Books like Warriors of Alavna

I found this little book at Goodwill one day, read the inside flap, and was intrigued enough to get it. And then it sat in my TBR cupboard for 6 months or so. It just never seemed like the right time to read it. Then the other day when I was looking for a new one, it sort of called to me. Fit my mood. I was wanting fantasy, but not too dark or complicated, and I was also wanting to read something short that wasn't going to set my reading pace back for a couple weeks. This just caught me as soon my eye set upon it, I was like, "I'll read that one." I can say I'm glad I did, it was pretty much what I was craving. It started off a little slow, the characters were a little hard to get to know because the viewpoints kept alternating with no warning. And also, because this book is geared toward a younger audience, the sentences are shorter, and it seemed sort of terse and hard to like (the writing, not the story) at first, until I got used to it about halfway through. So the story is about two teenagers paired up on a school field trip, Dan, a popular (but not too dickish) boy, and Ursula, a great big moose of a girl who hides behind baggy clothes and a grim face. I sort of like Ursula, could relate to her. So this yellow fog appears and Ursula, due to a comment from Dan, takes off running, upset, into the mist. Dan follows, because he doesn't want to get in trouble for losing his partner, and also because he feels bad for upsetting her. The mist serves as a portal and they end up separated, back around 75 AD or so, perhaps in their world, perhaps in another. Ursula pops out into a group of men with swords drawn and pointed at her, and Dan ends up in the middle of the wilderness. He ends up finding a sword, and decides to go find Ursula. Meanwhile, the people Ursula came upon think she is a boy, and believe she is a warrior that came through the mist called by their sorceress/priestess. They take her with them, meeting up with Dan on their trek. Dan has become a Bear Sark (berserker) with his newfound sword, and is an insane fighter. He's also befriended a great big war hound who he calls Braveheart, after the movie. Well it turns out there are these awful Roman (called Raven by the tribal warrior people) soldiers and they're going about killing all the local villagers, the usual rape, pillage, and kill (though thankfully not gory or overly detailed). So Dan and Ursula and the other warriors in their group swear to avenge the deaths of everyone in Alavna. They continue on until they get to the main fortress, and this is where the story really got rolling for me. There's a whole legion of Ravens heading up to slaughter everyone, but thankfully there's time to prepare. Tribesmen from different places show up, and the training begins. Grueling workouts and horrible barrack conditions serve to strengthen and discipline Dan and Urs, and Ursula even finds some other latent powers within herself. Great magical powers. All this training tightens her up, she becomes a lean, mean fighting machine instead of such a big klutz, and her powers get stronger everyday. I liked this part. Ursula found out she could shape-shift, and due to her determination to fit in and prove herself to the warriors, she had actually become a man through magic. Good thing she figures out how to shift back, and learns to shift back and forth at will, even shifting into all kinds of different beautiful women, much to Dan's chagrin. But the big battle's coming up, and how are they going to win? There's many more Ravens than tribesmen, and it seems like there's no hope. Until Ursula learns how to work the yellow mist herself, and calls in some reinforcements. The battle scenes were exciting without being too graphic or gory, and it played out well. I liked this book more than I was thinking I was going to in the beginning, and part of that was due to the negative reviews that are at the top of the list here. So blah on those, because I thought this book was pretty good. I'm glad I bought it, and the sequels are now on my wishlist. The ending wasn't really resolved, what with Dan and Urs just going off into the mist, so I know they're going to have more adventures. I'd like to read them, for sure :)