Ames’ review of As My Warrior Commands by Gwen Campbell
When a kingdom crashes down around her, will his love be enough to save her?
Sibyls are old crones. Everybody knows that. So what’s a warrior supposed to think when a beautiful young woman turns up in the middle of a siege, says she’s a sibyl, predicts the downfall of a kingdom and tells him he’s going there with her to prevent it? He does what any hot-blooded warrior would do. He follows the woman. She’s intelligent, brave, can see the future, has an ass he can’t stop staring at and she knows how to make him laugh. What he doesn’t know is that the sibyls have predicted the downfall of the Kingdom of Jareb-Phar if a young sibyl enters their throne room. What they don’t know is if her arrival will be coincidental or cause the kingdom’s fall. The only thing the warrior does know for sure is that beneath his beautiful, young sibyl’s discipline is a woman as lusty and wanton as he is.
As My Warrior Commands is a sci-fi romance that begins with the Sibyls (a matriarchal society of women with mystical and technical talents) discussing the siege that is currently taking place outside their fortress. You see, Sibyls are not from the Caspiun planet – they landed there three hundred years ago fleeing their own planet and decided to stay when they realized the DNA of the locals was compatible with their own. And in order to remain autonomous, Sibyls have sent out wise, older women (referred to as crones) to all the kingdoms of Caspiun, as advisors to the ruling powers. This allows them to keep a close eye on the political doings of their neighbors and also reinforces the air of mysticism around them. Now in the Kingdom of Jareb-Phar, the Sibyl has died and the women refuse to send another woman in her place because they have prophesized that taking a Sibyl into the Throne Room of Jareb-Phar will destroy that kingdom. But the current ruler, Pominus, is not heeding the Sibyl’s prophecy and sees them not sending a replacement as an insult. Thus the siege – he will steal a Sibyl if he has to.
Leading the so-far unsuccessful siege is Warrior Thain. And when young Sibyl Jessica spots Thain, she volunteers herself to go to Jareb-Phar. She needs to go on a Seer’s Quest and she sees Thain as the perfect opportunity. So Jessica allows herself to be caught by Thain and so begins an eight day journey to the kingdom of Jareb-Phar.
At first Thain believes he has the upper hand over Jessica. But she is wily and beautiful and shows him who’s really in charge of their expedition. Since these two are in such close proximity, they begin to fall in love and it’s not long before they give into their mutual lust. But once they reach Jareb-Phar, Pominus wants Jessica. Can these two lovers stand up against a ruler?
What did I think of As My Warrior Commands? Despite the simplicity of the plot and the shallowness of the characters, I liked it. LOL Jessica was a strong character who had great confidence in herself. And Thain was a big, strong, strapping warrior who thought he knew best but quickly realized Jessica had it going on. I say these characters are shallow because we didn’t really get to know them. AMWC was only 80 some pages and so there wasn’t enough page time for us to really get to know them. I think this book suffers from its short length. But Gwen Campbell has built an interesting world and I’d like to see how things turn out after the events of the ending.
As My Warrior Commands gets a 3 out of 5.
This book is available from Shadowfire Press. You can buy it here in e-format.
You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.
I like what Campbell did with the characters! Not only were highly developed with a variety of features that made them coats of each designed, but has created a world where the characters are not only governed by human emotions and unwritten laws.