicole Jordan's books so much that I can literally hardly wait until the next one is published (and there IS another one, I believe at the end of July, WICKED FANTASY)... this book, THE WARRIOR, a revision of a much earlier novel of the same title, does not disappoint! Far from it, the book is a step above the first edition, which portrayed Ranulf(the hero) as being really pretty rough with Ariane, his love. In this new edition, Ranulf is still the WARRIOR of the title, strong, very alpha-male indeed (and wow does he know how to make a woman happy, in this book, not only under the covers, but deep in her heart)... but he's more gentle when he needs to be, and he is truly a hero now, in the full sense of the word.
Ranulf is to me larger than life, which is exactly how I love my romance heroes. He's not perfect, of course, but Jordan skillfully reveals what has caused Ranulf to be as terribly distrustful of noblewomen as he is.
And Ariane, his love-to-be, is every inch a noblewoman, holding her father's demesne/castle and its people in here care until his father can return from what should have been a short and uneventful trip. He does NOT return, however, and Ranulf, Lord of Vernay (Normandy), has been given the castle and land by King Henry (GREAT USE OF HISTORY in this novel, really well done, and her use of the expressions/turns of phrase/terminology for the 12th century is truly noteworthy. I felt that I was THERE, in that time and place. That's not easy to do for a 21st century reader!)...
and thus Ariane, who had been betrothed to him (by arrangement) 5 years before, is now Ranulf's prisoner. To all appearances, Ariane's father has rebelled against the King, and Ariane is also guilty of this, by association. She refuses to believe her father is a traitor, and maintains his innocence till the end, fiercely defending him before Ranulf. SPARKS FLY in this book. Both of the main characters have quick tempers and sharp tongues; Ranulf in particular is a mass of defense mechanisms, but he can be so JUST , and so KIND, at times, that Ariane knows there's much more to him than meets the eye.
Like Ranulf, Ariane has a terrible secret of her own. It undermines their growing love, and eventually the secret must come out. It's GREAT reading. You truly do not know what's going to happen next, and Ariane's secret is really an amazing plot twist, and yet quite believable.
Nicole Jordan's love scenes are famous for their heat, and rightly so... but not only are they sizzling, they are also quite beautifully written. Her prose is at times so lovely that you are no longer in romance-land, you're reading a novel, which has great historical veracity and a TON of romance. She is truly a gifted writer. Her work stands up so well that I've read most all of her novels twice, and a few of them 3 and 4 times. They hold up WELL. We all know this isn't true for a lot of novels, romance or otherwise.
A beautiful, rich, satisfying ending, which ties up the loose ends with such power! The love between Ranulf and his Ariane is real; they earned it with blood and tears, and strife. And with trust.
Another WINNER from Nicole Jordan, brava!! I order her books on Amazon 6 months in advance. I KNOW I'll enjoy them, and I recommend them heartily.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I Hated It, December 23, 2002
This review is from: The Warrior (Paperback)
Medeival romances are my favorite kind of stories, but The Warrior left a bad taste in my mouth. I know that women were only good for the property they could bring in a marriage and had no power, but I don't want to read a story where the hero is determined to hurt, humiliate and degrade the heroine just to prove that he is in control and not feeling anything for her. She is his prisoner and he degrades her in front of her people constantly, makes her a kitchen servant to perform the most backbreaking work, then makes her his leman against her will. He doesn't change until the last ten pages of the story. Women were not always treated nice, and i'm sure this sorta thing happened but for heavens sake don't label this romance. This is not love, it's about a bitter man who is so intent on hurting and humiliating the woman he supposedly loves I wasn't convinced he really did come to love her. This just wasn't for me. When I read a romance book, I want to read about romance.
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