REVIEW: The Warrior's Path by Catherine M. Wilson

The Warrior's Path by Catherine M. Wilson
Publishing information: eBook (Kindle Edition)
Publisher: Shield Maiden Press, 1^st October 2008
ISBN 10: 0981563619 (Paperback)
ISBN 13: 978-0981563619 (Paperback)

ASIN: B001MBU7EK
Series: When Women Were Warriors
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Kathryn

Blurb: “In Book I of the trilogy, Tamras, our hero, arrives in Merin’s house to begin her apprenticeship as a warrior, but her small stature causes many, including Tamras herself, to doubt that she will ever become a competent swordswoman. To make matters worse, the Lady Merin assigns her the position of companion, little more than a personal servant, to a woman who came to Merin’s house, seemingly out of nowhere, the previous winter, and this stranger wants nothing to do with Tamras.

Tamras’s journey begins with the smallest of steps. She sets aside her disappointment and performs as well as she can the humble tasks given her, and eventually she succeeds in winning the trust and then the friendship of the cantankerous warrior to whom she has been assigned. 

 

In the first year of her journey, Tamras will make a series of choices that often seem insignificant, but they will flow from her character and from her good intentions, and they will determine her destiny.”

The Warrior's Path is the first book in Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors series, a historical fiction-cum-fantasy set in Bronze Age England. In it, we follow Tamras as she follows in her mother's footsteps to take her place as a warrior. However, before she is given her shield, she must rise through the ranks from a lowly companion to the position that is rightfully hers, and to do that she must make friends, learn the ways of the world and serve the Lady Merin in any way possible. Yet, to earn what is hers, Tamras must discover herself, find her warrior and overcome her doubts, worries and naiveté.

I have to say I found this book to go beyond my expectations. It's from a small press I'd never heard of, and instead I was greeted with a book that surpasses the quality of even some of the bigger genre publishers. I was gripped from the start, reading for two hours in one night and then finishing it off the following morning, something very unusual for me. The writing is absolutely superb, it's never overindulgent nor hard to understand, and the pacing is beautiful. I also liked how the characters interacted and whilst some were a little hard to tell apart or simply dropped in without too much context, it never took away from the story as it echoed what Tamras would have felt.

Whilst I normally gloss over or shy away from intimate moments in books, I couldn't turn away from them in this one. Tamras sleeps with another girl a couple of times, and each time it's beautiful, erotic and sensual, yet never pornographic or something along those lines. Wilson creates this amazing feeling around those scenes, and I must confess I was left pining for such experiences myself. That's how powerful Wilson's writing is with this book, you can feel the emotions and the way the characters interact with each other.

I normally have faults to pick at, but with this book I'm failing to find many. Any faults with it are by far made up for by how touching and intimate it can be. There are times when it feels a little repetitive in that some phrases are often used frequently in a short period of time. For example, at one point a ritual occurs and a character seems to change. From that point onwards, they're referred to as “the person who was not...”, and this opens a number of paragraphs that follow, but taken into context it could be the result of Tamras being a little overwhelmed. I also felt the more spiritual or magical moments to sometimes be a little disorienting, but again, it seems to fit in with the character's experience. Whilst it seems to close fairly nicely, it's definitely left open for a sequel and the plot itself isn't particularly visible. Rather than having a firm goal set, instead Wilson takes us through the events of Tamras' life, and this is a refreshing break from a protagonist being destined to save the princess/world/cheerleader.

To me, this book is everything I've been looking for in fantasy lately. Great characters, beautiful moments of intense yet not disturbingly graphic eroticism, a fairly diverse cast and an ability to grab me. It's like what would have happened if Jane Yolen had dropped the gender politics and pseudo-historical sections from the Great Alta series, and had injected it with a dose of passion. We're also treated to Aesop's Fables-esque stories from time to time, each of which fits in with the sorts of tales that would have been passed around at camp-fires, and each has its own lesson. One of the most memorable ones was a story of three brothers and a stone giant, and they really add to the world that Wilson has created.

Highly recommended to everyone, but especially those looking for a tasteful genre read with a lesbian protagonist, a fantasy/historical fiction hybrid or just a great story with an emphasis on female characters. Fans of Jane Yolen, Robin Hobb or Elizabeth Moon's initial Paksworld trilogy may also wish to check this out.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Style: 10/10

Overall: 9/10