Review: Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller

Posted July 26, 2020 by Kate

Review: Warrior of the Wild by Tricia LevensellerCheck out on Goodreads | Buy on Amazon
Genres: Young Adult, High Fantasy
Also by this author: Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King, #1), The Shadows Between Us
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: My shelves

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.

First of all, I adore Tricia Levenseller’s books! The Daughter of the Pirate King and The Shadows Between Us both set Tricia up as someone who has a unique but wonderful writing style that’s light-hearted, and quick, but still immersive and usually full of found family and girl-power. Warrior of the Wild is no different, and is perhaps my favorite book of hers to date!

Warrior of the Wild follows Raz, daughter of the village chief, and the one set to inherit the leadership role. All she has to do is pass her Trial, something all 18-year-olds go through to set into their chosen profession as an adult. As a Warrior, Raz has to survive the length of the Trial by 1) killing a Zilken, one of the horrible beasts that plague the woods around their village, and 2) survive without getting bit by the one of the Zilken. Except she was betrayed and exiled from her village, told not to return until she completes an impossible task: to kill the God that terrorizes their towns by demanding reparations they can scarcely afford to pay.


“Why are you concerning yourself with my safety?” I don’t like the way he’s showing so much interest in what I do.
“Because I’m gallant and chivalrous.”
I stare at him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Are you flirting with me?”
He grins. “I just think it should be pointed out that you’re a fierce warrior woman and I’m a fierce warrior man, so we should spend some time together.”
I cock my head to the side. “I found you broken and bleeding on the ground.”
“I was… having an off day.”


I ?? loved ?? this ?? book! ?? Levenseller has sold me on everything she writes, but this one completely sold me. Raz was fierce, unflinching, and intelligent, and totally had me rooting for all the girl-power feels. I loved how she approached her quest, methodically thinking through how to destroy the God. I really liked how she approached her quest systematically, using scientific principles to logically thwart him. I also loved Soren, and how soft (but also fierce) he was, and the found family vibes the three of them had was EVERYTHING.

Am I going to say that this was wholly original and not totally predictable? No. But it was captivating and addictive nonetheless, and I loved it! Warrior in the Wild offered enough character development and world-building to make it immersive and unique, but still kept rather uncomplicated for the bite-size standalone story. I saw this described as a palette cleanser for fantasy reads, and I have to agree! It offers tons of action and battle scenes with the insane and well-detailed creatures of the wild, but it kept a perfect pace to keep it addicting, but quick, with lots of simmering romantic moments and found-family friendships.

Other books you may enjoy…

  Graceling by Kristin Cashore T5W Top Five Wednesday Books Not Inspired by the Western World on Cover to Cover Book and Blogging Blog by Kat Snark  Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller Review on Cover to Cover Book and Blogging Blog

Have you read a Tricia Levenseller book? What are some of your favorite standalone reads? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!


2 responses to “Review: Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller

  1. I’m glad to see you loved this!! I read this when the hype was still massive so was a tad disappointed (still really enjoyed it though). I should reread it and see if my thoughts changed now I’ve had time…

    • I missed the hype when it came out, but I’m very familiar with Levenseller’s writing so I went in with pretty managable expectations. Basically something light-hearted but enjoyable… which she delivered on for me :) I totally understand your view, though… hyped books scare me a lot ?

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