The Women of Fantasy

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.

Posted by Jen at Tuesday, September 04, 2007