The Heir Trilogy

The Heir Trilogy, a three novel series chiefly aimed for the age group ranging 10 and up, was created by Ohio author Cinda Williams Chima.

The first in the series, The Warrior Heir, after being released in 2006, found its place on the bookshelves of libraries and quickly became popular. The American Library Association included it on their Popular Paperbacks list in 2008. In 2007, Chima's second book, The Wizard Heir, was released. Chima wrote the final book in the trilogy, The Dragon Heir, which by 2008 was being purchased by Heir Trilogy fans all around. Chima states on her website that this book is the last in the trilogy.

Cinda Williams Chima has written the series in such a way that the main character in one book is never the main character in another. In the first the main character is Jack Swift. The second book is written in the point of view of Jack’s cousin, Joseph (Seph) McCauley. A variety of characters from the previous two novels make up the main characters in the third book.

The Weir are group of people who each have a magical stone set by their heart that places them in certain guilds that give them the strengths of warriors, wizards, sorcerers, enchanters, or seers. The hierarchy of these magical guilds, the society of the White Rose and the Red Rose, drive the plot on by promoting lies, deceit, betrayal, and mortal danger. The wizards have complete power over all the guilds and abuse it by creating fear in those beneath them.

About the Author

Cinda Williams Chima grew up in Ohio. Her writing career began in high school, where she wrote romance novels starring herself and her friends. These were often confiscated by her horrified English teacher. After high school, Chima stopped writing focusing instead on college. Chima earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the Case Western Reserve University. Later, she went back to school and received a Master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Akron. She married a rocket scientist, Rod Chima and had two sons, Eric and Keith. When her sons were in their teens, she began writing again. Her efforts ended up becoming The Warrior Heir. Chima currently teaches nutrition at the University of Akron in Ohio.

The Warrior Heir

Summary

Jack Swift, a high school student in a small town, forgets to take the medicine he’s taken daily since he was an infant on one morning. From there, everything goes downhill, as it ensues a cascade of events that puts him in mortal danger time and time again. Jack carries a secret within him that has made him a target of the ruthless wizards of the Red and White Rose. Jack is a Warrior Heir, the last of a dying breed, sought after by the Roses to fight in the tournaments that are used to allocate power among the Wizard Houses. Unknown to him, Jack has lived all his life surrounded by members of the Magical Guilds: wizards, enchanters, soothsayers, and sorcerers. They are determined to save him from the Roses. With the aid of his aunt, a beautiful enchanter, Jack desperately tries to learn the skills that might save his life. Jack and his friends, Will and Fitch, unearth a magical sword from a cemetery and fight off the wizards who would take it from them. Jack begins training with the dark and dangerous Leander Hastings, a man with a mysterious past, and learning wizardry from his neighbor Nick Snowbeard. Meanwhile, even Jack’s social life is falling apart around him. He finds himself with a growing attraction toward Ellen Stephenson, a beautiful, athletic girl. But can it be even she is more than he thought she was?

Awards and Nominations

• Texas Lone Star Book (2007-2008)
• Beehive Booklist (2007-2008)
• South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee (2008-2009)
• 2006 Book Sense Children's Picks
• ALA’s 2008 Popular Paperbacks list
• Voya’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2005-2006

The Wizard Heir

Summary

In The Wizard Heir a teenage boy, Seph Mcauley, gets sent to the Havens school because he is unable to control his wizardly powers. All the other schools have kicked him out for causing trouble, but the Havens is a school for wizards. A nonwizard student named Trevor helps Seph when he is trying to escape school. Trevor later gets murdered by Gregory Leicester, the principal of the Havens. Seph meets Jason Haley, a wizard that becomes his first teacher. Seph also meets some old characters from The Warrior Heir, including Linda Downey, Jack Swift's aunt, Jack Swift, Leander Hastings, Ellen Stephenson and a love interest, Madison Moss.

Awards and Nominations

• Voya’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2007

The Dragon Heir

Summary

Things have come to a head between the wizards and the other Weir (Weir refers to those that possess Weirstones, which is what gives them their "gifts"). In the previous installment/novel, The Wizard Heir, the Weir attempted to draft a new Covenant, but the peace process was a mockery, and the Covenant was stolen. In an effort to discover its whereabouts, Jason, a young, *good* wizard sneaks into Raven’s Ghyll. He doesn’t find the Covenant, but he ends up finding something even greater, the Dragonheart – an opal and a source of immense power. He brings the Dragonheart, along with a few other magical items he finds back to Trinity, OH, where a sanctuary for the other Weir has been set up, in the hopes that these objects will aid them in the battle that is to come. And come it does, with full force. The invading Wizards, want the Dragonheart above all else, and will do anything to get it. They threaten Madison Moss (a key player in both The Wizard Heir and in the Dragon Heir) by kidnapping her younger brother and sister in hopes of persuading her to retrieve the Dragonheart for them from the inside. Jack, Ellen, Jason, Seph, and the rest of the Weir in Trinity hold the Wizards back as long as they can, but to no avail. It’s Madison Moss (as foreshadowed in the previous novel) who has the power to turn the tide of the war, but what will she do with that power when she is torn between saving the Weir or saving John Robert and Grace?

Awards and Nominations

• USA TODAY bestseller

Main Characters

• Jackson (Jack) Swift - Wizard, Warrior - High school student in Trinity, Ohio, protagonist of The Warrior Heir.
• Ellen Stephenson - Warrior - High school student; new to Trinity, Ohio; Volunteer soccer coach; Jack's love interest
• Leander Hastings - Wizard, Unaffiliated - Teacher to Jack Swift; former lover of Linda Downey; father of Seph McCauley
• Linda Downey - Enchanter - Aunt to Jack Swift; sister to Becka Swift; mother of Seph McCauley
• Nicodemus Snowbeard - Wizard, Silver Bear - Caretaker who works for Becka Downey; Jack’s friend and teacher
• Jessica Longbranch - Wizard, White Rose - Thoracic surgeon
• Geoffrey Wylie - Wizard, Red Rose - Ancient enemy of Leander Hastings
• Claude D'Orsay - Wizard, Red Rose - Master of the Games for the Wizard Council
• Will Childers - None - Best friend of Jack Swift’s ; good friend of Ellen Stephenson’s; nephew to Ross Childers, a police detective
• Fitch Harmon - None - Friend of Jack and Will; systems expert for Trinity High School
• Joseph (Seph) McCauley - Wizard, Unaffiliated - Orphan with a mysterious past; protagonist of, and first appears in, The Wizard Heir.
• Madison Moss - None - Art student from southern Ohio; works at the Legends Coffee House; first appears in The Wizard Heir; Seph's love interest.
• Jason Haley - Wizard, Unaffiliated - Student at the Havens with Seph McCauley
• Gregory Leicester - Wizard, White Rose - Headmaster at the Havens; first appears in The Wizard Heir.
• Warren Barber - Wizard, Unaffiliated - Alumnus of the Havens
• Jeremiah Brooks - Warrior - A warrior from 18th century America; Jack’s sparring partner
• Devereaux D'Orsay - Wizard, Red Rose - Son of Claude D'Orsay