Hidden Warrior
by: Lynn Flewelling
Review by Tina Morgan

Hidden Warrior takes readers back into the magical world of Prince Tobin, Skala and the prophecy of a warrior queen. An engaging tale of sorcery, murder and treason, I found it difficult to put the book down.

Prince Tobin has a secret even he doesn't know. He's not really a boy.

Tobin's uncle, King Erius usurped the throne from the rightful queen and systematically murdered all of his potential female rivals. In order to save Tobin from the same fate, the oracle told the wizard, Iya that she must perform a horrendous task: she must murder Tobin's newborn twin brother in order to disguise her as a boy until the time comes for her to take her rightful place as queen of Skala.

The change is made and Tobin must live a life of lies. To make matters worse, she's falling in love with her best friend and squire, Ki, but she can't tell him or anyone else the truth.

The king hasn't stopped looking for rivals real or imagined since Tobin's birth. With the wizard Niryn corrupting his mind and organizing a systematic destruction of the free wizards of Skala the country is slipping even deeper into chaos. Using the country's internal problems to their advantage, the Plenimar army attacks. The only way for Tobin to save her country is to somehow find the courage to stand against King Erius and reveal her true identity. If she breaks the spell, Brother's vengeful ghost will be set free and Ki will know that she's not the boy he grew up with. If she fails, Skala will fall.

The story starts in The Bone Doll's Twin and is not a stand alone novel. I would suggest buying both books at the same time. When I originally read The Bone Doll's Twin the sequel had yet to be published. The Bone Doll hit the wall with a resounding thud when I turned the last page. The story had intrigued me from the very beginning and the lack of conflict resolution at the end was a severe disappointment.

However, Flewelling made up for that in Hidden Warrior. Many of the questions raised in Bone Doll are brought to a conclusion and the ending is solid. There is one trailing thread left unresolved that will carry into the third book but the ending is smooth and it works very well for me.


Hidden Warrior earned a * * * * 1/2 star rating.

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Rating Scale:
* * * * * = Un-put-downable, excellent reading!
* * * * = Good value, interesting reading.
* * * = Had potential, but could have been better.
* * = Slow, difficult to read, could have been improved.
* = Imminently forgettable.