Reviewer's Choice Best Read 2011 - Warrior's Rise

WARRIOR’S RISE, by LJ DeLeon, has been selected as the Reviewer’s Choice Best Read 2011 by the Paranormal Romance Guild. In celebration WARRIOR’S RISE is only 99¢.

Below is the 5 Star review by Charleen Bailey, Reviewer for the Paranormal Romance Guild

Deva Morgan is a 30 year old bartender half-breed, a Fae-human. After her parents were killed when she was 12 years old, she was raised by family friends, Steve a leopard were, Marissa a witch and Fritz a Gargoyle, and has been trained to be a soldier. Deva doesn’t know why, but she follows her father’s instructions to Steve. Steve, Marissa and Fritz, along with Mark and Jamie, twin weres, Nate, Eric and Luc, all Magi’s are her family. She is a sister to all of them, and knows that they would do anything for her.

Padraig O’Neal, Crown Prince of the Fae, has been sent as the protector of Deva, who is the Cáidh Arm (Kah-dith Arm), the Holy Weapon of the Goddess. The Cáidh Arm is the leader of the army of the light, against the Dark Lord. Padraig is surprised to find that Deva is not the cold, distant person he expected, the previous Cáidh Arm didn’t need or want help from anyone. She kept herself separate from the armies and only trusted her personal guards. Deva is definitely not a loner and Padraig is equally surprised to find out that what he feels for Deva is way more than what a protector should feel.

The last battle was 1,000 years ago. The last Cáidh Arm, Grace, was the commander of the combined forces of Human, Were, Vampire and Fae. The battle lasted for 100 years. When the Dark Lord was defeated, he was sealed in the Abyss with the remainder of the daemon horde. Grace cast the Veil that sealed Otherworld, the land of the Fae from the rest of the world. Grace was taken away by the Goddess to live with her.

Now the Dark Lord was planning another attack and Deva is the new Cáidh Arm, she has to lead and plan strategy with the combined armies but first, she has to convince normal humans that there is a danger and they need to take action; all while fighting the daemons that have been sent to kill her and her team.

This book has it all, daemons, fae, harpies, hellhounds, vampires and weres. Traitors, moles, spies and daemons who have taken over the bodies of normals. The governments of all countries have been compromised, as have the military. No one knows who they can trust. The dark forces have been planning this battle for the past 1,000 years. The coming battle will be monumental and will probably last longer than 100 years.

In addition, while Deva has been trained as a warrior, she has no idea of what powers the Cáidh Arm has. The Goddess leads and trains Deva. She has to gain her powers in steps, and each step is a test. The Goddess made mistakes with the last Cáidh Arm and she doesn’t want to make the same mistake with Deva. Deva is not your ‘stand in the corner and wait for the big string man to save her’ type. She is a take-charge woman! Her fighting skills are increasing by leaps and bounds. She is learning how to be a leader and to make hard decisions. Some of those decisions involve the people she loves and she knows she may lose some or all of them.

I could not put this book down. I feel it was very well written. I have seen other comments about it having too many characters. There are a lot of daemons who are fighting, but I think not having a variety of opponents would take away from the story. Deva and her friends have to devise a way to defeat each type of enemy and each type has different strengths and vulnerabilities. I don’t see how this could have been written without a huge cast of characters.

The action is non-stop, from first page to last! Romance is mostly closed door but it definitely does not take away from the story. The background is extensive and the author has described the landscape and background of important characters extremely well. Since this is the first book of the series, I expect the second book will retain a lot of the same background and will not require such detailed explanations.

I look forward to reading the sequels. Dragon Child – Book 2, Absolution – Book 3.

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Rise-Light-Book-ebook/dp/B004T39Y88
Barnes & Noble 
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Warriors-Rise/LJ-DeLeon/e/2940012338020
http://tiny.cc/rd0x6
Smashwords
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/48517