The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Warrior Maiden

Series: Hagenheim #9

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Genre: Young Adult, Clean Romance, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Retelling

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

She knows women are expected to marry, cook, and have children, not go to war. Can she manage to stay alive, save her mother, and keep the handsome son of a duke from discovering her secret?

When Mulan takes her father’s place in battle against the besieging Teutonic Knights, she realizes she has been preparing for this journey her whole life—and that her life, and her mother’s, depends on her success. As the adopted daughter of poor parents, Mulan has little power in the world. If she can’t prove herself on the battlefield, she could face death—or, perhaps worse, marriage to the village butcher.

Disguised as a young man, Mulan meets the German duke’s son, Wolfgang, who is determined to save his people even if it means fighting against his own brother. Wolfgang is exasperated by the new soldier who seems to be one step away from disaster at all times—or showing him up in embarrassing ways. From rivals to reluctant friends, Mulan and Wolfgang begin to share secrets.

But war is an uncertain time and dreams can die as quickly as they are born. When Mulan receives word of danger back home, she must make the ultimate choice. Can she be the son her bitter father never had? Or will she become the strong young woman she was created to be?

This fresh reimagining of the classic tale takes us fifteenth-century Lithuania where both love and war challenge the strongest of heroes. – summary from Goodreads

The Warrior Maiden was an absolutely amazing retelling of Mulan that takes place in Melanie Dickerson’s fantastic Hagenheim world!

This was an amazing retelling of Mulan. Similarly to the Aladdin retelling, I was curious as to how this tale would fit into this world and it’s European setting. I quite enjoyed how it all worked out, and how it added more depth to the storyline. It made Mulan concerned all men don’t value women, which added depth to her romance with Wolfgang.

I really liked Mulan! She was strong and tough, but still feminine. She was also a fighter, but not unnaturally good at it and struggled with it. While not entirely realistic, I did like how there wasn’t a lot of sexism from her side of the battle towards her for being a woman. For the most part she commanded respect and didn’t forsake her femineity.

I loved Wolfgang and his entire storyline! He was a strong, protective character, and I loved how much he respected and cared for Mulan. A big part of his story is his relationship with his brother, Steffan, and their guilt over something that happened when they were children. I loved this exploration of guilt and forgiveness, and the look at how different people respond to guilt.

I love guilt storylines, and I really liked how this one was done. It was really well done and incorporated Christian themes nicely. A big part of the story was that God offers forgiveness. Another part of this storyline was how the guilt had affected Steffan, which lead him down a not-so-great path. This troubled Wolfgang and I loved how much they both cared about the other, and how Wolfgang encouraged Steffan to turn to God.

We did get some of Steffan’s perspective this book, which showed us he wasn’t as far gone as we are led to believe in the other chapters and makes you excited for his story in the next book. There were also a few things that Wolfgang and Mulan weren’t privy to that was important for the reader to know, which Steffan showed us.

This book also had a nice sibling storyline, which hasn’t been in the other books as much as this one. The two brothers really cared about each other and I enjoyed reading about them.

The romance between Wolfgang and Mulan was incredibly sweet! They were adorable and their relationship was more gradual. They actually started out not really liking each other, but it grew into friendship then romance. There were also strong protection vibes between them, as well as a deep respect, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This book at a little more violence in this book than the others and there were a lot of serious physical injuries. Nothing was too graphic, but it added a lot of tension to the story. This book was also focused on battle, which is a very different vibe from the other books in this series. I did really enjoy how the antagonists in this book are actually historical antagonists. I had never heard of them before, so I was pleased to learn about this group.

The Warrior Maiden was a fantastic Mulan retelling with exploration of guilt, an adorable romance, and action!