The Warrior Maiden

I received a copy of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN free from NetGalley, but have given an honest review based on my opinions. There are affiliate links in this post. If clicked, I may receive monetary compensation at no extra cost to the reader.

You know when they say NOT to judge a book by its cover… WELLLLL I say that is crapola. I can NEVER read a book with an ugly cover and I will ALWAYS judge a book by what is on the outside…I just cannot help myself. And let’s just take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous cover of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN by Melanie Dickerson….AHHHH!!

How could I not choose to read a book with a strong warrior princess like that on the front?? Especially when I learned that said warrior princess is in fact MULAN!! As a total 90’s kid, Mulan is my girl!! It is a tough call between Mulan and Ariel actully, but Ariel leaves her entire family and changes EVERYTHING about herself to get a man…while MULAN puts herself into danger and turns into a warrior…TO SAVE HER FAMILY!!! No comparison…Mulan wins at life!!

I jumped right into THE WARRIOR MAIDEN expecting it to follow along with the Disney classic story of Mulan and her trusty dragon heading off and fighting the Huns. SOOO when the story veered from the expected…let’s just say I was confused and NOT super thrilled with it. In Melanie Dickerson’s version, Mulan is an illegitimate Asian child being raised in medieval Lithuania and instead of fighting in Asia, she is fighting the Teutonic Knights. That WHOLE switcheroo caught me TOTALLY by surprise and ALMOST undid the story for me, until I realized that this book fits into a series of fairy-tale retellings by Dickerson, all with a similar setting. After learning that this fit in with OTHER stories, the setting switch made more sense. BUTTTT, I am not gonna lie, it still bothered me a little. I might need to try out a few of the OTHER books in the series to see if it helps me adjust to this one a little better.

Other than the EXTREME change in setting, the Mulan story is still fascinating. Mulan impersonates a son and enters into the military to fight for her family. I LOVE that so much. I was ALWAYS that girl who wanted to do EXACTLY what the boys were doing and DO IT BETTER!! It is so refreshing that Mulan starts off as pretty much a failure, develops into a warrior, makes friends in the group, and of course finds a love interest with Wolfgang, the Duke’s son.

There are many loyal followers of this series and the author, and I am sure for those following the series, THE WARRIOR MAIDEN fit right in and checked all of the boxes. As I have learned more about Melanie Dickerson, I have found that she writes YA novels, and describes her books as “sweet and clean” romance. That was a surprise for me in this book as a stand alone novel, but I think I just found a new series for my TWEEN daughter to enjoy. It is SOOOO hard to find well written books for younger readers, AND I love that we could read and enjoy them together!!! As a stand alone, it was cute and told the Mulan story in a new way, but I think as a part of a bigger story it would have made me appreciate the re-telling a bit more. And as a YA series, I LOVE that it is “sweet and clean”, but still has a little love story twined in. Because there is NOT a whole lot of sweet and clean out there for young adults anymore…yikes!!

I did a little research on Melanie Dickerson and found that she has a few series of fairy-tale re-tellings actually. The Hagenheim series (which contains THE WARRIOR MAIDEN), starts with THE HEALER’S APPRENTICE, a Sleeping Beauty story and currently has NINE books…including THE GOLDEN BRAID, of course a Rapunzel tale. And the Thornbeck series, which starts with THE HUNTRESS OF THORNBECK FOREST, a combo of Robin Hood and Swan Lake. I MUST say I am intrigued…who doesn’t like a good fairy tale?? I am also on board for some nice wholesome books to share with my daughter. I hate when I read a book I KNOW she would love only to have it be a little TOO advanced for her age. SOOOO now I am planning to buddy read The Healer’s Apprentice with Emersyn and cannot wait to dive in to fairy tale land a little more…I will keep you posted. Happy Monday friends. Jess

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