Review: Mystical Warrior

Reviewed by Jen
 

Trace is not a man looking for love.  In fact, a woman in his life is the last thing he wants. But his friend Kenzie has somehow maneuvered his sister Fiona into Trace's garage apartment.

Fiona is from the 11th century. She was raped as a young woman and went on to spend time as a whore in the warrior-camps before she got pregnant.  She died in childbirth and her baby died soon after. But with magic, she came back as a hawk. She's only recently regained her humanity, but is afraid of her own shadow. Kenzie thinks living away from the protection of her family will help her gain independence and self-reliance.

Fiona quickly learns that Trace is a good man.  And they become friends over the course of the book. But a relationship is a long time coming, and I guess I can understand why with Fiona's history. But the story definitely lacked the sexual tension and steamy love scenes that were so great in the earlier books of the series.  Also, while a big theme in the book was Fiona's eventual empowerment, it was hard to get terribly excited about her great victories of being allowed to cook for Trace and clean his house.   For me, these time travel romances work better when the man is from the past. 

Beyond the lack of sexual tension, there was a lack of, well, any tension.  Other than Fiona's struggles to overcome her personal tragedies, the only other arc centered on the wizard Mac and the mysterious somebody who wants him dead. Our couple is never really a target and when everything seems to be coming to a head, the big fight scene doesn't even happen.  We essentially just get a set up for Mac to have a book.

Don't get me wrong, Mystical Warrior wasn't bad. It was a sweet, easy, pleasant read.  It just wasn't very exciting. 3 1/2 stars.

*ARC Provided by Simon & Schuster

Mystical Warrior

by Janet Chapman

Release Date: June 28, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster