Warrior Heir [Paperback]

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.

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.