Adult Review: The Warrior & the Flower by Camille Picott

The Warrior & the Flower by Camille Picott

Paperback & ebook

Published: April 2013 by Pixiu Press

Source: Author

Yi, a retired soldier, has lost everything he loves — his wife, his daughter, and his home. He seeks refuge from his heartache by plunging into a secret mission for the World Emperor. The assignment takes him to the doorstep of a brothel, where he witnesses the madam beating a young girl. Drawn by the child’s striking resemblance to his lost daughter, Yi rushes to her defense and negotiates for her purchase — after all, how hard can it be to care for one little girl? But between the child’s inquisitive nature and the dangerous secret she carries, he gets more than he bargained for.

Asian inspired fantasy is one of my favorite kinds of fantasy.  I'm not sure why, but it's always so creative and different.  One thing I do often have trouble with is the pronunciation of things as well as the complicated history and/or families.  None of those were an issue here.   Picott somehow managed to make it feel authentic without making things hard to understand.  Not only did she use more simple names, but she also made the world very easy to understand and picture with out any long descriptions.  I was easily able to picture this world and how it worked but it was almost like magic how it happened because we just saw it through the characters eyes and that was enough.  To me, it was brilliantly done.

We start the book with Yi discovering his family has been killed.  He goes crazy with grief.  Several months later he's sent on a mission for the emperor and sees Tulip, an adorable 8 year old girl getting beaten by a madam.  By this point we've seen Tulip's POV a few times and we know she lives with her mother in this home.  The madam is evil and Tulips mother seems to care for Tulip but yet she just lets this awful stuff happen to her.  Fortunately we don't see all this, we see more of Tulips nature, how she's very curious and bold and we see that something is different about her.  It's not often we get into a child's head like this and it worked very well.  I felt horrible for her and all she's been through.  When Yi sees this happening he can't just stand by, he has to rescue her.  This is when the book gets really good.

Yi and Tulip make an amazing team.  The moments between them are precious.  Tulip can finally start being the inquisitive, curious child she is and Yi can dote on her and start the healing of his heart. While the interaction between them is one of my favorite aspects of the book, they aren't just sitting around helping each other.  They have been sent to do some very dangerous things and time and time again they are in danger and end up saving each other several times. 

This book really warmed my heart in so many ways.  Tulip is someone you really can't help but adore.  She's pretty much as adorable as they come.  She also incredibly brave and will do anything to save her new Papa.  And Yi just dotes on her and will do anything for her.  There were several scenes that had me in giggles and others that had me gasping in fear.

This book was hard to put down.  Unfortunately I started it on the weekend and so didn't have much time to sit and read it.  But if I had been able to, I would have read it all in one sitting.  It's absolutely brilliantly done!  I now have a goal to convince people to READ THIS BOOK!  I was shocked when I looked and there weren't any reviews up yet!  This book deserves attention!

This is an adult book, there's some tough stuff that happens that makes it darker. It has some gory scenes as well.  I would recommend it to mature YA readers and adults only.  If you like high fantasy, especially Asian inspired, I suggest you grab this one.  It's really not to be missed!

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.