Champion of the Scarlet Wolf, Book One

Most of my complaints for the Lord of the White Hell duology were neatly avoided with Champion of the Scarlet Wolf. There's no grand mystery here, just a slight question of identity that, truthfully, shouldn't fool anyone. (And it's not treated like a mystery, though there are plenty of clues.) (Besides, I'll bet nearly everyone knew where it was headed as soon as the person was brought up in conversation.)

One of my big complaints about Lord of the White Hell (especially the first book) was that there was, essentially no women in the story. (Maybe a handful of whores, but that was it.) In this book, the secondary women are just as important as the secondary men. (We do follow two men throughout the story, so it should be expected that they are more important than the rest.) Also, the romance is much less prevalent this time around. Don't mistake me, there is romance and a budding relationship, but the two guys involved are more concerned with saving a city to really spend much time romancing each other. Which, honestly, is something I loved. This is very much a fantasy with romance rather than a romance set in a fantasy world (which is more what I felt Lord of the White Hell was). That being said, I do recommend reading Lord of the White Hell duology first. While this story doesn't follow the plot of that one, there was less world building here and I think it could be kind of confusing if you didn't already know the world.