February 27th, 2007 - Hyperion
Synopsis: Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great—until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts.
Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game—a magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death. The winning house rules the Weir.
As if his bizarre magical heritage isn’t enough, Jack finds out that he’s not just another member of Weirlind—he’s one of the last of the warriors—at a time when both houses are scouting for a player.
Hiya! Sorry I didn't blog last week, but I should have warned that I would probably miss chances to blog several times this month because of the dreaded NaNo! Well, actually wonderful/dreaded NaNo.
Anyway, I was thinking about what to review this week when I thought about THE WARRIOR HEIR. I've seen a million reviews for Mrs. Chima's Seven Realms Series, but a very small amount of reviews for her first series, The Heir Trilogy (though it's not going to be a trilogy for much longer! Once she finishes the last book for the Seven Realms Series, which she's writing now, she's writing two more books, so now's the time to get into them if you haven't already!). Well, I've read a little of THE DEMON KING, but haven't bought it because I really want hardcovers when book-buying, unless the book is sold exclusively in paperback, but when I finally have the money, I keep on overlooking it when I go book-buying. Sounds fantastic and I've asked for it for Christmas, but still, The Heir Trilogy is just.... *sigh*....
I should actually tell you that I had all of these books read by 2010. I had and loved these books in 2010. I still love them, but I don't have them anymore. For no apparent reason, my mom came into my room one day, looked at my bookshelf, said that magic was demonic (which she'd said many times before that. No Harry Potter *hiss*, we's don't likes the Potters. *hiss*-well, I do, she doesn't). So she made me throw away several books-and guess what three of those books were? Yep, The Heir Trilogy.
Rabbit-trail: Although BEAUTIFUL CREATURES wasn't really for me, I liked the characters-Link's mom specifically. If you've read it, then you know how Link's mom is. If you haven't, just click on the highlighted link above and scroll down to the bottom of the review where I put a quote from the book describing Link's mom.
Well, if you know Link's mom, you know what my mom was like from me being 5 year old, to my being 12.
ANYWAY, THE WARRIOR HEIR follows Jackson Downey (which is weird because a doctor friend from my church is named Jackson Downey.... Does he have magic battle powers?) as he learns about the world of the Weir, those with opal-like stones behind their hearts which are the source of their magic.
This series is literally in my top ten favorite series EVER. LITERALLY. So, instead of letting myself gush about the awesome prose, the amazing plot, the so-so-so-so-so-so cool Guilds and go on for ever, I'll just tell you five of my favorite things from this book:
1. The Weir's society. You can use the Weir to mirror so many things about government and politics. First of all, their are two political parties, the White Rose, and the Red Rose (aren't those just friggin' COOL NAMES!?!??!?!), which are always run by Wizards, because most are pompous jerks who think because they're the most powerful that they are better than all the others and so they boss the lower Guilds around and use them as play things and servants, very much like white supremacy and slavery. Also, because of Mrs. Chima's writing style, you can just get drowned in her descriptions of grin-and-bear-it galas where the different party members-always covered in roses the same color as their party's-smile coyly and act nice when they're actually planning each other's demise.
2. The characters. Jack is so awesome. He's just awesome. He doesn't know everything that you know, since it's third person, but somehow you're not annoyed by it. Because somehow, he needs this info, but he doesn't at the same time. Also, I find that in a lot of paranormals, I'm annoyed sometimes when they can't use their powers in certain situations, or they can't tell anyone. But he never gets into situations like that.
3. The conflict. Every single situation Jack was in, there was some sort of conflict. Like I seriously can't think of any scene at all when there wasn't conflict. Even in Chapter One, when he's getting ready for his day, he's late and he's got to get his gear ready for soccer tryouts later that day.
4. Aunt Linda. Seriously, this woman is like the most awesome aunt in the history of like forever. She can kick butt, know's how to protect herself, has some BA magic, and just sounds really, really cool.
5. EVERYTHINGOHMYGOSHTHISBOOKISSOGOODREADITNOW!
-Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment