This is a stand alone YA historical fantasy novel that I really enjoyed. I loved the world, the characters, and the setting. The story is fairly simple but it's a good classic quest against evil. I love questing stories with adventure in them.

Rasmira is betrayed by a friend during her coming of age trial and banished from her village as a result. The village gives her an impossible quest, if she can complete it she can return. Things out in the Wilds aren’t as Rasmira is led to believe and her impossible quest may not be impossible as she thought.

This was a straightforward fantasy story. I enjoyed the characters, they were very well done. I also enjoyed the quest that Rasmira had to complete; it had a very classic good vs evil feel to it. All in all everything in this book was very well done and balanced and I really enjoyed it.

Overall this was a fun read and I really loved it! Lots of action, great characters, fun plot, and great world-building. I would recommend to those who enjoy fantasy adventure or fantasy with quests.

Not enough stars!!

A super exciting and adventurous standalone! I love these characters. I actually found myself laughing out loud a few times. Even epic adventures need a little laughter to get through the stress.

I love reading about warrior women. I am so happy I took a chance on a new to me author. This story will be added to my teen list. I know many girls who would love this.

This is my first Tricia Levenseller book but I know that it won't be my last.

Warrior of the Wild is a story about friendship, identity, and daring to do the impossible. Rasmira is a character you instantly love, equally for her strength and her vulnerability, because even if she may be the strongest warrior, her mother seems to hate her and her father is never entirely pleased with her. The characters are what I loved the most about Warrior of the Wild. Who can resist a strong willed and talented Viking warrior maiden? But this story was enhanced by the side characters, boys wronged by their society, and friends striving to overcome the guilt of betrayal.

Rasmira has carved a home for herself in my heart. Whether it be her fierce love for her sisters, her resentment for the preferential treatment from her father, or her longing for a friend, she struck a chord within me. Levenseller strikes the perfect balance between Rasmira's tough love attitude towards her peers, and the ability for her mother and father to deeply hurt her without trying. While family is certainly a large part of the story, Warrior of the Wild is about the difference between blood and family.

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

This was a book that took me forever to get into. The first half of it was a blast. It sucked me into wanting to know if Raz would make it through her challenge or not. Then, Raz went out into the wild and it seemed like the quality dropped. Soren and Iric both felt a little one dimensional. All the information the reader was given felt like the author was trying to force the readers to love these two without showing us good reasons. Iric was the one she really pushed onto the reader and I just couldn't find it within myself to really care for him. He seemed too one-note usually just full of anger at Soren and even their reconciliation felt off.

Still, I did finish this book. I am not a hundred percent why I kept pushing through. It could be just because I wanted to see how Raz's mother was treated in the end. In the end, I wouldn't recommend this book to many people, only if they are really looking for something in this genre to read.

Overall I thought this book was a lot of fun to read. It has its flaws but I just had a good time reading it and that is what I personally care about most. The main character Rasmira is tough and fierce with an ax and I mean, how do you not love a girl like that? Throughout the book she learns to accept herself for who she is, both a warrior and a woman, and that is okay to be both. She figures out who she wants to be for herself and that she doesn't need anyone else to tell her who she should be and that arc was really great to read. The romance is sweet but it isn't the main part of the book that I cared about. I much preferred the friendship that Rasmira finds and their sweet little friend group. It is a fun, quick adventure with some great ax-wielding badassery.

4 stars!!

From the author who brought us Daughter of the Pirate King- Warrior of the Wild has a well thought out plot and non-stop action from the very first page. With twists and turns, almost from the very start, I could not help but be captivated by this Viking-type story.

We follow MC Rasmira, youngest of 6 girls, all born to the village leader. Her father has raised her to be a warrior- and to be the one to take his place as ruler in the future. She is good at everything she does- and for that, has made some enemies in her village. Something happens and she is forced out of her village to act as tribute and is given the impossible task of killing the god that threatens their lands.

I really enjoyed the easy flow of this book, the pace was just fantastic. The world building was really well written. There is a slow burn romance, but also a good bit of blood and guts as well as many action scenes. The creatures in the Wild are fierce and unique. To me this book reminded me at times of The Hunger Games- and The Maze Runner. Being a fan of both- I was captivated and drawn into this story. Rasmiras character growth, along with some other characters in the book, was refreshing. Warrior of the Wild had a great overall message and I totally recommend it if you're looking for an engrossing, addictive, fast paced read.

Thank you to Netgalley for generously providing this Arc in return for an honest review!

*Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me this eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*May contain some slight spoilers, but most information is previously mentioned in the synopsis.
4.25 / 5 stars

Warrior of the Wild explores a Viking-inspired tale of a young female tasked with a dangerous quest to restore her status within her community. Tricia Levenseller forms her own world of Viking-inspired lifestyle among the dangerous creatures found in the wild. This standalone novel shows the path that one must take to become a true warrior in the eyes of this community.

Tricia Levenseller crafts a Viking-inspired world in Warrior of the Wild. This world includes fantastical elements to add to the atmosphere of danger within the story. I thought that the world was well-created and I enjoyed exploring different features within this world. I do kind of wish that the Viking inclusion was a bit stronger at times. I think a little more research could have really added to this story to support this inclusion and make the world feel a little more Viking-like. There were a few instances where the writing almost made some of the descriptions a little more modern in a way than I wanted it to, which did kind of throw me off a bit.

Overall, I was captivated by the plot. I enjoyed the journey that Rasmira had to take within the wild. I was interested in the motivations of all the characters and I appreciated the character growth that was included. The writing was a little simplistic at times, but the descriptions were mostly well-done within the story. I loved how creative the story is with the creatures and tasks that were included in the wild. I would recommend checking this one out! I think that this would be a wonderful book to recommend to students and others. We need more standalone books like this one.

Publication date: February 26, 2019
Description:
An eighteen-year-old chieftain's daughter must find a way to kill her village’s oppressive deity if she ever wants to return home in Warrior of the Wild, the Viking-inspired YA standalone fantasy from Tricia Levenseller, author of Daughter of the Pirate King.

How do you kill a god?
As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

My Thoughts:
I put this on my TBR list because I like reading this kind of fantasy-ish (no magic), Viking-ish (not really Vikings but it seems cold and they like to fight), girl power Clan of the Cave Bear ish wilderness feminism, survivalist adventure with a bit of YA rated romance.

It does not disappoint. It has enough relationship angst to appeal to the girls, enough blood, gore and action for the boys and enough disappointing, clueless, rigid adult characters that make up most YA stories. With these types of books, there is just so much pressure on the young main characters to basically save the world or die trying. Enter strangers who become friends and allies.

This book is not original, but it is still entertaining in its familiarity. Like the Hunger Games' Primrose "Prim" Everdeen who is the healer to her older sister Katniss' warrior, Rasmira in this book has her older sister Irrenia who is the nurturer and healer of the family. The landscape reminds me of the also fantasyish girl power book Sky in the Deep, and finally, like Kagawa's Iron Fey series, Rasmira, like Meghan, seems to be the main person to save the day for everyone else. If readers devoured any of these, they will devour this too.


Closing Words:
I am Rasmira Bendrauggo. . . I am both a woman and a warrior. . . And I will not let anyone cause me to forget.

An advanced copy provided by Net Galley for an honest review

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy this novel. I enjoyed this novel from the same author as daughter if a pirate king. The character development of rasmira was wonderful as was the world building. I loved the clean slow build romance. The betrayal element to the start caught me by surprise. Loved this stand alone story and will look for more by this author.

It saddens me that I did not love Warrior of the Wild as much as I hoped. I had very high expectations for this book because I loved the humor, smart wit, and female empowerment of the author’s first action-packed series, a pirate-themed duology called Daughter of the Pirate King. However, even though I know many readers will enjoy Warrior of the Wild, I personally found the character development very static and the story predictable at times.

In regards to the main character, I had a really hard time connecting with Rasmira because she stays very guarded and stasis throughout her journey in the book. She is very determined and goal-oriented, but I felt like she lacked the capabilities to learn and mature. It's at the very end of the book that she finally opens up and allows herself to accept change, new friendships, and experiences. 

As for the predictability of the storyline, there were a few twists in the book and some epiphany scientific discoveries. But overall I seemed to pick up on the betrayals and surprises before they occurred, which unfortunately stilled the story for me. 

Although this book did not work for me, I can definitely see it being an amazing read for people who love slow-burn romances and Vikings. The main character Rasmira is a female warrior who physically guards herself and her emotions very well. She wants to make her father and her village proud. She is fierce and determined, which are not favorable attributes with her male peers so she makes enemies really quick. In the beginning, Rasmira has her life carefully planned out, but after experiencing betrayal on multiple fronts and then banishment, her main goals are survival and killing a god. 

Warrior of the Wild is a very well-written book sprinkled with action-packed scenes and complex friendships. Add in some ax fighting  with a dash of romance and you have a recipe for an engaging Viking-inspired novel.

"A man who finds his masculinity threatened by a powerful woman is no man at all." -Warrior of the Wild (PREACH, TRICIA!)

I have loved Levenseller's two previous books (Daughter of the Pirate King and Daughter of the Siren Queen) and was eagerly anticipating her third on a wholly new fantasy topic. Warrior of the Wild features a strong woman warrior protagonist who is up against seemingly impossible odds. The novel gallops at breakneck speed toward its epic conclusion and includes a soft twist of romance.

Levenseller has quickly become one of my favorite authors -- not YA authors, not women authors, not fantasy authors, just hands-down favorite authors -- because of her ability to write a clean, yet complex story where women are both strong and soft, fierce and merciful. She allows Rasmira to cry even though she could kill any beast or mortal who crossed her path. Romance is always a part of her stories without overshadowing the main plot. She does not shy away from building characters who are infinitely layered and I laud her for it.

Warrior of the Wild is brutal and immersive, with an interesting fantasy element, relatable characters, great writing, and a satisfying ending. This book will definitely find a home on the shelf at my library and I am already anticipating Levenseller's next novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A truly wonderful story with Viking-type characters that must handle family and friend betrayal, banishment for crimes not committed, and having to prove themselves. Full of adventure written with beautiful creative detail. It tells the story of the three who become friends and right the wrongs done to them, with some perfectly appropriate amount of romance to complete a great story. Along with a twist here and there it was the perfect read. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to pre-read for a review. I would recommend this title to anyone who enjoys adventure, romance, and fun reading.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!
I loved Tricia Levensellers pirate/siren books and I enjoyed "Warrior of the Wild" too, but it was totally different. Maybe the only similarity is a girl in a traditionally male role kicking butt with a really overbearing father who both made her as tough as she is and really oppressed her at the same time. I actually didn't get quite as obsessed with the romance as I did in her other books and it was a little less rolicky fun (I mean, no pirates) and more serious. I did still like it though--it kept me turning pages and wanting to find out what happened.
The development of the main character, Rasmira, was probably the most satisfying part of it, watching her become her own person who knew her purpose and no longer cared what other people thought of her. I also enjoyed how her friendships developed with Soren (love interest) and Iric (gay friend).
The world building was really unique, though the creatures were almost too unique if that's possible? They were so strange that I had a hard time picturing them, and sometimes a hard time being scared of them. Except for the ziken--they were just freaky. I did like the twists with the main antagonist, though, and how Rasmira was able to overcome him.
So I guess my overall feelings are I didn't love it to the level I loved the pirate books, but I enjoyed it for what it was and probably comparing them isn't even fair since they're so different. It was definitely a enjoyable, fun book that I'd recommend.

This book was fantastic. It's completely different from DotPK, with so much more worldbuilding and character development.
I'm a sucker for a story about being betrayed and thinking everything is over but things actually end up better once those challenges are overcome.

I liked Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King a few years back, so when this came up for me on Netgalkey, I said yes. And this author delivered on that promise of her debut novel.

Warrior of the Wild is Levenseller's this YA outing, and it shows. Her writing metacognition certainly had matured with each book--I can see her pushing herself to grow and travel more difficult material. I was particularly impressed by the string themes that tired this book together and elevated it beyond much of the YA that I normally read. The plot moved quickly and kept me engaged--I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this one.

The characters, though, fell slightly flat for me; the author leans too heavily on character tropes and doesn't quite let her characters out to breathe. This is a marked setback for her and I expected better.

A few scenes made me roll my eyes with their ridiculousness. I had the same issue with Daughter is the Pirate King, though--contrived scenes that ring falsely. I think her action is so good that the more heavy/emotional scenes fall flat.

Overall, fun book that does use interesting themes to keep this from being too effervescent of a book, but Levenseller still has some work to do.

I received my copy of this ebook for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After finally breaking out of a reading rut, Warrior of the Wild helped me continue my quest for reading a certain number of books by 2019 -- and I'm so happy to have read this entertaining and fun book.

After declaring her intentions of being a warrior, village leader's daughter Rasmina trains in earnest to become the first female warrior/best warrior next in line to become leader of her village. Close to finishing first in her trials, she's betrayed by those closest to her and banished from the village to perform a mattugr -- a suicidal trial that would allow her to come back -- if she came back at all.

Rasmina's trials help her realize she has nothing to prove to anyone, except herself. And, if there's romance to be discovered (with a handsome, sapphire-eyed warrior), then...so be it :) I would definitely read other books by Tricia Levenseller.

I really enjoyed the Daughter of the Pirate King books. I was sooo excited to be approved for a ARC and my expectations were pretty high. This book was okay. I was not as engaged with the story or the characters as I was with the Pirate King books. I don't feel that the character development was as strong. There were elements of this story that needed a lot more explaining and maybe that is where it went wrong. Too much explaining of the story elements and not as much character development. That being said I am still a fan of Tricia Levenseller and definitely look forward to more books from her.

This started off letting me think everything was going to go one way and ended with me completely blown away! The beginning seemed pretty commonplace, but the minute betrayal stepped in, I was completely engrossed! I could not put this book down! The characters were amazing and I loved how strong and fierce Rasmira was. Her character growth was beautiful and watching her overcome her fears, understand her shortcomings, and find true friendship was a terrific journey. Her adventures in the wild were edge-of-your-seat, and the bit of romance was truly adorable. I absolutely loved this book. The only problem I have now is that no one I know has read it yet and I'm dying to discuss spoilery topics!

I felt so sure I would enjoy this book. And the fact that I did not is breaking my heart a little. That cover is gorgeous. And this story sounded interesting and exciting. Sadly, it was none of those. At least not for me. And so I have to give this one two stars. It was almost three, but I did not like it that much, I'm sorry to say. Sigh.

There is so much I feel like sharing about this book. And I do not think much of it will be positive. Will simply share all my thoughts about this book. And I have many of those. I really liked the first book by this author, even read it twice. But her second book was also a two star for me. I wish this had been better, but it was not.

Will begin by saying that I did not like the writing. At all. I tried to grow used to it, to start enjoying it, but it never happened. Oh. It bothered me from start to finish. I was not able to connect to the characters. Did also not manage to visualize most of this world either. Which was disappointing. It also annoyed me greatly that there was no empty line between when the character falls asleep or days go by, or things like that. It made sure that I lost focus on the story many times, because it happened so often, and so abrupt. Sigh. The writing wasn't terrible, truly. It was just not for me. Not at all. I really wish I had been able to love this book. I really wanted to. As I do adore this author. And Warrior of the Wild looked so very gorgeous. But ended up being not for me at all.

This book tells the story of Rasmira. She is the youngest of six siblings, all girls, born to the village leader. He has been raising her to be a warrior, like the men, to be able to take over as the leader after him. She is the best at training, the best with an ax. She is close with her sisters, but not with her mother. She also has no friends. Except for this one boy that started being nice to her six weeks ago. She truly hopes for more between them, and it seems like he wants this too. Until be betrays her just a short time later. Sigh.

At the biggest thing that happens to young people in this world, when they take a test to finally become a real warrior. This boy makes sure that Rasmira fails her test. And because of this, she is banished. And faced with the task of killing a god that lives in the forest, which is a death sentence. This whole beginning was pretty messy. Yet interesting too. I did like getting to know Rasmira. She was interesting, most of the time. But she did not question this boy at all, and that hurt my heart a little bit. How easy she was fooled.

I would not consider this to be too big of a spoiler, as it happens early in the book, and it is what gets this book started. Something that bothered me a lot, however, is that Rasmira let what happened with the boy bother her too much. And for too long. Worse things could have happened to her with this boy. She felt a bit over dramatic. But I also somewhat understood her too. Anyway. She is banished. Spends a few days on her own. Until she ends up meeting a boy almost dead in the forest. He lives there with another one.

We get to know these two boys a lot. They have been banished for a year now, with tasks of their own. I did grow to care so much for Soren. And I did ship them a whole lot. But did not feel any sparks. Probably because of how badly she treated him at times. It wasn't too horrible, but it bothered me. Oh, well. I have shared enough of this book now. Something that I did like, however, was all the different creatures in this book. I wish they had been more detailed, and more scary, but I liked reading about them. I wanted more.

This book is about Rasmira surviving out in the wild. With two other boys. About her learning to do things, learning a whole bunch of things. While also trying to figure out how to kill a god. And helping these boys with their missions too. While I did not love this book, I did find parts of it to be interesting. I liked reading about the creatures. Was curious about the world. But sadly did not love the characters. At all. Liked them sometimes. But they felt silly most of the time, and felt like the girl was too much. Do wish I had loved her.

Another thing that truly bothered me about this book was that I was never sure what time period it was supposed to be set in. The past? The future? It was impossible to tell. It did not feel like a book from the past at all. It seemed like they all lived as in the past, but none of them behaved like it. As this book was simply not written in a way that made it seemed like it was set in the past. Not with how the main girl was talking and thinking. That bothered me through the whole book, to be honest. I wish it had been clearer.

Huge thank you to the publisher, Feiwel & Friends, for the approval to read this one early as an eARC via Netgalley. I am glad I had the chance to read this one, despite not liking it much. I'm still unsure if I will be buying the hardcover or not. I do want the print ARC for my collection, however. Hmm. Sadly do not think I will ever read this book again. But I'm also glad that I gave it a try, that I managed to finish it. Although this book was not for me, I'm positive that many others will love it. Curious to see what you all think of it.

One word....VIKINGS!!!! How can you not want this book!?! Never before have I read such a great work of fiction on vikings. This story was so well fleshed out and the characters were vivid and immerse you into their world. I feel like the different charters were great to balance one another out in strengths and weaknesses. So many fascinating elements were brought to life in this book and you can tell the author did research to keep this fiction as true as possible! LOVE LOVE LOVED it.