Mistwood by Leah Cypress

Who: Leah Cypress
What: Mistwood
Where: Greenwillow Books
When: April 27th, 2010
Why: High Fantasy Love
How: Gift from Mitali

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient
spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats
to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel
remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her
back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she
is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He
needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal
speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she
may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to
her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of
the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now
Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything
she thought she knew.

First of all, yay for more High Fantasy! Overall, I liked it. It wasn't anything amazing, but I enjoyed reading Isabel's story.

I wish it was longer, mostly because I wanted to be...plunged into this world of mist and shifters and politics. It wasn't invested in any of the characters or anything that was going on, which took away some of the enjoyment for me. I was kinda just reading "This happened" and then "This happened" without really feeling it.

Isabel was a great character, and I get why they saw this is for fans of Graceling. She's fierce, determined, but at the same time, she's grappling with her humanity and if she has any at all. I found Isabel to be a solid and well-rounded character, especially because of her ability to play her cards right in different situations. Rowan had to be my favorite character! He was sweet and really would make a good and just king.

Clarisse was evil and amazing at the same time, mostly because you never really know where her loyalties lie. One minute, you think she's evil, another she was really just undercover and then back again. And in courts, this is how things work! People go with what works best for them.

In the end, an enjoyable read but I wish it had been longer. I really wanted to go deep into world and understand the courts and the legends and all this, but she just skimmed the surface! Although, i'm pretty sure her latest release is a companion novel? So definitely checking that out!

Happy Reading!
-Harmony