WARSWORN

Author: Elizabeth Vaughan ISBN: 0765352656 4/2006 FANTASY Publisher: TOR

A powerful healer, she has sworn an oath of loyalty to Keir the Warlord, and his people. Now the Warlord and his chosen mate face enemies within the tribe and danger lurks on every hand as they journey toward Keir's homeland. When they reach a village marked with the warnings of the plague, Keir forbids Lara to heal the sick, commanding that she not risk her own life. But both Lara and Kier are strong of will and neither will bend easily, even for love; and when Lara disobeys, she pays the price: both she and Kier are plague-struck... and so is their entire encampment. In the midst of the dying, Iften, a rival warrior, gathers his followers and challenges Keir for the right to rule their tribe. If Keir, weakened by the sickness, loses -- he dies. And so does Lara. To save her love, her life, and her adopted people, Lara must find a cure for the plague -- and fully embrace her sworn role as Warprize to her Warlord.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

As the cover says.return to the land of the WARPRIZE, the first book in this excellent barbarian romance trilogy. I was a bit nervous about the barbarian-ness of it all, but Vaughan drew me in both times with her charming reader letter at the beginning. Her novels themselves captivated me. She is indeed a gifted story spinner.

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read this if you haven't read WARPRIZE yet! WARPRIZE introduced us to Xylara, the disenfranchised princess of a small country, who has trained as a master healer. Her country is at war with a strong warrior tribe. In order to make peace, her brother the king gives her to the warlord of the tribe. It turns out that being the warlord's WARPRIZE is actually a high honor, and this person has the power to radically change the tribe. Of course, Xylara also falls in love with her brawny warlord, Keir.

BACK FROM SPOILER: WARSWORN continues where we left off. A rival warrior is challenging Keir in his authority, and getting back to their home camp is the most important thing on their mind when they run across a plague-struck village. Soon everyone is ill, and surviving illness, a foreign experience to the warriors, is the focus of the book.

There's a lot of interesting culture clash and great characters in WARSWORN, along with an epic love story. I'm looking forward to WARLORD, the next book.

Heather Hiestand