the Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Star rating: 7 stars. No, 6. Actually, we'll leave it at 7.
"Movie" Rating: PG, because they, like, use swords and fight to the death and stuff. Sorta.

So Em reviewed this book awhile back (http://bibliophilesisters.blogspot.com/2009/10/warrior-heir-by-cinda-williams-chima.html) and really liked it, and I've seen it around quite a bit (and I've shelved it!) though somehow I've managed not to hear too much about it, so I finally gave this book a try.

I did enjoy it. I was not particularly struck by the writing as 'good'... but not as particularly 'bad' either, though there were times here and there where I would stop and think, "Ok, that was a cliche simile" or "That wording didn't flow as well as it could". There were also some times where I thought, "Ha, that was some clever word choice," etc.

I would definitely say this book was more plot driven than character driven--It was more about What Happened to Jack, rather than Jack and What Happened to Him, if that makes any sense. Lots (and lots) of people prefer plot driven novels... but me, I'm more interested in character driven novels. If you ask me who Jack is, I'd say, "Well, he's this kid who All This Stuff happens to" ...and when you take away that Stuff, I really couldn't tell you much about him. (Later, I might have to do a rambly post on this, and blabber about wether you can really separate a character from what happens to them and such, but this is not the time or place.) This probably contributed to my "meh" reaction to it.

Megan Whalen Turner really ruins the surprises for you after you get used to reading her books--I had a couple of the surprises at the end (in particular, *SPOILER* who the other warrior was--and really, did we have to go all Hunger Games with it? But I think this was written first, but really, I'm not especially interested in the fight-to-the-death-with-love-interest thing... ah, well *END SPOILER*) figured out many pages and chapters before they were finally revealed.