The Women of Fantasy

Dark Moon Defender didn't disapoint - it was a riveting, awesome read.
However, it wandered a bit more than it needed to. Justin, the Kings Rider, and the novice he falls in love with are a bit underdeveloped. They have that sort of desperate love story thing going for them - where I couldn't help but wonder: after the crisis is over, will they still be together?? There's a famous line from the first Speed movie where Sandra Bullock's character informs Keanu's that people in high stress intense situations often feel like they are falling in love, but the love may not be real.
Granted, Shinn took some time to try to establish a friendship first between the characters. They still don't have the usual depth of her other ones.
Speaking of other characters, they really had to lend their voices to this book to create some substance. That's not an issue-I already love Senneth, Tayse, Cammon, Kara and Donnel.
All in all a good book - kept me turning pages until the wee hours and despite its fairly obvious flaws, is one I would gladly recommend.

I am deeply, completely engrossed in Dark Moon Defender, by Sharon Shinn. Dark Moon is her third installment in the 12 houses series. Book one, Mystic and Rider, is about the mystic Senneth and the Rider Tayse. Other characters play strong supporting roles: Kara, the fiery shapechanger, Donnel, her shapechanging companion, Cammon, the "sensitive" and Justin, the mystic distrusting other Rider. These books are some of Shinn's finest. Mystic and Rider hops around a lot, exploring the character of Senneth from the viewpoints of the other characters, which really develops her character more thouroughly than if it had just been a single character viewpoint.

It is a dramatic, amazing read. After taking a break (few weeks) and getting myself "distanced," I started book two, The Thirteenth House. The second book really demonstrates Shinn's flexibility, her ability to create a working story and make her characters come to life. 13th House is about fiery, selfish Kara, and the entire book is pretty much just from her point of view, but this really fits. I was skeptical to read a whole book about this particular character but at the end found myself really liking her - for all her mistakes. Another amazing read, that never dismissed the other characters but integrated them more.

I'll wait to review Dark Moon Defender until it's finished, but so far, it's amazing, proving Shinn to be a wonderful storyteller worth visiting time and again.