Originally posted at WickedLilPixie ReviewsWow, I truly don't even know how to begin this review. I just finished with this one and I enjoyed it so tremendously. I had intended to just pick it up and start it the night before another book was released the next day... then found myself up until 3 AM the next morning still reading because I could not put it down. Warprize is the first novel in Elizabeth Vaughan's Chronicles of the Warlands series and what a way to start a Fantasy Love Story trilogy!Warprize is told from Xylara's Point Of View. She has built her life around becoming a Master Healer, a profession frowned upon by most everyone in the Kingdom of Xy, as she is a Princess and half-sister to the current King of Xy. Because of her royal status, and without any real support from her half-brother, she has had to prove herself even more and does so successfully with her passion and dedication to her profession. The Kingdom of Xy is at war with the The Warlord and his Firelanders and King Xymund is failing at keeping the Warlord and his army at bay. Meanwhile, Lara's abilities have her leaving for tents of their captured Firelander enemies to help treat their wounded, at night after she has treated their own armies during the day. She sells all she has to afford the medicines from her own pocket, demonstrating a true compassionate spirit who just wants to treat the injured and dying, regardless of what side they are on. The wounded warriors eventually accept her and begin teaching her their language. Ultimately it is her open-mind, kind-heart, and healing talents that revise her destiny. The Warlord and his "Firelanders" have the Xy castle gates surrounded and King Xymund and Warlord Keir must meet privately to discuss the terms in order to achieve "true peace". The Warlord Keir, familiar with what Lara has done as a healer for his injured soldiers, claims her as his Warprize in order for the bloodshed to end. But the story is just getting started... as soon as Keir's Warprize joins his people's camp, awful things start occurring to end the "true peace" balance.The heroine Xylara (Lara) AKA Warprize is a wonderful blend of sass with a touching vulnerability that makes her born to be a strong yet empathetic Healer. She is smart and level-headed in the face of the bloody and gory mess left of bodies after battle. She is never squeamish and talks herself through each injury and what must be done with each patient in the absence of our modern-day medical advances. Keir and his "Firelanders" speak an entirely different language and have completely different ways of life and thinking. As a Warlord he is quite frightening and yet charismatic. Lara discovers very quickly that he is also quite gentle with her and from the very beginning seems to cherish her, in what would be considered his way. She is constantly trying to reconcile in her mind what her half-brother King Xymund has told her a Warprize is (a slave) versus how Keir and his people treat her as the Warprize. Additionally, the heroine is the opposite of an all too common symptom that can plague heroines in some romance novels - the dreaded TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) syndrome. She is smart, constantly thinking and problem solving, and is repeatedly winning people over with her charm and sharp mind. Her bravery and passion to help people has never been seen by the "Firelanders". Once Lara begins to truly discover where her is place is in the very large picture of things, in both worlds, Lara takes all of her experience and outsmarts them all.Ms. Vaughan tells a beautiful and powerful story with exquisite narration and multi-dimensional main and, just important, secondary characters. Some of the characters are so rough around the edges but all the more endearing for it. You will care about Heath, Anna, Joden, Simus, Marcus, and on. I have never read such a vivid and well imagined fantasy world so well described and felt completely immersed in these lands. She masters the ability to interweave the characters and events in a seemless flow, with no lulls, making it impossible to put this book down. From the very beginning I really felt like I was there, and I could see everything that was happening through this Lara's eyes.In summary, I thought Warprize was a beautiful story from start to finish, in every way. Initially I was aware that it could have played out in so many "been there done that a billion times" ways, but it was so fresh and sparkling. You think you know which way it is going to go, but trust me, you don't. I don't read many Fantasy books but this one is most definitely a masterpiece and I recommend it to all lovers of Smart Adult Fairytales. When you finish you are going to be excited for the next in the series, Warsworn.
This was my second read of this book. I read it years ago, probably when it was first released, and remember really liking it. I wanted to read the second book when I finished, but it wasn't released yet and I forgot about it by the time it came out.Fast forward half a decade. I made a comment on my Facebook Page that I was feeling kind of melancholy because I couldn't get into fantasy books anymore. I used to only read traditional/epic fantasy, but ever since I moved on to urban fantasy and more romance-y titles, I just couldn't get through the big fat fantasy books. One of my followers recommended Warprize to me, and I remembered that I read and liked it, so I picked it up again.I really liked it again! The only reason I can't say I LOVED it is because I'm giving it four stars. I have no idea why, but I don't feel like I HAVE to read the next book. This one was great. Every time I set it down, I hurried through whatever I was doing to get back to it - always the sign of a good book. I liked both characters. I liked the setting and the worldbuilding and the plot. I loved the secondary characters. This wasn't a big, huge fantasy, but it was a fantasy romance, and a really good one. I want to read (and write!) books like this. The author created a great culture, with its own traditions and past. The gist of the plot is that a kingdom is at war with raiding barbarians. The heroine is the king's sister and a doctor. The king is pretty much a bastard, so when he's overrun by the barbarians, he gives his sister to them as a war prize. She willingly goes, not because her brother asks or because she wants to, but because she wants to save the lives of her people.The hero is the barbarian leader, who's really a big sweetheart. I LOVE him, and the chemistry that develops between them is great.Okay. Now that I'm writing a review on this book, I want to read the sequel more and more. I want to know what happens to these two characters, and I want to see the hero kick some butt. He fought just a little in this book, but I know he can be even a bigger badass if/when the situation arises.Dang it. I AM going to have to read this next one!If you want a good fantasy with a big dose of romance, then this book should work perfectly for you.
What do You think about Warprize (2006)?
4.5/5.0There are books we read for suspense, some we read for the beauty of the word, other's to pit our minds against the authors to solve a mystery. Then, there are some that encompass the very reason books exist... the story. That, that has existed since time began, one person imagining worlds and people and love and trials to rise above, then weaving them into a story to entertain and to teach, the kind people used to tell at bedtime to capture the attention then ponder while drifting off. "Warprize" is a consummate example. The beauty of the book is simply in the storytelling and Vaughan is it's most gifted sage. Xylara is a princess who chose to become a healer rather than rule. Keir is a Warlord intent on conquest. He wants her for her abilities, she submits to him for her people. Thus the dance between the needs of many vs the desires of a few. Wonderful! Would have been a resounding 5 stars if not for the horrifically abrupt conclusion.
—TJ
Princess Xylara (who luckily goes by the name Lara, the Xy appears to be a requirement of her station) is demanded by the Firelanders attacking as the price for peace. Her kind of evil-for-no-reason brother cheerfully agrees and gives her to them in a sack.This is all pretty standard (well, work with me here) in the maiden-kidnapped-by-chief-of-warrior-tribe genre, but it's a little smarter than it needs to be. Lara is terrified, but at the same time, she's trying to make the best of her new situation, and she's a healer and capable of ignoring pretty much anything else when her skills are needed.Of course, there is the fact that she's clearly set up for a romance with her captor, and since I don't want to spoil you, I can only assure you it's considerably less dodgy than it sounds; this is no The Sheik. Much of the action is in Lara getting to know everyone else in the military camp, and earning their respect with her medical skill, as they earn hers.Lara very quickly comes to see she had made some embarrassing assumptions about her captors, and that her culture is not the only and correct way of doing things. Although the font on the cover to says 'vaguely middle-eastern', the Firelanders are actually much more ethnically diverse than Lara's people, and their culture is coherent without being an obvious pastiche of any existing culture.(Okay, not totally coherent. At one point, we learn of a custom which-- is a spoiler, but roughly as if some culture had an irrevocable law that when a swan carrying a lily in its beak crashes from the sky and lands on your dinner plate, you must immediately marry the person to your left. Both oddly specific, and unlikely to be convenient!)(Oh, and also, I question whether there ever existed a society in the world unaware of bone-setting. Hey, this bone looks like it's in a different shape ever since the pain started! Maybe we should put it in a straight line and strap it down, eh?)(But other than that!)Anyway, not a great work of literature, but if this is the sort of thing you like, than this is the sort of thing you'll like.
—Brownbetty
Fantasy/Romance Worth the readSometimes little things can bother me greatly in a novel, and, ultimately, affect the way I feel towards a character. I can pinpoint exactly where my disenchantment with our hero, the Warlord, began. (view spoiler)[He didn’t give Lara any shoes for the ceremony. A ceremony where she stood shivering barefoot on the cold marble floor, before getting whisked off into the cold night, still with no shoes on. That cloak may have kept the rest of her warm, but what about her feet! (hide spoiler)]
—puppitypup
