Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller

December 17, 2020 Kirsty Hanson

Tricia Levenseller is one of my auto-buy authors. As soon as I hear about a book that she’s got coming out, I will pre-order it immediately. I loved every single one of books such as Daughter of the Pirate King, and The Shadows Between Us. So, when I heard about Warrior of the Wild, I did just that. But because this is me we’re on about, I didn’t get around to reading it until about a year later, because the TBR was crushing me.

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.

As I said before, Tricia Levenseller is one of the authors that I will buy their books from, no matter what. I actually listened to the audiobook for Warrior of the Wild since Marisa Calin was narrating it (as she does with a couple of Levenseller’s previous books: Daughter of the Pirate King, and Daughter of the Siren Queen.)

I had high expectations going into this BECAUSE of the author, I hadn’t even read the blurb for it.

“But I also know that true strength comes from being willing to fail in order to progress.”

– Tricia Levenseller, Warrior of the Wild

It’s a relatively short book at 336 pages, and considering that it’s a fantasy standalone as well, the number of pages makes the book seem even shorter. It’s very rare that I find a standalone fantasy, so I was intrigued to see how Tricia Levenseller did it.

One of the things that I love about Levenseller’s books is the intelligent, female protagonists. Rasmira is no different. She’s the only girl in her village that has trained to be a warrior and because of this, her father is proud of her that he has someone to train (albeit her relationship with her father is complicated). The relationship between Rasmira and her sisters is something to be loved and cherished. I absolutely adore seeing positive sisterly relationships in YA, and you very rarely see them in YA fantasy.

“A man who finds his masculinity threatened by a powerful woman is no man at all… You want someone who lifts you up, not tries to bring you down.”

– Tricia Levenseller, Warrior of the Wild

Her relationship with her mother, however. Oh dear me. That relationship isn’t one to be jealous of. Her mom is hOrrIbLE. I wish that she was sent into the wild instead of Rasmira.

There’s a fairly big plot surprise near the beginning of the book that had me gasping, and one that I definitely didn’t see coming (it’s very easy to surprise me in novels, and I hardly ever see plot twists coming).

Once the twist at the beginning of the novel was out of the way, Rasmira was sent into the wild and it’s here where the story really starts to begin. With the luscious world-building, the gore, the monsters, and the friendships that Rasmira finds along the way whilst she’s in the wild, this book brings a beautiful, adventurous story.

“You may know what is best for you, but you have no right to say what is best for someone else.”

– Tricia Levenseller, Warrior of the Wild

My favourite character had to be Iric. I how multi-faceted he was. He wasn’t this stereotypical bad boy YA character. He had flaws, he had a temper, he didn’t forgive early. But yet, he was also willing to learn, to adapt, and I LOVED his relationship with his boyfriend. It was the sweetest thing ever.

I would love to read more about this world. So, Tricia Levenseller, if you’re reading this: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write some short stories about this world because I love it so much.