Talent in the Tournament • The Warrior Heir

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
Series: The Heir Chronicles #1
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: April 1, 2006
Source/Format: Bought || Paperback

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 ruling 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. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them.

As a reader, I've always gravitated towards stories with a unique mythology, incredible (and most of the time insanely imaginative) circumstances and a story of epic proportions. The Warrior Heir was a read that fulfilled all of those qualifications; in fact, once I had started it, I was so gripped by the novel that I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.

Though I love reading about female heroines, it was refreshing to read about a male hero, in this case Jack. He reminds me of a lot of other adolescent male heroes I've read about recently: Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter or Peeta Mellark, just to name a few. He's smart, he's got spunk, and he cares a lot about his family and his friends. Like our other male heroes mentioned, he is destined to end up in this tangled mess of his warrior heritage and dealing with what that means for him and the rest of his world. What I appreciated as a reader was experiencing this journey of discovering his heritage alongside Jack, instead of ahead or behind him.

Another great thing about reading The Warrior Heir was that, personally, I felt like there was so much at stake. This sense of urgency was what kept me reading as quickly as possible to try and figure out how things would play out. There were a lot of twists to the story, some (including a major one) that I guessed at and a few that I had no idea were going to be happening until it actually happened. Cinda Williams Chima does a great job tying things together.

I knew, even before I started reading, that The Warrior Heir was part of a series. But it ends very well, leaving the reader satisfied with the state of things but with a few lingering questions. The biggest question of all? Well, that's easy: What happens now? I thoroughly enjoyed The Warrior Heir and I'll be picking up The Wizard Heir.