Red River: Vol. 4

by Chie Shinohara

Synopsis
Battle between the ancient empires of Hattusa and Mittani rages on, but Yuri is pulled away by Zannanza, Prince Kail's half-brother and his competitor for Yuri's affections. Kail, seeing evidence of another man's passion for Yuri, recoils with jealousy and refuses to let her back into the fray.

However, twenty-first century teen Yuri is thought to be good luck on the battlefield, and Kail relents, allowing Yuri to fight alongside him for the kingdom of Hattusa. Knowing that the time will come when he must send Yuri back to her own time, Kail struggles with his inner desire to keep her with him forever....

Review
This is a less interesting volume, as lot happens, mostly resolving Yuri's kidnapping, and beginning another campaign with the Mitanni. For a historical fiction, it does progress rather logically, and presumably, the author had to contrive events in her story to match with history.

I noticed something right at the end here: Kail creates a ploy to take over one city by cleverness, rather than by fighting. It won't be more developed until the next book though, but I do hope they continue this trend of being on the offensive rather than defensive.

As for the characters, we have a lot of whining about Yuri going back to Japan, so neither character wants to express or even feel their feelings for each other. Get used to this, it comes up a lot. Obviously, this creates a lot of artificial conflict between the two characters, keeping them from getting close too quickly, and -- god forbid! -- sleeping together too soon! As usual, this book teases us some more.

Final thought: I'll read the next book.