Warrior by Zoë Archer

I had made a very nice scan of my copy of this book, which I hope to do for every book I talk about on this blog, but once I scanned it I gave the book to my friend Sarah to read. I got back to the computer, someone had unplugged some vital cord, and biff bam pow my scan was gone. So for the first and hopefully the last time, I'm using the publisher's image of the book. Serviceable, yes, but lacking character.

Serviceable yet lacking character? Sounds like a romance novel. 
 

Not this one, though. Warrior by Zoë Archer, first in the Blades of the Rose series, has enough character--and characters--for a whole month's worth of Harlequin Presents. I picked this one up after reading a favorable description of its first sequel, Scoundrel, and bought both at once because there was a free B. J. Daniels book for anyone who bought two romance novels at once. I'll get to both of those a little later.

It took me around three days to read all of Warrior, and that's only because I have these annoying things called "classes" to go to and "food" to eat. Most of the time, whatever other qualifiers dress up a romance--the best collection I can come up with for this specimen is that it's a Historical Paranormal Romance Adventure, so think Indiana Jones with more boning--it's the Romance part that's front and center. I've read my share of romantic mysteries and thrillers, and every time those other elements are just an excuse for the characters to get together. Not so here.

The basic premise is that there are a bunch of magical artifacts in the world, and the Blades of the Rose are a group of people that protect the artifacts and keep them away from people and governments who'd exploit them. It seems like a perfectly good excuse to traipse around exotic locations and fight bad guys, and it is. This first novel starts with a bloody fight and a dying man's last request that a message be delivered to his associate in Outer Mongolia. Our enterprising young hero, Gabriel Huntley, takes this as an opportunity to delay settling down with a nice young lady after many years in the Queen's service and goes off to deliver the message.

He meets the man, delivers the message, and gets all hot and bothered around the man's daughter Thalia. She sets out in the morning to act on the message's warning and cryptic clues, Huntley follows, and everything unfolds from there. There is a wonderful sense of place and time here; the setting is not just a backdrop but a vital part of the characters and story, and the level of detail gives the whole thing an air of authenticity that few historical fiction novels grasp. I actually learned things about Mongolian culture and language, not to mention the half-dozen times I had to look up English words I didn't know. It's not often that a romance novel challenges your vocabulary or your understanding of a culture, but Zoë Archer manages to do both, and all within a satisfying and rich plot that feels fresh and exciting even as it explores familiar territory.

The characters are also very well-written, and manage to nicely subvert some of my least-favorite romance archetypes. Thalia, our heroine, may not always be on top of the situation, but she's strong and capable and great with a bow and arrow (the bow and arrow seem to be the weapon of choice for plucky heroines; Katniss Everdeen, Daine Sarrasri, etc. come to mind) and holds her own in every fight. She straddles the line between English lady and Mongolian, is fluent in both languages, knows at least a little Chinese and knows how to stand up for herself. I spent some of the novel dreading a scene that I felt was coming and that I thought would undermine her agency, but when that scene came it played out in a much more satisfying way. I'm being intentionally vague here because there are a lot of good moments in the novel that you'll want to discover for yourself.

I'd recommend Warrior to anyone who likes romance, or who likes romance in theory but hates the "typical" romantic heroine, or to anyone who hasn't read any romance novels because they think they're all mass-produced trash. I'm definitely looking forward to digging into Scoundrel and the rest of the Blades of the Rose series (Rebel, coming out November 2010, and Stranger, in December 2010,) and will be watching Archer in the future. I'd give it an R rating for language, sexual content, and inappropriate wrestling attire. B+ for being lots of trashy fun, and for being a book I wasn't embarrassed to be seen reading in public.