Review: Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughan

Series: Chronicles of the Warlands, book 1

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Pages: 296

Publisher: Penguin, April 5th 2011 (re-print)

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

Before she was old enough for a marriage-of-alliance, 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. But not only her countrymen are wounded, and Xylara's conscience won't let Firelander warriors die when she can do something to save them. She learns their language and their customs and tries to make them as comfortable as possible, despite their prisoner-of-war status. She never expects that these deeds, done in good faith, would lead to the handsome and mysterious Firelander Warlord demanding her in exchange for a cease-fire. Xylara knows must trade the life she has always known for the well-being of her people, and so she becomes...

My thoughts:

I had heard good things about this series, and then book 1 got re-published so of course I had to take a look, and I am glad I did.

The book is about Xylara, and she is one brave woman. I admired her strength, and courage. She  was taken as a warprize, but instead of sitting in a tent being scared she went outside and found the tent with wounded soldiers and got straight to work. She knew what she wanted and that was to help people. The hero in the book is the warlord that crushed all resistance and took over their country (which is a good thing because her brother is a hopeless and bad king, so perhaps it was for the best). Anyway Keir was strong too, protective, and he wanted her, but he also wanted her to want him. He is one barbarian to fall hopelessly in love with.

The whole book is told in 1-person, so we always got her thoughts and fears, and it does work. Because this way there is a lot of confusion and fear in the air. I had no idea what a warprize was, neither had she, and I wanted to know. Then when I the reader finally found it, oh I will not tell you, but it sure made the book good.

What we have in this book is one strong woman, a feared warlord, and some behind the scenes backstabbing and politics. Some are not happy that the firelanders won and they want revenge. Danger is in the air, from both sides, since there is this one firelander warrior that wants to take over as warlord.

The book has a happy ending, even though there is a book 2 and 3. I was glad for this because I just wanted happiness.

Conclusion:

A good fantasy romance, I would recommend this book to others, and  I do want to read book 2 and 3. It has so much to offer, a good couple, great side characters, and interesting world, and a story that will have you turning page after page top find out more.

Rating:

I enjoyed it, a quick read.

Cover:

Lovely