Fans of Dickerson will recognize the "fairytale" immersed in her book The Warrior Maiden. A retelling of the Chinese legend of Mulan with a twist. I was disappointed that she didn't base the story in China or Asian culture. Instead Mulan is the child of a Lithuanian soldier and an Asian woman who dies. Mulan is brought back to Lithuania to be raised as the adopted daughter of the soldier and his wife. In the original Mulan she goes to war in place of her aged father to spare him and to give honor to her family while providing for her mother and father. In this tale all that is gone. In this book Mulan, not wanting to marry her suitor decides instead to go to war disguised as a man to earn her mother's right to remain in the family home. But throughout the story she laments that if she is killed her mother will be cast out of the home with no one to care for her. This seems like a very big risk for a female to take who has not been trained for battle. To me it lessened her honor because she was fleeing an unwanted marriage but with no guarantee she could provide for her mother. In the original legend Mulan was a hero because if she didn't go to war her aged father would have had to go. Aside from this the romance in the story is sweet and there is a lot of history about Germans vs Lithuanian and the different ways they had of worshipping God. It is still a good story and worth reading but if you're looking for the Chinese version this is not it.
I received this book from the publishers but was not required to write a positive review.
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