Warrior of the Wild – Tricia Levenseller

How do you kill a god?

As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: to win back her honour, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

WARRIOR OF THE WILD was such a fun read! I was a little worried because I’ve been really hit-or-miss with YA fantasy recently (a lot of it feeling too young in many ways, which is not a bad thing since it is young adult fiction but just not something I’ve been connecting with as of late) so I was really happy that I enjoyed WARRIOR OF THE WILD so much! I immediately got hooked on the tone of the book and really connected with Rasmira as a fierce warrior and really felt her fierceness in a true way.

The characters really made this book for me. I really enjoyed Rasmira’s character and loved that she was fierce but not a caricature of a fierce warrior. She had many layers to her characters and I could tell that a lot of thought and care was put into her reactions and interactions with other characters. There were many instances where she would stop to think how she was relating to another character and how it affected her, really taking into account the full picture. It wasn’t just a quick reaction or stubbornness for the sake of being fierce. The stubborn quality came from a true place in her heart where she stuck to her morals and beliefs while still growing to question where they came from and what was best for her.

I really enjoyed the story taking place in the wild, away from the bustle of the fantasy society to really focus on a few characters. I really loved the character relationships and interactions and I loved how they developed. The trio of Rasmira, Soren, and Iric was perfect. There was no love triangle and the friendships were beautiful. Each friendship was complicated with its own conflicts and I really liked how the introduction of Rasmira into the duo of Soren and Iric really shook things up to create a new dynamic. I actually could have used less romance, as little as there was, because I was enjoying the friendships so much and some of the kissing just felt a little out of place at times, but that could have also been because I was enjoying the friendships so much.

I also REALLY liked that it was a stand alone. I totally felt like it could have been drawn out into a series, following what happens if/when the characters return back to their villages, but I really appreciated that it wasn’t forced to continue into a series and bring up a whole new set of conflicts. This was wholly resolved in one book and I like where the end of this book left the readers! It was a quick read, settling on the perfect amount of time — not dragging on too long and not wrapping up too quickly.

Kept Me Hooked On: YA Fantasy. I’ve been reading more adult books lately and have been shying away from some YA, just not hooking onto the tone. I’m so glad I enjoyed this one and fell right into it!
Left Me Wanting More: After-story. I really did enjoy where the book ended but it also made me want to see what else would happen! I wanted to see where the characters would go and what would happen after the book ended.