ARC Review: The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

January 9, 2019January 7, 2019 Grace23 Comments

Title: The Warrior Maiden
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Rating: 4/5 star

The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson is a retelling of the story of Mulan, a girl who disguised herself as a man to fight in the place of her father.

Summary

Mulan is an Asian girl who grew up in a Lithuanian town. When her father dies, she decides to take his place as a soldier so that the army does not confiscate her mother’s house. She changes her name to Mikolai, and joins in the fight against the Teutonic Knights.

Wolfgang is the son of the Duke of Hagenheim, and greatly desires to be a knight, but knows he will never reach that goal in Hagenheim. He joins the fight against the Teutonic Knights, expecting his brother Steffan will fight alongside him, but then learns his brother has joined the Teutonics and will be fighting against him.

My Review

This is an action-packed story with a traveling war setting. I thought it was an interesting shift from the rest of the Hagenheim series, which was mostly set in castles and towns. This series has tended to follow fairly similar storylines, but The Warrior Maiden had an interesting and fast-paced plot with some more unusual elements and a good sense of time and place.

Mulan was a very interesting character. Some YA books make it seem like a girl can’t be strong and feminine, but Melanie Dickerson does a very good job showing that Mulan is strong, and she is a woman. When I saw the cover, I thought this book might be set in Asia, but other than the main character’s race, the Asian influences in this book are minimal. Mulan is of Mongolian descent and was adopted by Lithuanian characters, and the story is set in Europe.

Wolfgang, on the other hand, wasn’t much different from the male leads in the rest of the series. He realized Mulan wasn’t who he thought she was, came to terms with it, saved her life, and fell in love with her. He could have been with any of the other male characters from the Hagenheim series and I don’t think the book would have been much different. Other than some struggles with his brother that started to develop him uniquely as a character, I didn’t feel like there was much to Wolfgang.

Overall, this was an enjoyable fairy tale retelling, with Mulan as a wonderful and interesting main character and a fast-paced plot. The dialogue was somewhat stilted at times, and once or twice I was confused as to who said what, and Wolfgang was a rather bland character. However, getting to know Mulan as a character and enjoying the unique setting more than make up for those negatives. The Warrior Maiden is now my favorite book in the Hagenheim series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

If You Like

If you like any of Melanie Dickerson’s other books, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, or the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce, you will enjoy The Warrior Maiden, which releases February 5, 2019.

Let’s Chat!

Have you read any of Melanie Dickerson’s books? Are you going to read this book? What do you think about retellings?

If You Like…

December 24, 2018December 23, 2018 Grace6 Comments

If You Like… fairy tale retellings or books like Cinder and Ella Enchanted , you’ll probably like these books.

Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis: In this retelling of “The Wild Swans,” the Jantzen Technology Innovations heiress Liddi Jantzen must save her brothers when they are kidnapped by an evil employee.

Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: In this reversed retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”, a young healer is turned into an ogre when she rejects a suitor’s proposal and has a short amount of time to accept another proposal or stay an ogre forever.

Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison: The witch tells Rapunzel she is the luckiest girl in Tyme, but when Jack climbs into her tower and implies that the witch may be lying, Rapunzel leaves her tower for the first time.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu: In this retelling of “The Snow Queen,” Hazel and Jack are best friends until a magic mirror and its owner sweep Jack off and leaves Hazel to try to save his life.

The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville: A retelling “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”from the perspective of a governess who came to work for the bear family and meets a golden-haired girl who is a beloved member of the family until anti-bear activists try to take the girl away.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: In this retelling of “The Goose Girl,” Princess Anidori is betrayed by her servant and must become a goose girl until she can reveal her identity and marry the prince her servant is courting.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George: In this retelling of“The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” Galen is a gardener who works at the palace and learns of the mystery surrounding the twelve princesses. He falls in love with the oldest princess and is determined to save her and her sisters.

The Healer’s Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson: In this retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,”Rose falls in love with Lord Hamlin, who is trying to save his betrothed from the evil sorcerer Moncore.

Let’s Chat!

Have you read any of the books on this list? Do you like fairy-tale retellings?

Book Review: Chasing Jupiter by Rachel Coker

December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 Grace2 Comments

Title: Chasing Jupiter

Author: Rachel Coker

Publisher: Zondervan

Summary

Chasing Jupiter begins in the summer of 1969. Scarlett Blaine is sixteen, and lives in a small town in Georgia. Scarlett’s younger brother Cliff is often overlooked or misunderstood because of his autism, so when asks for a rocket, she is determined to make his wish come true. She starts baking and selling pies to make money to build his rocket.

Although her summer starts out well, it quickly become busy and turbulent when her Grandpop Barley declines mentally, older sister Juli causes strain in the family, and Scarlett finds herself struggling between childhood and adulthood and struggling with family, love, and what her future should look like.

Review

I first discovered Chasing Jupiter when I was doing research on young authors that got a reputable publisher. Rachel Coker wrote her first book, Interrupted, when she was 14, and it was published by Zondervan about a year later. Chasing Jupiter followed in 2012. It’s always fun to read books by talented young authors, and Chasing Jupiter did not disappoint.

I thought that Rachel Coker did a wonderful job providing emotional depth to the story. Although the plotting leaves something to be desired, the characters are well-developed and likeable. Overall, my favorite aspect of the story was how real it felt. It faced the fact that life isn’t perfect, and not every ending is happily-ever-after while achieving a satisfying yet plausible ending.

If You Like

If you like character-driven books with happy endings or books like Anne of Green Gables, Ella Enchanted, or American Street, you might enjoy Chasing Jupiter.

Let’s Chat!

Have you read Chasing Jupiter? Have you come across other interesting books by young authors?

Review: Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

December 13, 2018December 12, 2018 Grace3 Comments

Title: Ogre Enchanted

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary

When the fairy Lucinda turns Evora, a young healer, into an ogre after she rejects her apprentice’s proposal of marriage, she has 62 days to accept another proposal or forever be an ogre. Evie leaves her home to meet other ogres and learn their method of persuasion so that she can force somebody to propose to her. As days pass, she finds her way to the king’s castle, where she helps stop a plague and makes friends and enemies and gets thrust into the middle of political tension.

Review

This book had several aspects I did enjoy. It was a very clever reverse Beauty and the Beast retelling, and fans of Ella Enchanted will be delighted to return to its world in this prequel. It addresses themes of good versus bad, and the writing is excellent, detailed and imaginative, and the characters were unique.

However, I didn’t really like this book for several reasons. The pacing seemed off. I didn’t feel an urgency as Evie’s deadline approached, and I felt like several portions of the book were overly wordy and used as filler, not contributing as much to the plot as they could.

The characters, while unique, were not as relatable and grabbing as other characters Levine has written. I think there were quite simply too many characters in the book. With a group of ogres, the fairy Lucinda, Evie’s family and friends, many people at the castle, several different traders, and other characters just filling up space, the author didn’t have space in her story to develop the characters and make us care about them.

There were groups of characters that weren’t even that vital to the story. I would have preferred if Gail Carson Levine had condensed her character list and focused on just a few characters, and made those characters sparkle with charm and personality.

Ogre Enchanted book covered 62 days during which Evie traveled from place to place extensively, and the scenes didn’t feel anchored in time and place. Several times I was confused as to where the story was and when, and with Evie bouncing from place to place, I didn’t get a feel most of the places.

Gail Carson Levine certainly has a wonderful imagination and writing talent, but this book was not her best. This book was still interesting, and not a complete waste of time, but I enjoyed Ella Enchanted, Fairest, and even The Two Princesses of Bamarre much more.