Thursday, December 22, 2016

Review: Warrior by Zoe Archer

Warrior by Zoe Archer
Series: The Blades of the Rose
Genre: Historical/Romance/Paranormal
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To most people, the realm of magic is the stuff of nursery rhymes and dusty libraries. But for Capt. Gabriel Huntley, it’s become quite real and quite dangerous… 

IN HOT PURSUIT…

The vicious attack Capt. Gabriel Huntley witnesses in a dark alley sparks a chain of events that will take him to the ends of the Earth and beyond—where what is real and what is imagined become terribly confused. And frankly, Huntley couldn’t be more pleased. Intrigue, danger, and a beautiful woman in distress—just what he needs.

IN HOTTER WATER…

Raised thousands of miles from England, Thalia Burgess is no typical Victorian lady. A good thing, because a proper lady would have no hope of recovering the priceless magical artifact Thalia is after. Huntley’s assistance might come in handy, though she has to keep him in the dark. But this distractingly handsome soldier isn’t easy to deceive…

"All over the world, there are repositories of this mystical power, objects imbue with magic, like Mjolnir, the hammer that belonged to Thor. These repositories are known as Sources. They can be found in every country, amongst every people."

This book reminds me of Indiana Jones movies or The Mummy movies - just with more sex.

At its core, this book is an adventure with magic and powerful objects and secret societies and clandestine organizations. And I love stories like this.

The two main characters - along with a native servant - head off into the Mongolian - desert? wastes? - well, either way, they head away from civilization, to find and retrieve a mystical object before the villainous organization can.

The plot is wonderful because I've always adored any sort of 'hunt down the artifact' stories and it makes it even better than this 'artifact' has some sort of power. (And, without spoilers, the power was really very cool. Though I could have done without the magical sex. Truly.)

I don't know much about Mongolia as it's never been particularly interesting to me, but that has changed since reading this book. There was obviously a lot of research and attention to detail that went into this story and I really liked the depiction of the Mongols. Though I cannot speak for accuracy, it felt accurate.

The romance moved a little fast for me, but they often do. As it was, these two characters were borderline obsessed with each other from the first meeting. I did start supporting their romance though, because they are so right for each other.

Gabriel is a little high handed - but he's also a gentleman and, even better, isn't afraid to admit when he's out of his depth and would do better following than leading. Thalia is a strong, independent woman, but - wonderfully enough - it never feels like an act. She, also, is comfortable follow someone more knowledgeable in the situation than she is.

Really, though, to me this is an alpha-male/alpha-female romance, because that's what they both are. And their relationship is this wonderful, mutual taking strength from each other. There's even a conversation about who is leading and they agree to 'take turns' that I love.

To me, this book does what so few romances can, and makes people that are awesome apart even better together.