Return of the Warrior

This is the first book I’ve read in months that I literally devoured in one gulp.

Yeah, that just about sums it up . . . so much so that I’m almost tempted to stop right there. I won’t simply because that would be cheating.

Right?

Well, right?

Okay, okay. Here’s the quick summary interspersed with why I liked this one so much. (And this is as close to a review as I get so enjoy. ;-p)

Return of the Warrior  (2005-05) is a second in Kinley MacGregor’s Avon Books medieval romance Brotherhood of the Sword group and I didn’t mind at all that I might have missed anything. Primarily because I don’t think I did miss anything because this one felt like a true spin-off even if a pre-planned one. I can live with that. She is Adara, Queen of a small kingdom adjoining Byzantium called Taagaria. He is Christian of Acre, the lost heir to the throne of Elgederion and the man she was married to in a long-ago arrangement between their two kingdoms. The arriage however has never been consummated since he “disappeared” while they were still children.

Even though everyone is telling Adara that he’s dead and she should accept it and marry another to protect her kingdom, she chooses to believe Christian is still alive because an unknown husband is decidedly the lesser of two evils when she has extremely well-known vultures waiting at the gates. So she set off on a journey to find him and bring him back to do his duty.

Only naturally it isn’t that simple. In the intervening years Christian has lived a full if not pleasant life and has no wish to be king. Thing is, this also isn’t simply the expected story of a loner hero shirking his duty because he wants to brood in peace. For one thing, Christian isn’t the typical brooding loner hero one might expect. Far from it. He also has real reasons for not wanting to come back plus other rather unexpected if complicated options. Just as naturally, however, he has a difficult time giving Adara a simple no and getting on with his own life.

And so they begin a journey together back to their kingdoms and of discovery of each other that is both a lot of fun to read and surprising in many places. One of the biggest surprises is one of the supporting characters who probably won’t be getting his own story because he isn’t a member of The Brotherhood. Put it this way, I immediately fell in love with Lutian, the fool who isn’t a fool. Officially he’s Adara’s court jester but in reality he’s been her constant companion for years and accompanies her on the quest to find Christian. In many ways, Lutian is as much responsible for waking Christian own up to his own feelings for Adara and his home as Adara herself is.

Will I be looking for the rest of this one as well as others by this author? You bet I will.