The Warrior Lost by Scott Blasingame

The Warrior Lost by Scott Blasginame

I was excited to read this, as the first book in Scott Blasingame's series, THE WARRIOR SON, ended on a cliffhanger. This book doesn't quite pick up exactly where things left, but is set three years after *SPOILER* Thorn's defeat at the hands of his martial arts teacher, the treacherous Boko *END SPOILER* and all the tragedy that followed that fateful confrontation. Blasingame is kind enough to include some flashback (or "history," as Blasingame names them) chapters to fill us in on what happened to the characters in between the end of the first book and the beginning of this one.

The premise is pretty simple. At the yearly meeting of the dominant tribes in the Valley of the Hand, we learn that the wicked usurper Rame of the Kudzu Tribe has not only reinstated slavery among the "lesser" tribes, but has also started hunting other small, dispersed tribes for sport. Many of the other chiefs are against his practices, but a few assassinations later, Rame has installed a few "puppet" chiefs in power for the neighboring tribes in order to consolidate his power. But the appearance of a Messenger claiming to be sent by the mysterious Seer of the East changes everything. Word eventually reaches Thorn, and he reluctantly joins forces with Dorin and Arn (the Warrior Sons of the Wysteria and Hawk tribes, respectively), his friend Tad, the comely Bliss, a contingent of Ant Tribe Soldiers, and two members of the Fox tribe, in order to find the Seer and unlock the key to Thorn's destiny.

I had a blast with this story. The action and fight scenes are as well-choreographed (in a literary sense) as anything Blasingame has ever written. Blasingame expands on the action by having the characters develop new weapons, which would be the equivalente to a kusari-kama (sickle-and-chain) and kwan do. The suspense factor of the fights has also increased tenfold, with there being more at stake and the opponents being more powerful than before. The last two "set pieces," where Thorn's friends take on the main Kudzu warriors followed by the final showdown, had me at the edge of my seat.

The characters are still likable, although they all have some powerful emotional obstacles to overcome over the course of the story. And there's a Strong dark mood to the story, especially in the first third, when good guy after good guy is murdered and Rame's power becomes more and more absolute. And even once the hero's journey is well on its way, it's not a question of the heroes just traversing a long distance, there will be opposition that'll make the Snake Men fights of the last book look like light sparing. And even once the heroes *do* reach the Seer, things aren't 100% peachy keen. And the final twists? Oh man, I *so* did not see them coming.

Blasingame has expanded his WARRIOR SON world into something suitably epic with this book, complete with brutal, bone-crunching fights, new tribes and races, magic, twists, and more! Excellent work!