Review: Beautifully Written Martial Arts Tale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 25, 2012
It can be tough to write a martial arts story.  The action has to be crisp, but believable, and there has to be a narrative, a reason for the conflicts to take place.  Viewed under this prism, A Warrior's Path (The Eastlands Trilogy) by J. A. Goguen more than passes the test in my book.The warrior in question is a boy named Urietsin, whose father had passed away from illness while the protagonist was still a child.  Nonetheless, father spent many of his last remaining days passing on tales of heroes achieving great feats on behalf of the kingdom, leaving the son with a dream to become a mighty warrior.Training hard, the Swift One is easily one of the best new recruits for the kingdom's army.  Yet, tragedy strikes when the young warrior is assigned to a scouting party in the mountains, and only one member returns to camp alive; that member is not our protagonist.  This incident sets in motion a series of events, leading to conflict between the empire east of the mountains, and forgotten survivors of an old raiding party.The author does a wonderful job in providing some background world information, and sets a foundation for future conflict between the East and the West.  Additionally, he deserves credit for making our young hero powerful but not invincible.  The threat of mortality to our young Urietsin and his friends provide an additional dose of excitement to the readership in finding out who lives and dies in the end.A Warrior's Path (The Eastlands Trilogy) by J.A. Goguen is a wonderful debut novel, and I will certainly be on the lookout for the next installment in the series.