The Warrior Heir

The Warrior Heir is a 2006 young adult fantasy novel by American author Cinda Williams Chima. Beginning in Trinity, Ohio in a parallel universe where magic is present everywhere, it follows sixteen-year-old Jack Swift who discovers that he is a wizard despite his family’s attempt to suppress his powers. Jack sets off around the country with his aunt, Linda, to research his genealogy. Gradually learning that Linda has dark secrets of her own, he becomes entangled in her flight from a pursuer who wants to steal a magical family heirloom. Their journey takes him to England, where he learns more about his powers and his family’s tumultuous past.

Jack lives in Trinity with his mother and father, two non-magical folks. Unknown to him, Aunt Linda, who is a powerful enchantress, watches over him constantly for his own protection, along with a wizard named Nicodemus Snowbeard. The two protectors know that Jack’s powers are unique: he was born without a Wizard crystal that usually forms inside wizards during fetal development. Shortly after Jack’s birth, Linda asked her powerful friend, Dr. Longbranch, to implant a crystal in Jack’s body. Without telling Linda, Dr. Longbranch used Jack to conduct an experiment in which she implanted a Warrior’s crystal instead of a Wizard’s crystal.

Due to Longbranch’s tampering (which she eventually confessed to Aunt Linda), Jack begins to exhibit strange powers as soon as he reaches puberty. He gains the powers of both wizard and warrior, meaning that he is able to cast spells and excels in athletics and combat. Dr. Longbranch hopes that she can mold Jack into a warrior to serve the White Rose, a society of wizards that has faced off against the Red Rose for hundreds of years. The two societies routinely abduct children and train them to participate in a ceremony called the Game, in which their warriors face off against each other. Jack was nearly taken by Longbranch, but Aunt Linda used a spell to convince her to let her keep him until his powers manifested.



To suppress Jack’s powers and thereby prevent his abduction, his parents give him doses of Weirsbane. They claim that it is medication for a faulty heart. Jack complies with the dosage for years, until one day he forgets to take the concoction. He realizes with shock that he feels better than ever before and that the Weirsbane was subduing him, not saving his life. Jack stops taking the Weirsbane without the knowledge of Aunt Linda or his parents. One day, he gets into a fight with a bully at school, launching the boy dozens of feet. News of his abilities quickly spreads, forcing Aunt Linda to step in again.

Aunt Linda teaches Jack novice wizard skills and recruits a warrior named Leander Hastings to coach him as a warrior. With his friends, Fitch and Will, he locates a powerful sword called the Shadowslayer from his grandmother’s grave. Just as he comes of age, Aunt Linda recruits Jack to seek a magical family heirloom. They leave town, partly to keep Dr. Longbranch off their trail. While they travel, she reveals that he is Weirlind, part of a secret society of wizards ruled jointly by the White and Red Roses. The Game, its brutal tournament, is the mechanism through which one of the societies assumes control over the Weirlinds.

Eventually, Dr. Longbranch catches up to the group. Jack is sent to fight in the Game, where he faces off with his crush from school, a powerful wizard named Ellen Stephenson. Jack refuses to attack Ellen; she breaks his leg, and they fall together into a stream, out of view of the Game’s Judges. There, they make a truce, deciding to end the Game by taking down the Judges. With the help of Hastings and several other wizards, the two contestants successfully stop the game. The novel leaves off with much uncertainty about the future of the White and Red Roses.