Blood Warrior

Blood Warrior by H.D. Gordon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Overall Premise
Alexa is most definitely not your average teenager.  Instead of dates, dresses and friends, she has "practice" with her Mother and often ends up with black eyes.  Instead of riding the bus to school, she and her younger sister must run miles each day to get there and home.  The "hot bad boy" happens to be her best and only friend, while most others shun her.  She has so much anger, and her protective instincts flare when her younger sister is grabbed by a popular jock that she nearly snaps and floors the guy.  Somehow, that's the least of her worries.

Expecting her Mother to come down on her and insist on more "practice", she is greeted instead by an enigmatic stroll in the forest.  Suddenly, her Mother and her younger sister seem different, as if they are sharing a secret against her.  Only more questions are raised when her Mother gives her a gift- a sword...

Who and what is Alexa?  Why does she always feel such anger?  She finds out the answers in the worst possible of ways, and begins her journey into the unknown...



What I Thought

This book is a perfect example of what I love about YA.  It's all the good things of a YA novel.  Strong main female character that still has some vulnerability.  Smoking hot best friend, Jackson, that obviously wants more, and also ends up being more than she expected.  Kayden, equally dangerous bad boy but draws Alexa in despite her attempts to stop it.  The love triangle created was still relatively innocent and believable.

It has different creatures, I loved all the races and mixes therein.  I especially love the seemingly utopia show it's darker underbelly- and the underlying social commentary that it creates.

It's really well written, flows through the story without getting too whiny, or bogged down in teen emotions while still being true to the heroine's age.  There is action, romance, cat fights, death, fighting matches... there are so many things to like about it.  I most definitely will be getting book 2 when it comes out at the end of the month.  Great book- highly recommended to anyone who enjoys UF and does not mind the milder YA romance.

I actually gave it 4½♥'s vs. the 5 that the review shows.  It was really good- but I'm persnickety about handing out 5 stars.



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