Review of 'Mystic and Rider' by Sharon Shinn

I thought I would start posting my review of books I have and/or am reading.  I hope you find them useful and enjoyable.  Cheers!

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

'Mystic and Rider', by Sharon Shinn. I am not sure what led me to picking up this book, maybe something in the title caught my imagination, or perhaps it was the front cover image, which has a strangely compelling feeling of mystery to it, or maybe it was just blind luck on my part. However that may be, I am very glad that it caught my eye. From the moment I opened the cover and read the first few lines, I was hooked and could not put it down until I had read the very last lines.

In 'Mystic and Rider', the mysterious and powerful female mystic, Senneth, takes up a mission for the aging King of Gillengaria. She is joined by a small band of individuals that not only each have their own diverse talents, but are also a strange mix of companions. An aristocratic shapshifter and her servant, who shares in this talent, two members of the elite guard known as King's Riders, a young, very gifted empath, and a wild, and dangerous creature. Their mission, which sounds at first relatively simple, is made increasingly more difficult, as they travel among the southern houses of the Kingdom, gauging the sentiment of the land, seeking for any signs of discontent among these southern nobles.

Shinn has created characters that jump off of the page and come to life so very easily, amid a world that is different, and yet so close to our own in certain basic ways. She takes the themes of power, and friendship, distrust, and romantic love, and blends them together into a most powerful and dynamic story set amid a world that is on the brink of plunging into chaotic war and rebellion. The magical system of Gillengaria, as well as its political, social, and religious structure are wonderfully complex and interwoven, and superbly explained through the story, all of these elements being very crucial to the story line, not just added on like decoration, or as an after thought.

'Mystic and Rider' is a book that I highly recommend for any lover of fantasy tales, or even the casual fantasy reader who enjoys a good romance with an unusual setting.