The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Jack is what you would call a normal teenager. The only thing that sets him apart from his classmates is the star-shaped scar above his heart and the strange medicine he has to take. This changes for Jack when his Aunt Linda comes to town and leads him into a whole other world, which is actually the same world. Jack is of the Weir, a special race of people that live among the normal humans. These people have special powers, such as Jack, who is a Warrior.

Jack first starts to realize that he is something special when he almost kills someone at soccer practice. He then meets a girl named Ellen, who he happens to really like and becomes vital to the story. When Jack realizes what he is, he goes into training with his assistant vice-principal Mr. Hastings. Jack learns that he is no ordinary member of the Weir. When he was a baby, he was meant to be a wizard, but he was born without the stone that gives members of the Weir life and power. He was implanted with a warrior stone. He also learns of the Game, which is where warriors have to fight to the death so that a house of wizards in the Weir can gain power over the others.

Jack finds that he is very valuable and is almost kidnapped several times so that he can participate in the Game, as he is one of the few remaining warriors. He soon finds that it is inevitable and enrolls himself in the Game under Hastings' supervision. After more training, they head to the place where the tournament is to be held. SPOILER ALERT! To Jacks surprise, his opponent is Ellen. Ellen who he has a crush on and has to kill if he wants to live. Ellen and Jack fight, but experience an unexpected change in the rules, which may just save both of their lives.

Overall this book had an interesting plot. However, it bored me to death for about the first 150 to 200 pages. However, in the last 250 pages of the book, the story and action really started to pick up. This book included some great plot twist that kept me reading (although this doesn't happen for quite some time). This really is an interesting story and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind waiting a bit to get to the action. My overall rating for this book would be a B-.