This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a non spoiler review, because you as reader need to read this book. Also, I feel sometimes I have in the past gave away to much of the plot line. This has diminished the pleasure for would be readers.
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A stunning second instalment of The First Argentines book series.

Jeff Wheeler novel, is one of those authors that is consistent in giving readers incredible fantasy books over and over. The characters are well developed and completely fleshed out. The world building is fantastic along with the magic system.
The pace is brisk and it never lags, I was completely immersed within the storyline from start to finish. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves amazing high fantasy and compelling characters!

Excited for the next installment in this spectacular book series

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Jeff Wheeler has quickly become my favorite author, and this book only further cements that. It is very well written and has a very good tempo. It mixes slower moments with faster to make a book you don't want to set down. Character development is phenomenal as always and they feel like real people. Overall, amazing book for a fantastic series.

4 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This is another great book in this YA Fantasy series. If you haven't read the first book yet, you have time to pick it up and read, and then read this one before the third book comes out in September 2021.

Sir Ransom Barton starts the book off on a pilgrimage to the East Kingdoms looking for a blessing from the Fountain, the source of magic for the kingdom. He then returns home to find a new patron and to seek out Claire, the heiress he loves. He arrives in Kingfountain and is unexpectedly welcomed by King Devon and made a part of his Council. The King grants Ransom another castle and two wards to oversee. He then sends Ransom on several missions to try to broker peace with the King's enemies. One of these missions puts him in contact with the poisoner who shot him in the leg and killed Devon the younger. His suspicions of who she is is correct, but she proposes she and Ransom join forces. As King Devon's sons start to betray him and join forces with his enemies, Ransom is thrust into more and more dangerous battles. The tides are turning against King Devon and Ransom's sense of honor and duty could leave him once again without a patron.

I loved this book. The action starts immediately and the intensity doesn't let up until the satisfying ending, although, of course, there is a juicy cliffhanger in the epilogue. The book is paced well and is a quick and easy read. Ransom shows growth in this book, and is not the young, inexperienced knight he was in the first book. He has a better sense of himself and trusts his instincts more, and is able to speak truth to power. Of course, he still serves a master, and must follow orders he doesn't necessarily agree with.

Claire is still imprisoned in the tower with the Queen, and still resists King Devon's efforts to marry her off to his sons. She sporadically hears news of the battles going on and is frustrated by her inability to take action. King Devon begrudgingly allows Claire and Ransom to write each other, which helps bring the two closer together. Of course, in typical star-crossed lover fashion, neither is sure of the other's feelings, so time is lost in the lack of communication. I highly recommend you start reading this series. I can't wait for the next book to come out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and 47North. All opinions are my own.

I received “Warrior’s Ransom” by Jeff Wheeler from the publisher as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I will also note that I hadn’t read book one, “Knight’s Ransom” before reading this book, but it didn’t really affect my reading and understanding of this book after reading some summaries of book one!

The cover greatly grabbed my attention and I was not disappointed! I liked that I was able to jump in without having read the first book in full and I wasn’t entirely lost as I read. I really enjoyed the characters and how they were portrayed, especially Ransom. You can't not love him! I really liked that I could quickly tell that the characters were all unique and their own person which you could pick out easily. This was a refreshing change! Also, the book also had a wonderful magic system that wasn’t too complicated, but still brought increased depth to the novel and the world. Since I liked the novel, I’m looking forward to going back and reading book one and seeing how the story continues in book three.

Another well written and gripping story by this author.
Good world building and character development, a tightly knitted plot that flow.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Another book set in the world of Kingfountain with battles and romance.

The main characters are really interesting, and much like Knight’s Ransom, Warriors Ransom is well written and easy to follow. There were several interesting plots throughout, and loads of drama and intrigue, which kept a good pace from beginning to end.

I adore Ransom, he’s an extraordinary character. He’s is still in love with Claire, even though he’s not matched because he’s extremely loyal and follows his heart. It’s understandable why he’s so in love with her. Claire is spunky, feisty and an amazing character too.

I found the maps helpful, and the diary entries at the beginning of each chapter to be a nice touch.

I’m looking forward to the next instalment in this series.

After reading Knights Ransom I really found myself engrossed in the world of Kingfountain again with all its magic and plot twists. Ransom has definitely become one of my favourite characters, he is a very noble and honest character who will also still surprise you. Claire’s diary entries are often quite funny and very frank, you are left feeling highly invested in how her future will turn out.
I truly have enjoyed reading this book which follow on from Knight Ransom. Every page I turn, I am left in suspense as to where Ransom’ heart will lie. I will not give any spoilers away from this book, all I will say is it is a must read! I cannot wait to read all three book again when the next one is released.

I was gifted an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review from Netgalley.

I really enjoy Jeff Wheeler's writing. I have read all of the other series and this one is as good as the others. I love the depth of world building and the attention to detail. His characters are always so easy to immerse yourself into. It was nice to get a backstory into the Kingfountain and I am excited to read more in this series~

An other fantastic book by Jeff Wheeler.

I was hooked into this one and I just couldn't put it down. I love it so much that I have to buy myself a copy of this book.

I do recommend this.

I have been reading Wheelers books for a long time now. This book ranks right up there as one of my favorites. The characters are easy to relate to in many ways. As I read of Ransom's love of a ward of the King who was promised to one of his sons it reminded me of another couple in earlier books and I found it refreshing how that took me back to earlier books and the way things worked out. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action and characters that are easy to like.

Warrior’s Ransom is book two in a four-book series about an unlikely hero named Ransom, who started with nothing and ended up the one chosen to save a kingdom.

What I Love

Well, quite simply, I love everything about this story. Jeff Wheeler, who gets his inspiration from anywhere and everywhere, is such a masterful fantasy storyteller and his world-building and writing techniques are tops in the genre. This high fantasy story immediately pulled me into its immersive world with intricately developed characters and magic that is both subtle and awe-inspiring. He took parts and pieces from Medieval history and lore, including Arthurian legend, and he made it uniquely his own.

One of the small things that I love the most because I find it ingenious is the inclusion of letters written by Claire. They are short, only a page or two, but they are packed full of essential story components. They let the reader know Claire with an intimacy that can only be found in something as personal as a letter to a loved one. I love this natural look into her mind. The letters also provide a synopsis of the story in between events without adding hundreds of pages of exposition to do the same thing. And, the letters let the reader see the story from a by-standard point of view and not just the warrior and politicians. It’s incredible to me all the essential information contained in such short messages.

The relationships between characters are complex and riddled with conflicting emotions that reflect that complexity. Ransom and Claire have one of the sweetest, most natural love stories. Whether or not they will be permitted to be married is one of the most compelling aspects of the story and one of the biggest creators of tension. The king’s relationship with his sons is another. The themes of greed and power play out destructively in the royal family and make Ransom’s role all that more critical. Lastly, Alix’s role and her relationships with each character kept me on the edge of my seat as her story is just beginning to unfold.

I love the play of the building and the release of tension in the story. After the tension builds and builds and builds from one event to the next, the reader is permitted a reprieve where everything is right with the world for a time. Then the tension builds and builds again, only to culminate in that relief I needed as a reader and was grateful to be given. Also, relatedly, I loved that this book in the series ended with a soft conclusion and not with a cliffhanger. It was absolutely the way I enjoy it the most.

To Read or no to Read

If you love high fantasy, especially if you have not ever read a Jeff Wheeler novel, your library is not complete without this series. It truly has it all and then some.

After journeying to a distant desert kingdom to learn of his destiny as someone fountain blessed, Ransom returns home. King Devon surprises Ransom with his favor, but still refuses to grant Ransom the thing he desires most: the hand of his lady love Claire de Murrow. Sadly, Ransom has more problems than just his love life. Devon’s second son is threatening rebellion, and their feisty neighbors the French Occitanians rattle sabers once again.

When King Devon arranges a marriage between Ransom and an Occitanian duchess, Ransom is prepared to refuse. But his new betrothed surprises him in many ways. As war turns from possibility to inevitability to reality, Ransom’s heart and the fate of the kingdom seem inexorably entwined. But as always where the Fountain is involved, not everything is as it seems.

Warrior’s Ransom picks up right where Knight’s Ransom left off. This book felt darker and more serious than its predecessor — gone are the festivals and tourneys and brief skirmishes of the first book. Instead, we have a kingdom on the brink of both civil war and regular war. At first, King Devin is confident he will crush this new rebellion just as he crushed the first. The increasing desperation as the war goes further and further out of control was compellingly written and created good tension throughout.

King Devin himself is a frustrating character, capricious and ill tempered and generally not a good king. There is a certain scene where Ransom prevents the king from being assassinated, and my reader reaction was “Too bad, getting rid of him there would solve like 90% of the kingdom’s problems.”

Ransom’s magic powers depend on him remaining loyal to the person he pledged to serve, and unfortunately, that’s King Devon in this case. Ransom kind of reminds me of Robin Hobb’s Fitzchivalry in this scenario, constantly yanked back and forth by a dysfunctional royal family who could give half a spit about him.

However, there aren’t many better options — the Occitanians are mustache-twirling evil, and Prince Benedict proves to be just as capricious as his father. The royal family in general are an unpredictable bunch, forgiving some foes on a whim, holding eternal grudges against others. One can hardly blame Ransom for seeking out stability wherever he can find it.

Once again, I found the romance aspects to be the weakest part of this story. Claire continues to spend most of the book stuck in a tower, displaying very little personality despite being described externally as feisty and fiery. But this second book introduces a rival for Ransom’s affections, the mysterious duchess Alix of Byree. Like Ransom, Alix is Fountain Blessed. In the past, she has both saved Ransom’s life and acted as his adversary. Will she now assume a third role as his wife?

I am not actually one of those people who groans every time a love triangle shows up. I think they can be written well. In a longer running series it’s fun to argue and speculate about what “ship” will win. But the kind of love triangle that doesn’t work for me is when it’s effectively a foregone conclusion. I never really felt like Ransom was torn between two equally valid options. Instead, it felt like Ransom was forced to deliberate overlong between the Obvious Right Choice and the Obvious Wrong Choice for the sake of dramatic tension.

This honestly highlights the same problems I had with the female characters from the first book. Every woman is either a two-dimensional prop to be rescued/defended, or an evil evil devious evil backstabber who is evil. I feel like he’s at least trying with Claire, but I’d like to see her take more action on her own, rather than simply writing angsty diary entries while all the other characters try to tell us how feisty she is.

Gripes about the romance aside, I once again enjoyed my time in Ransom’s world. There’s not really much unique or groundbreaking about the First Argentines series, a tropey medieval romp deeply rooted in Arthurian legend. But that’s okay. Sometimes a tropey medieval romp is exactly what I’m after. This book also ends much more conclusively than the first book, which ended on a pretty big cliffhanger. I almost thought certain threads maybe wrapped up a little too conveniently, but we’re still only half way through the series. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunity for Ransom and the dysfunctional Argentine family to get into trouble in the sequels.

Great sequel. The politics continue. Plenty of action and some romance. Still some mystery about what is fountain blessed.

It's the 2nd book in Jeff Wheeler's new trilogy and it's not disappointing for me! The characters are very likable and the pacing is also perfectly done! Can't wait for the next book to come!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

Over the past few years, Jeff Wheeler has easily become one of my favorite authors. Each new book and series instantly competes for a favorite position, with story lines and characters that are fun to love, mixed with some complex characters that you love to hate.

Warrior's Ransom picks up with Ransom, our lost and loveable knight, on a journey to discover if he is truly fountain blessed. The story retains an almost meta feel as characters express a looming sense of de ja vu, as if they are reliving a story that has repeated itself again and again. Although this is a consistent theme throughout Wheeler's stories, this series takes a few surprising turns.

With heartbreakingly beautiful relationships and deep revelations, Ransom's strength and confidence grow as the story progresses. Just when you start to feel frustrated by Ransom's naivete and self-depeicating nature, his honor, loyalty, and determination give you hope, and you find yourself rallying for him to succeed.

My only fear is that Ransom seems to have found himself hopefully looking toward the future, and Wheeler has a habit of not playing nice with his most loveable characters.

I cannot wait for the rest of the series to come out to see Ransom's story unfold.

ARC from NetGalley

Another excellent read from Jeff Wheeler.

This is a classic sword and sorcery type fantasy. Lots of castles, nobles, knights, and intrigue. There's a smattering of magic, but only from a few of the characters. We spend most of our time in Ransom's perspective, but we read frequent journal entries from Claire. We follow Ransom in his service to his king while he pines for his lady love. Ransom is as always stringently loyal, else his magic won't work at all, but that isn't his motivation. He's just a really honourable dude. It never gets old though. I never rolled my eyes, though I did with the king's sons. You have everything, and you feel you need to have a little bit more, and you are willing to betray your blood to get it. It's not that I thought it was unrealistic, it was realistic enough for me to dislike them strongly as characters and objectively shitty people.

The story wraps up well. There is a tentatively "happy" ending which I am absolutely certain will be foiled in the next book because there are 2 more books to go, and Ransom's story is, after all, THE story, so we've got to drag it out and make the poor bloke suffer. All for our amusement. How horrid are we?

An e-copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thanks to netgalley and 47North. This book is the second of what appears to be a four book series called the Argentines, set in the world of the Fountain. The Fountain is the mysterious magic source of this world that provides boons, items and guidance to characters in the novel. This series, and Wheeler, who is one of my favorite writers, is set apart by a constant attention to the economics of the world. This makes it feel more realistic. While the main character no longer has the money troubles as he had in the first book, economics plays a major motivating factor in this world, as it does in ours. The motives of the antagonists are partially economic, but still not fully elucidated. Both sides have magical items and powers, and, presumably are getting guidance from the fountain, but the books hasn't yet unveiled why these forces appear to be in opposition. In the author's note, Wheeler says that there are some real life inspiration for the battle scenes, which I find interesting in its own right. The battle scenes are very well done. Think Last Kingdom or anything by Anthony Ryan or Evan Winter. The book feels nicely paced as well. It took me a few days of reading to get hooked, but then I blew through 60% of the book, and stayed up way too late on the final day of reading-so this book will grab you in the best possible way. There are enough mysteries here to keep a reader wanting more, and the plot advanced farther in this book, and deepened beyond what in the first book was mostly Ruler Vs Ruler to hinting at something much deeper at play. A complex antagonist, who may or may not be a villain has a more prominent role here and it sets up exciting possibilities to see how these characters develop in the next two books. The book follows Ransom's POV, which each chapter starting with a letter from Claire. The thing that sets Ransom apart from everyone else in this world is his dedication to his word-he doesn't betray it. Which sets up the possibility that the author is going to throw everything possible at the character to see if he will break, which I find compelling. Woman characters play important roles here, but because the POV follows Ransom, you may not feel it at first. The character of Alix in particular will be one the reader will enjoy. Fans of Ryan, Winter, Feist, Lawrence and Martin will like this, and fans of Hobb will find Ransom to have Fitz like characteristics, despite it not being a first person POV. I highly recommend this author and series

I really like this series. Ransom is a good and true knight, a veritable flower of chivalry. If you’ve any fondness for the King Arthur legends of noble and heroic knights this is really the series for you.
It’s such an uplifting and wholesome feeling read too, let your stress just fall away and follow the adventures. If it appealed to a teen or even a preteen reader, if the child was a good enough reader to enjoy it, it would be content safe fairly young, Injuries are described and there are deaths but I think any kid that is okay with the level of violence you can see I a Marvel or a Star Wars movie would be ok with this book.
The author’s note says there are 2 more books in this series. They are going on my to read list!

Great twists and turns in the troubles between Kings and Queens. Intrigue and honesty ,what is not to like about this story.
I had to consciously stop myself from binge reading.
My only frustration is that there are at least two more books in the series and I have unanswered questions.
Very enjoyable

The second book in the series and the story pics up where the previous book ended. The battles, intrigue and betrayal continue while Ransom remains steadfast and loyal.

Some secrets are revealed but new ones arise..

Like the first book it is a book filled with details, complex characters and wonderful .

A must read for any fantasy fan.