A departure from her Angels of Samarra world, this book started slow but ended on a promising note. Raises interesting questions about the responsibilities that come with great power but unfortunately does not answer them in any satisfactory way. The usual Shinn romantic twist was to me unconvincing and I was very dissappointed that the radical feminist trajectory that has overtaken much of fantasy literature these days seems to have infected this series. Shinn writes here like someone with an agenda -- which is not something I have ever noticed in her previous works. In the main, the problem is that the magical group of people -- mystics -- are feared and reviled by some segments of the population because they have powers that seem uncontrollable. But then, all the mystics in the book act in ways that lead me to believe that the general population was right to fear them -- the mystics seem to consider themselves a law unto themselves and I was never convinced that they would acknowledge any moral standards or authority beyond their own wills and their own beliefs of right and wrong. Very problematic. Luckily, the next book in the series (The Thirtheenth House) gains a little moral complexity and was more palatable.

One of my favorite romantic fantasy novels.

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Sennet, Kirra and Connal - mystics of varying degrees - are joined by riders, Tayse and Justin. Their mission is to travel the country for the King in order to determine the degree of dissent between the twelve houses and why. The adventures begin immediately when Sennet rescues a young mystic, Cammon, from slavery. They intended to ride incognito but everywhere they stop Sennet senses trouble of some kind - usually nothing to do with the reason for their travels - and jumps in to rescue the underdog. At times, her magic both gets them in trouble and saves them.

There is a romantic interest between Sennet and Tayce but like all Urban Fantasy novels (though this isn't one of them), the relationship carries forward under the radar. It is very subtle but there. It'll be interesting to see if and how this develops. I particularly liked the raelynx - a wild cat-like animal caught by Sennet's magic and transported as part of the group across the countryside. Now that the Queen has commandeered him, it will be interesting to see if he returns to the group of travelers at some point.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The group of six travelers was varied and yet they managed to become great friends that didn't want to part when the adventure was done. I look forward to future travels with these guys and gals, riders and mystics. So far, there are five books, and I can't wait to pickup Kirra's book: The Thirteenth House.

book #2 - The Thirteenth House
book #3 - Dark Moon Defender
book #4 - Reader and Raelynx
book #5 - Fortune and Fate

It took me a little bit of time to get into this book but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the last 200 pages. Romance always keeps me going. I love how Sharon Shinn develops her characters. I feel like I know them but I still want to get to know them better and I want to keep reading about them.

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