The Upstream Writer: Reader's Review: "King's Warrior" by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

Synopsis from Amazon:

The hope of their world rests on the steel at his side...

Threat of invasion looms. Oraeyn dreams of glory on the battlefield. Instead, he must engage in a battle of wills with a headstrong princess while ushering her to safety (and boredom) in a small village. But they must put aside their differences to save their homeland and complete the second part of their mission: seek out the legendary King’s Warrior to persuade him to take up arms once more.

When their journey leads them to the lost realm of the dragons they get more adventure than either of them bargained for!

>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

There is something to be said for a good, forthright, low fantasy novel! In fact, it plays into a genre I'm just learning about, "noblebright" fantasy, sort of set up as the opposite of "grimdark." Where grimdark fantasy is depressing, dystopian, gritty, and hopeless, usually populated by thugs, thieves, duplicitous noblemen, vagabonds, and antiheroes at best... Noblebright plays into the opposites of that: the characters are typically virtuous, the setting is peaceful and picturesque, challenges do exist, but they're often morally corrupt, and the virtuous heroes and heroines band together to outsmart and defeat the wicked villains.

King's Warrior is a shining example of noblebright fantasy. King Arnaud rules Aom-igh fairly and well, the most recent in a line of kings who established the kingdom after deflecting Dark Warriors from the Dark Country and preventing them from overwhelming and subjugating the people. This is done with the help of the Dragons, who subsequently disappear after promising that, should the Dark Country threaten again, they will lend their aid.

That time is now, but where are the dragons? One person might know where they are, but no one has seen this former King's Warrior in many years. To seek out the King's former friend, King Arnaud sends his own daughter, a trustworthy squire, and the Princess' faithful maidservant. They must travel across the kingdom, braving storms, suspicious villagers, treacherous magic-users, and the first indications of Dark Warrior "strike teams" hitting entire villages and burning them down in preparation for the invasion that looms ever closer with each day they spend looking for the King's Warrior.

It's a clean enough adventure, suitable for middle-grade readers, and I very much enjoyed the plot twists and the plot that was only somewhat predictable. There were some twists that I could see coming the minute the character came on the scene and the other characters expressed their clear assumptions about said character; there were other twists that were on the one hand so delightfully unexpected that I gasped while reading, yet at the same time wondering why the pacing and the narrator kept everyone in the dark for so long.

But that, I think, is the inherent pacing problem that every noblebright fantasy adventure contends with: that protracted journey that is designed to test the predetermined mettle of every specific character, not so much because a group of otherwise-capable people traveling in this region would naturally encounter such a challenge or come into conflict with each other just so... but because there was a point to be made, and the author needed it to be "just so" in order that the point could be made. I am guilty of such a thing myself in my own writing, and I'm trying to be better, but I also recognize how jarring it is to encounter it, as a reader.

That being said, speaking of twists, there are at least three specific twists that happened that were so aptly timed, well-placed, and brilliantly-executed that I'm definitely still interested in seeing how things develop in the rest of the series! I'd give King's Warrior a modest *****4.5 Star Rating***** and I'll include an Upstream Writer Certified RECOMMENDED endorsement. I know there's more in store, from how much I loved Schmidt's short story in a previous anthology (linked below), and I can acknowledge that first books are hard, but it's a decent start, and The Minstrel's Song has only just begun!

Further Reading: (Also By The Author/Clean Reads/Noblebright Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery)

Mythical Doorways--Fellowship of Fantasy (*Contains a story by the author)

-Anamatus--Derrick Tribble

-Out of Darkness Rising--Gillian Bronte Adams

-Dreamtime Dragons--Dreamtime Fantasy Authors

-Dawn of Destiny--Amy Hopkins and Michael Anderle

-Son of No One--Daryl J. Ball