She looked like a deer poised for flight, her slim body taut in an incongruous gown, her face sharp and still. Then she turned and was gone, and Rokan dropped back into his pillow, limp with relief. She was going to do it. She was going to watch over him. Best of all, his biggest worry had just ceased to exist. She didn’t remember what happened last time, the real reason she had fled to her woods (p 61).
Isabel is the Shifter, a thing of fog and mist living in her wood. She can shift into a cat, a wolf, an eagle or turn her skin to stone. But when the King calls on her, she must answer. She is bound to protect the throne, an impulse she cannot ignore.
So, when Rokan approaches her, she could evade him but doesn’t. He ties a bracelet around her wrist to bind her and ensure her aid, for her last assignment did not end well.
Mistwood is full of political intrigue, conniving characters and usurpers. Isabel, with little memory of her life outside the woods, recalls information intermittently as needed. But will it be soon enough? Who is trying to kill Prince Rokan and why? More importantly for Isabel, why can she not shift within the castle walls? What happened to her ten years ago that she retreated to her woods wounded and crying?
This is a good read that will keep you on the edge of your seat and awake well past your bedtime. The action begins immediately and the reader is putting the pieces together with Isabel.
The book’s flaw is that it is so focused on the unraveling mysteries, that it fails in two other important areas.
First, it fails to adequately develop the romance between Isabel and Rokan. I applaud subtlety but this was practically muted and I didn’t quite feel Isabel’s decision at the end was justified, especially considering the second failure.
Cypess does not expound upon the larger political scene. There are vague hints about what is happening outside the King’s castle but not enough to fairly say one man would rule better than the other. We have only Rokan’s opinion that Kaer (the rightful King) would have failed the kingdom.
So, in terms of quality, I would rank it below books like Graceling or Fire by Kristin Cashore but above books like Gone by Michael Grant or Need by Carrie Jones.
Cypess is a first-time author so a William C. Morris Debut Author nod may be in her future.
