Dat axe. ...no seriously, I picked up this book just because the cover art is gorgeous. Then I read the inside cover and was like, "Ehhh....chances are someone will be axed. Gonna read it."
...an amazon summary, "An eighteen-year-old chieftain's daughter must find a way to kill her village’s oppressive deity if she ever wants to return home in Warrior of the Wild, the Viking-inspired YA standalone fantasy from Tricia Levenseller, author of Daughter of the Pirate King.
As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
I've never read the other books by Tricia Levenseller, but after reading this, I am most curious to try them out. I think she's got two (?) other books out. Intriguing.
ANYWAYS.
After Rasmira chose to seek her profession as Warrior, she's been trained and groomed by her father (Village Chief) and the other elders in the village. She's been put in the spotlight her entire life without ever really wanting it. She's earned the scorn of her classmates for her special treatment though she has never wanted it. About six weeks ago, one of her classmates admits that he disagrees with how they've always treated her and becomes her friend. As they get closer to their trial, where they will prove their worth to the village/become an adult/be successful in their profession, Rasmira even imagines kissing him.
Before I get any further, this is set in like an alternate Earth where crazy beasts roam and they're kind of in medieval ish times. As part of the setting, there are several villages in the area, and each of the villages has to pay tribute to a god for whatever their village is known for. In Rasmira's case, they're known for being good hunters, so they provide a lot of food, which means sometimes the villagers starve to appease the god.
I digress.
The day of the trial arrives, and the warriors are put into this arena like structure that's a pseudo maze, and have to fight a bunch of these like pill bug monsters the size of small horses in order to complete their trial successfully. These monsters are poisonous and regenerate pretty quick, so warriors need to slice off the heads to make them stay dead. They're also very, very agile/quick too. As the trial draws to a close, her new friend takes the head of one of these beasts, and makes it bite her, releasing the poison into her. She fails the trial and is banished from the village. She's given a test that will prove her worthiness to return to the village.... to kill the god all of the villages make tribute too.
That's enough summary.
You know how there are so many books out there who are like, "MY HEROINE IS A STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN" and then you read them to discover they're full of LIES!? Well, Rasmira is DEFINITELY a strong independent woman, who learns so much about her self and what she wants without ever losing sight of her self or her strength. Totally wicked.
The world building was pretty on point, the plot was good, and everything that played out in the Wild (where Rasmira is banished too) seemed very well thought out. It was a very good, solid book. Kind of like the book that understands what equality should look like and knows how to portray different characters as strong without making everyone else weak around them. ...which is why I would love to read more of this author's books.
The relationships in this book seemed so authentic and rang true to each situation the characters were faced with and it was just a really good book.
The one thing that I would say didn't play to the book's favor is the mountain. I wanted more solving of the mystery of what was going on, on top of the mountain. Not the bird, but like the other god stuff (being purposely vague but if anyone else reads this, they'll know what I'm talking about). If you do read this, and want to theorize what else may have been going on, on top of the mountain, leave a comment below!
...yeah!
Happy reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment