[Mrs Y Reviews] The Dawn Warrior by Ginny O

Book Cover via Amazon.com

In cooking, there is a concept of improving the recipe. Take something the world knows, and turn it into something better, and that's how chefs make money. All the great ones, from Gordon Ramsey with his take on scrambled eggs and toffee sticky pudding, to Bobby Flay and the Tamale plate or Burger, have put their own twist on what we are familiar with. 

In books though, we don't see this embraced as much. People get upset, they don't like their "idea" stolen. However, as Shakespeare pointed out, the basic ideas for a plot are gone. So what do we do? We put our spin on things, that's what. 

I tell you all of this my friends because Ginny O did to a basic story what Gordon Ramsey does to scrambled eggs. She elevated this concept, made it entirely her own, and improved it in such a way that the world is a better place. Want to know more? 

Get you dragon fed, make sure you are brandishing cold iron and take with you a silver dagger. This is my review of "The Dawn Warrior" by Ginny O.

Opinion
Ginny didn't ask me to review this and I doubt she ever will ask me to review her stuff again as long as I live. Why? Well, it’s partially why I did review this book.  I previously reviewed another book of hers. I got lost in the last one because I had picked up one of her books in a series and I didn't understand what I was walking in on. I've grown as a reviewer, and she's a great writer, so I decided to give the start of her other series a try! I saved up my pennies and picked up "The Dawn Warrior" for $7.99 on Amazon. As of writing this review, it's $3.99 so if you want to know more there is a sale going on.

Now, like all of my reviews this is one of my honest reviews from my heart and if you want to know how I score, please visit my score page.

When I picked up Ginny’s book, I did not expect was a take on a classic trope to be so well done. I had no idea she was going to write something like this. The basic structure of this story is Sleeping Beauty, but I mean it's very basic. It's not the full story by any means as we know it, and elements of it that Ginny took to make the structure work. What Ginny put in with her flare was amazing.

The world building here is fantastic. There are whole societies and political motivations that are never covered in the classic tale, which is why this is compelling. What we have is a protagonist fighting against what is expected. Expectations are amplified through her life and through the tale, and yet, she still chose to fight against it. There something so fantastic about it. The fact that every action has an equal and opposite reaction is great. It’s just as much about picking the fate you must have, against the fate you’re told to have. The world building in the story enhances this plot and makes the story more rich and rewarding to the reader.

We have a protagonist in this story, who is well balanced and flowed beautifully. There are secondary characters that come to life. The pacing in the story is wonderful, the first act and second act blend well together to really establish the piece, and I enjoyed how it read.

I also want to take a moment to say that Ginny did something with a sidekick character that I don't see often. Not only is the sidekick important, but they are not forgotten at random. Most of the time the hero is the main focus, but Ginny gave every character a proper stage and focus when needed. They were not ignored in any form, and the side-kick I felt was the best piece.

Let's go into a couple of critiques. First, this critique has to do with the appearance of the book, not the story. First, I never hardly ever say this, but I feel the book cover doesn't match how awesome this story is. I'm sure there are reasons for that, I love minimalistic covers, but I think that people are not picking this book up because of the subtlety of the cover. This is a good book, I encourage everyone to look past covers.

Second, this is more to do with the flow of the book. For the most part, the pacing and tension elements are wonderful, I found myself holding my breath at times when the intensity was very high, and breathing when the tension released. However, there are some parts during the exposition of secondary characters, where it can get a little dry and drag the pacing. It’s not terrible, but I note it because those parts were where I’d take a break and write notes before jumping back in. It’s just often enough, that I took it as a break signal. That’s not bad, that’s just a pacing thing. The reason for the drag though was fine. The story fills in with rich story and tale of how the characters are, and where they grow.

Now for some really good parts. I love the overall theme of the story, and it’s not the story that this came from. The overall theme, everyone needs to have some kind of attention and affection. Nature needs it, people need it, and even terrible people need affection from time to time. Some get it from doing bad things, under the “I’ll get whatever attention I can” set, and some get it from doing good things. But the main point is that we all are people on this Earth and we all should pay attention to each other. Negative attention in general breeds terrible calamities while Positive attention in general breeds goodness. I believe this is one of the best elements of the book because the theme is felt throughout the stories and through every single character and plotline. I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, does this tell a complete beginning, middle and ending? Yes. For this specific story, it does indeed. There is an overall themed plot for the story series, and there is a specific set of events for this specific story. To that end, the specific story is fully fleshed out and, the reader is lead to the series with the overall tale. Sometimes with a series, it’s hit or miss. Sometimes writers keep out entire sections so that people can read the next book. I’m very happy that didn’t happen here. I am really looking forward to the next book because I’m certain this is going to be a great second story. Ginny fully answered all the questions that were brought up.


Score

With the full story that I was treated to, the themes that I found, and I didn’t find any grammatical errors, this book is pretty close to perfect. I’m giving it a 97/100. I’m also going to put “Dawn Warrior” into my recommended pile because it should be there. If you like new takes on older stories, give this one a chance because it’s amazing.