Finished Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn.

This one’s about Xylara, a healer who sacrifices herself to become the “Warprize” and end a war between her people and a tribe called the Firelanders. Xylara has been healing the wounded Firelanders who’ve been brought into the city against the wishes of her half-brother king, Xymund. One day, Lara runs into Keir, a Firelander. She doesn’t realize it at the time, but Keir is the leader of the Firelanders. He’s immediately drawn to Lara and her compassion for his men. Keir tells Xymund that he will stop the war if Lara is given to him as the “Warprize.” Lara is horrified at the thought of being a slave, but she does the right thing and agrees to sacrifice herself so no one else will die. The rest of the book deals with Lara’s attempts to fit into Keir’s world and the growing love between the two.

The book is written in first-person, and I really loved Lara’s voice. She’s a great character — smart, compassionate, noble, and stronger than she realizes. It was easy to cheer for her. Keir was also easy to like, and the supporting cast of characters were a lot of fun.

This is a fantasy romance, and sometimes one or the other will get short-changed (usually the romance) as the plot goes along. Not in this book. It was an excellent blend of the two. I thought the romance progressed nicely and appropriately given Lara’s circumstances. I also really liked the ending, where Lara outwits Keir to get what she wants most — him. 😎

I do have a few little quibbles though (don’t I always?). One thing that never seemed to be fully explained was why Keir was attacking the land of Xy in the first place. I don’t remember a reason why other than the Firelanders had raided the land in the past. Or maybe I just missed it in my haste to find out what was going to happen next.

I also thought Lara forgave Keir a little too easily at the beginning. After all, he’s the one who started the war with no provacation. Thousands (?) of people are dead because of him. Lara is a healer first and foremost, and I thought this should have been more of a conflict for her — or at least made her a little more cautious about falling in love with Keir.

Lara’s half-brother, Xymund, was a bit of a stereotype — insecure and insanely jealous of Lara, even though she offered him nothing but love and support in return. But every book’s got to have a villain.

Still, despite my quibbles, this is one of the best books I’ve read all year, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. Big thumbs up.

Up next: Hell’s Belles by Jackie Kessler.