I started reading the ‘When Women Were Warriors’-series when I wanted to read something different. When you look through the books I’ve read these past couple of years you’ll notice that a lot of them are crime-novels.
So I started looking around and when I came across the description of the ‘When Women Were Warriors’ series I was sold. Literally, sold! I loved it, the whole idea of the book. The title alone made me want to know more about the story. I love reading about strong women and honestly how much stronger can a women be that literally be a warrior.
The Warrior’s Path – part 1
‘The Warrior’s Path’ is the first part in the trilogy revolving around Tamras, a girl who’s come of age and is brought to Merin’s house by her mother. The house of a Lady Merin who will from that day on be the lady she serves and who will be overseeing her training as a swords-woman under one of Merin’s female warriors. Or so Tamras hopes, but her dreams are squashed when she’s told that due to her petite frame being a swords-woman will be out of the question because a sword is heavier than she’ll be able to wield. And having to wield it with two hands would mean that she can’t hold a shield at the same time. To make matters worse, Merin assigns Tamras the role of being a companion. Which means that she’s barely more than a personal assistant to one of the warriors instead of being an apprentice. And in Tamras’ case not even that because the woman – Maara – who she’s assigned to is a stranger in Merin’s house with little to no connection to anyone in Merin’s house. But Tamras is not about to let herself be pushed into a corner. She fights for her place and not only her place but also Maara’s place.
A Journey of the Heart – part 2
The story continues and little by little Tamras is able to gain Maara’s trust which isn’t always easy, especially when Maara’s biggest enemy also becomes Tamras’ enemy. And if that enemy is the most important Warrior in Merin’s house you know you have a problem on your hands. Meanwhile Tamras’ apprenticeship under Maara’s guidance doesn’t turn out quite as she’d expected it to be. Maara makes choices which she thinks are best for Tamras but they are far from the usual path an apprentice takes. At the same time Tamras is – unwillingly – involved in a power struggle and politics about the future of Merin’s house. A situation which becomes so dangerous for Tamras that she has no choice but to leave her home behind in an effort to safe herself, Maara, Merin and the people she loves.
A Hero’s Tale – part 3
Tamras has fled her home and followed Maara, in an effort to save her and the people she loves. Life isn’t easy when you have no place to call home. Especially when winter is just around the corner. But Tamras is a fighter who doesn’t give up and when the situation seems extremely dire a solution presents itself.
I like reading books about strong women and this book is gathers a grand collection of strong women each in their own right. I love how Catherine M. Wilson is able to throw that many strong women into the mix without it feeling like there are too many or without being realistic. The characters in my opinion are well balanced and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. They are like real women, they might not always make the right choices. But the fact that they are flawed makes them three dimensional and lovable. And even the people like Vintel react like real people. She might be the antagonist in this story but she’s definitively not all bad! She had her good moments as well even if you have to look hard to see them sometimes.
Reading these books made me realize that I really missed this genre! Of course this is fantasy, but it has this real historical feel to it and when I was younger I loved reading these type of books. But these past couple of years most books I’ve read have been crime novels. I’ve once again been made aware that I should really change this.
These books are definitively not separately readable. And for that same reason it is difficult to review them separately. If you do you will never know what the story is about. I think that they have divided it into three parts to make it easier to read. I have read the ebooks so I am not sure about a real book but the ebooks chapters simply continue counting on. I would definitively recommend these books to anyone who’s open to my recommendations but you do have to get ready for a read because all three books are about 900 pages long in total. But it is a truly inspirational journey about making choices – hard choices, possible life and death choices.
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