All his life, Logan Savage has felt like an outsider and has hidden his feelings under the guise of a womanizing macho man. When he is sentenced to community service at a kid’s summer camp, he comes face-to-face with teenagers who are his opposite in every aspect, and he is horrified at having to play camp counselor to a bunch of geeks and nerds. Willow Avaris runs the fantasy camp where Logan is serving his time, and she is extremely unimpressed with what she sees in Logan. After an extremely rocky start, life in the camp is just about to settle down when suddenly Logan’s world is turned on its axis. Logan finds that neither he nor Willow nor his teenaged charges are what they appear. He also discovers that there is an evil afoot that is threatening their lives as well as the world they exist in. Suddenly Logan must play the role of hero to protect Willow and all she holds dear.

Warrior’s Rise by Brieanna Robertson paints a picture of a world where the human and the fairy realms intersect with each other. This is a world of change and discovery. Logan discovers that something as simple as a few kind words from a young girl and the innocent acceptance and forgiveness of his young friends have the ability to change his life and his attitude. He undergoes a process of change, turning from loser to hero and from smug egotistical jerk to poised and kind protector. Readers will love watching his transformation during the story and experiencing how this changes both his actions and his thought processes.

The line between make believe and reality blurs in this story. One minute Logan and the kids are playing at medieval combat, and the next minute that combat becomes all too real. One moment Willow is a no-nonsense camp director and the next she is a sparkling fairy queen. It all might seem like a fantasy role-playing game except that the danger is a real threat to them all. Brieanna Robertson has done a wonderful job in Warrior’s Rise, creating this tale where fantasy meets reality. This reader did not have any trouble envisaging the woods of Western Oregon as a gateway to another world and may very well be on the lookout for fairies on the next visit.

Reviewed by: Whitney