Warprize (Chronicles of the Warlands #1) Read Online

March 01, 2022 Post a Comment

Book Review : Warprize Warprize (Chronicles of the Warlands, #one) by Elizabeth Vaughan
Published by Tor Paranormal Romance on October 31st 2006
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Romance
Pages: 336
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SHE MUST Choose BETWEEN HER PEOPLE AND HER Freedom...

Xylara is the Daughter of the Warrior King, Xyron. With her begetter dead and her incompetent one-half-blood brother on the throne, the kingdom is in danger of falling to the warring Firelanders.

Earlier she was old plenty for a marriage-of-brotherhood, Xylara was trained as a healer. She can't usurp her brother or negotiate a peace--but she can heal the brave ones injured in battle.

Merely not simply her countrymen are wounded, and Xylara'due south conscience won't let Firelander warriors die when she can practise something to save them. She learns their language and their customs and tries to make them equally comfortable every bit possible, despite their prisoner-of-war status.

She never expects that these deeds, done in good organized religion, would atomic number 82 to the handsome and mysterious Firelander Warlord demanding her in commutation for a finish-fire. Xylara knows must trade the life she has always known for the well-being of her people, and so she becomes...

The Warprize

I had high hopes for Warprize, which brands itself as a fantasy romance novel, but I was disappointed. I felt that the plot itself was pretty platitude—fifty-fifty being extremely reminiscent of A Vocal of Ice and Fire —the characters not very complex, and the romance practically non-existent. I also wished in that location were more earth-building in a book that markets itself as a fantasy novel.

We are kickoff introduced to our first-person narrator, Xylara in the healer's tent, where she struggles to tend to the wounds of a dying man. Xylara, is the Daughter of Xy or the Girl of Blood—terms which substantially mean she is a princess. She defied her late male parent, the Rex, to get a Master Healer and has no political ambitions of her own, dreaming only of opening her own school of healing. At first I thought her determination to be a healer was pretty awesome, especially when Xylara, affectionately called Lara, defied her despotic half-brother and current King Xymond, to heal their prisoners of war. But unfortunately, I quickly learned that Lara obsesses over healing, and is not concerned with much else, which made reading her starting time-person thoughts quite boring.

And her saint-similar aspirations practice non end with healing, Lara agrees to get the Warprize of the Firelanders, in order to stop state of war between the 2 peoples. Assertive herself to exist a slave to the Warlord Keir, Lara leaves her homeland with zilch more than the clothes that Keir gave her, learning that she must take nothing from the paw of anyone save the Warlord. How annoyingly sexist. Surprised to non be raped by the Warlord or to be a slave afterwards all, Lara is so grateful that she starts falling for Keir, which seems more like Stockholm Syndrome than anything else—despite his good treatment of her when they actually interact. Regardless, Lara establishes a healing tent to care for her new people, who reject to refer to her as anything only Warprize.

Information technology is non until page 240 of the book and well-nigh ii/3s of the way in, that nosotros learn what the championship of Warprize actually means, and frankly, it is kind of ridiculous:

"…Our traditions tell us that there is still some other treasure that a warlord can obtain in boxing. That is a warpize. A warpize must exist discovered during the form of a battle, or on or most a battleground. A warprize must render aid to the warlord, must spark feelings of desire. It is said that the allure between warlord and warpirze is as the heat of the sunday that shines in the pinnacle of summer."

Putting aside how weird their requirements are for obtaining a Warprize, I definitely did non feel whatsoever substantial romantic tension between Lara and Keir. It was more than similar, "oh, this is my role now as Warprize. So, I'm going to become jump into bed with him and then explain that I never felt this kind of love for anyone before, even though I barely know him!"

The first-person narration extremely stinted the development of these characters and their romances. Because Lara is very single-minded with the healing, we don't find out much about the other characters, especially Keir, for whom she manages to autumn despite virtually not knowing him or even spending time with him, equally he is always off on Warlord concern. As such, I was pretty indifferent to what happened to the characters. As the preview of the next book showed Lara is overly concerned that Keir has lost interest in her because he was leading his ground forces and hasn't seen her for only two days, I am not inclined to choice upwards the next book. This kind of insecurity and neediness is not the kind of development I want in my heroines, who I prefer to be stiff and self-reliant, even when in beloved.

I as well could not help only detect that the description of the Firelanders and their nearly-worship of their horses was quite like to the Dorthraki in A Vocal of Ice and Fire. I found that Lara'south being given abroad by her blood brother to what is considered a barbaric people, and to a notorious Warlord known for his battle prowess, too extremely comparable to Danaerys'south situation, when she is given to Khal Drogo, by her sinister brother, Viserys. I was dismayed past these similarities. Perhaps I could have forgiven these likenesses, if Warprize had really improved upon the story and writing of A Song of Ice and Burn, just it does not. And Lara is certainly no Danaerys, with her love not being even close to on the level of that Danaerys and Khal Drogo'south. I could non aid merely think Warprize was a mere cheap imitation of A Song of Water ice and Burn down.

The rest of the plot similarly reads like dozens of others as well. We have the typical perfect King and father that dies, leaving his saintly daughter in the clutches of her evil, maddened brother. It is only when she is whisked away by prince charming that she finds where she truly belongs. It is one affair if this blazon of story is done with tons of character development, mysteries and revelations, just that is simply not the instance in Warprize.

Though the novel does have its moments, they were just too few and far autonomously. I liked Lara's determination to go back Keir and to remain his Warprize after her coronation equally Queen of Xy following the murder of her brother. All the same, I did not like that this motivation to fulfill her duties as Queen and to wait for a solution to the political issues surrounding Xy and the Firelanders, just came after someone literally slapped some sense into her weepy self. Ugh. And so, her solution is to walk through the desert to grab up with her man—BAREFOOT—because she tin can't accept annihilation from anyone who isn't her Warlord, even though she is now a queen. This whole law was so ridiculous to me throughout the novel, and her adherence to it especially then, that I felt no sympathy for her when her feet were injured and infected as a result.

Warprize does endeavor to develop the culture of the Firelanders, but information technology just isn't plenty to make upwardly for the lack of world edifice. Tellingly, there is no map in the beginning of the book, something quite common in fantasy novels. The readers learn nothing more about other countries, cultures, or peoples—simply that of the Firelanders, and somewhat of Xy. We witness the differences in worship between Xy—who worship the Goddess and God , which horrifies the Firelanders who can't believe the Xy worship what they see as people—a fancy "design" trip the light fantastic toe past the Firelanders, and a Firelander meeting where a "token" is held for safety in truth telling. But really, that'southward the whole extent of the world-building, with hints of warpriests and magic thrown in every once in awhile, which feels more than like a tease than actual development.

Warprize just did not work for me every bit a whole. At that place were times I did non even want to finish it at all, but I pushed through for curiosity's sake. I really practise non feel any need to read the other novels in the book, as I missed the originality, world-building, and character development of other fantasy novels. I also really did not enjoy the first person grapheme story-telling either. If y'all are just dipping your toes into fantasy or romance, or practice not listen first-person narratives, you may savor this book. But equally a person used to reading epic fantasy novels, it was a disappointing read.