The Warrior Heir (The Heir Chronicles, 1)

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.

While waiting for the 5th installment of the Falling Kingdoms series, my attention has been diverted to Ms. Cinda Chima's work. She has first caught my interest on the Seven Realms series. I have devoured that series in a month-span. My urge on Fantasy just cannot be satiated, and so I have continued on with The Heir Chronicles series. Well, book one is another good read for me. The story derives from the Wars of the Roses in Britain but with magic and other mystical powers. A guild is formed by five members: wizard, soothsayer, enchanter, sorcerer, and warrior. In this guild, the wizards are the masters who abuse their powers and manipulate the Rules of Engagement to their advantage. If the Wars of the Roses are divided into two houses (Lancaster and York), this series is the same...it is divided by two factions (White Roses and Red Roses) whose wars and disagreements never stop. Then, there's Jack Swift who is borne a wizard but becomes a warrior--which is a rare situation to come by. So, his life is constantly in a brink of death due to the two factions in war. These are just some of the reasons what make this first installment interesting. I just love the work of this author.

DNF 40% - I really wanted to like this book and bought the entire series when it came up as a group read as I usually hand these down immediately to my kids. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the book, while the hero is purportedly 16 years old, I really felt as if he'd originally been written as a 9-year-old boy. He acted too young, he thought too young, and his immaturity and the pacing of the story all screamed 'this is a book for much younger kids!' It felt as if the story had been written for a middle-schooler, and then some editor said "hey, Twilight is big right now, globally replace all references to Middle School to say High School and claim he's 16 years old instead of 9."

If you have younger children who are voracious readers and middle-school aged, they might like this book, especially if you're trying to tempt your boy to read. Pay attention to the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review which is posted underneath the book description ... they know their audience and I think they had this book accurately pegged as a grade 5-9 children's book and not what we normally think of as Young Adult/Teen literature. Had I not felt snookered for investing so much money into something I would not personally read and then have my 13 and 11 year old read before passing it down to my 8-year-old son (I bought all 5 books, including the last one in hardcover), I probably would have rated this book much higher.

This is the second time I read her novels and simply loved them. This book keeps you interested until the end

The Warrior Heir, by Cinda Chima

Jack was a wizard born without a wizard stone. The problem with this is that without a stone a wizard will die. So his Godmother calls another wizard who has training as a doctor. That doctor implants him with a stone, but throws in a twist: She gives him a warrior stone. Apparently warriors are kind of like wizards, but are all about fighting.

The reason she did this is because the War of the Roses is still going on, but in secret and by wizard sects. But there are rules: a wizard cannot kill another wizard. So they set up tournaments and let their sponsored warriors fight for them. Unfortunately, warriors are becoming hard to find, hence the experiment; if she can create warriors at will, then there will be no problem continuing with the tournament.

Once Jack hits 16, they begin training him for the fight. The training also serves to protect his life long enough for him to get to the fight. He gets a magic sword and about 3 months training, before they head to England for the tournament.

There was not really a point to summarizing this book, because it is not worth the money it costs. The world is so complex that it becomes difficult to believe in. I still don't really understand the difference between the types of stones or why there needs to be more than one. The story is hopelessly predictable; I had the "twist ending" before the book was half over. Really, the only redeeming quality was that it was pretty well written; it is the story itself that I find weak.

Memorable Quote:

"When are you going to teach me some love charms?" Jack asked, thinking about Ellen.

"We'll save that for when you're older and more responsible," Nick observed dryly. "Charms of ensnarement are entirely too tempting for the average adolescent. You'll just have to rely on your own personal charm for the time being."

"I'm just trying to be efficient," Jack growled. "Between soccer and school, and warrior and wizardry training, plus reading all the books you give me, there's no time for anything else." It seemed that Nick had new books for him every week--treatises on magic, potions and philosophy--dusty volumes that must have lain unopened for years.

"There's always time for the most important things," Nick said mildly.

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I was recommended The Warrior Heir by a bookseller as an easy, exciting summer read. I was definitely not disappointed. The story is a fast-paced mix of teen coming-of-age and magical fantasy. Easy enough for teems to read with substantial plot and suspense to keep an adult interested, I would recommend this book to anyone who felt let down by the Potter series. There were enough loose ends to build on this first book, but not so many you're let hanging at the end. I would have prefered a few more details about the 5 guids of the Weir, but maybe more will be revealed in the 2nd book (The Wizard Heir) which I am about to start reading tonight!

I bought this for my teenage daughter but I read it first and enjoyed it.

This purchase was as a gift but I have my own copy. I love this book series, it really kept me going back when I read it in high school. I'm definitely feeling nostalgic and will read it again soon.

This is a great book for younger and older readers alike. It is easy enough to read for mid-grade levels yet good enough to hold the attention of older readers. In this first book of the Heir Chronicles we meet Jack, a high school soccer player who has no idea how drastically his life is about to change. He has been given medicine his entire life that dampens his warrior abilities. When he forgets to take his medicine ,his powers manifest and he is incredibly strong. Once the houses find out his location, each house begins trying to "recruit" him to fight to the death and shift the balance of power in their favor.

When I first read this book it reminded me of Harry Potter. The premise of the hidden abilities/identity of the main character and the entirely new world that they are thrust into are similar but that is where the similarities end. If you enjoy fantasy novels, this is one you shouldn't miss.

I am reading this series after reading Chima's later works: "the seven realms" series so I am not entirely objective.

This book does have some serious yet basic debut novel/author flaws: Stock characters, weak transitions, times of stunted sentence structure and a deus ex machina ending so sudden I was alnost sure I had missed something , to list the greatest flaws. It fails to develop the characters or their motivation for being friends, which is highly necessary seeing how far Will and Fitch go to protect Jack, and often glosses over key realizations in an effort to return to the drama. As for the ending, everything is almost too neatly wrapped up in a few paragraphs that I was still left reeling and feeling a bit unfulfilled.

So then why 4stars?

Because despite these flaws the story did a marvelous job of pulling me in and keeping me interested once things really got off the ground. I was eager to know what was going to happen next and why this was all being done. I cpuld not not read and was loathe to put the book down. Despite weak background characters that did not inspire care, I was invested in Jack and Hastings and their relationship/story. I was captured by the magic of the realm and very interested in how Jack would manifest being part of 3 classes.

In all, this book has it's flaws but it also has it's merits and seeing how much better her storytelling gets, I think this does a good job of showing off her potential and her ability to grow.

To anyone who even sonewhat liked this , I suggest reading the seven realms series. Better characters, political intrigue and a deeper fleshed out romance that carries through 3.5 books without loosing it's...flash.