Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn is the master of slow-burn, clean romantic subplots. My favorite thing about them is that they are always mature, and the characters usually act quite reasonably. This book is a high fantasy quest, with a big helping of intrigue where the southern lords are plotting treason against the king. High fantasy quests are hard to make interesting because they can be meandering as the people questing go from town to town and it can be difficult in between episodes of dramatic things to pay attention. This book suffers a bit from that, but I can fully say that I don't have a lot of patience as a reader and quest fantasy is not my favorite sub-genre so I don't count that as a strike against this book. If you like quest fantasy you probably won't mind it. What saved it for me was that all of the characters were interesting, and I wanted to know more about them. I became terribly invested in each of the characters' relationships with each other. This book is also setup for mysteries and conflicts that will hopefully be revealed in the next books, so I will definitely be reading them.… (mer)

There is so much I love about Sharon Shinn's writing. Her prose is elegant and entrancing, and she lulls you into her world and her story with this remarkable ability to spin a literary web. I felt like a fly lured in, eager to see what would happen next. And therein lies the problem: because like that proverbial fly, once you're caught, nothing much happens. The plot moves at a glacier pace. This is mostly a character study of a woman desperately in love, a woman who still seems to be in the throes of new relationship energy (that maddening, desperate longing you feel when you first get a crush on someone) even though she's been with this man for fifteen years.

I had a hard time liking the characters, to be honest. The women were either doormats or shrill; victims or mere spectators in their own lives. And the men were ultra-aggressive and aloof, emotionally unavailable or physically abusive. For all of Shinn's skill, she managed to spin a story about utterly uninteresting people (some of which had some incredibly interesting abilities that were only explained at a very superficial level).

As far as paranormal romances go, this one had more potential than most. But it fell flat for me, and I was left wanting so much more.… (mer)

Ugh... I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I loved Archangel and The Shape-Changer's Wife, so I had high hopes for Wrapt in Crystal. Unfortunately, I found myself frustrated throughout and wanting so much more.

For a science fiction novel, it had a distinctly earth-bound feel. Everything felt like a carbon copy of Earth in the mid-'90s: the languages, cultures, the weather, the atmosphere, even the vehicles. We've got cars and phones, police departments that operate the same as those on earth, and everything feels so familiar as to be off-putting.

The plot is the slow-burn kind... not super engaging, but relatively sweet. And I enjoyed the in-depth exploration of faith and religious beliefs.

However, my biggest problem was with the romantic elements. It made no sense to me that Drake would fall in love with Laura. None whatsoever! She's cold and disagreeable at every turn. By contrast, Jovieve is brimming with vitality, and she actually WANTS him -- yet he pushes her aside at each opportunity. And then finally gives in to her "feminine wiles" and it seems like he's doing her a favour. And then, of course, he casts her aside. Yuck.

Yeah, definitely not a book I can recommend.… (mer)

I loved this book! I didn't expect much when I first started reading it on a short flight home. It's a slim volume, and the language seemed old-fashioned, the plot slow moving. All of that is true, and yet I found myself instantly captivated and I couldn't put it down. I finished the book in record time, and when I turned the last page I was grinning broadly and wiping away a tear. If that's not a sign of a fabulous book, I don't know what is!

I was particularly taken with Shinn's characterization in this novel. Lilith is fascinating, if hard to like (on purpose), and while Glyrenden comes across as somewhat stereotypically evil, I really liked Aubrey, Orion, Arachne, Eve, and many of the other characters. I also really liked the author's use of magic. The shape-shifting aspect isn't terribly unusual, but combining it with transmutation made it fascinating.

The romance angle, as well, is incredibly well done. Not saccharine or over-the-top, just very... lovely. Overall, a wonderful book from a fabulous fantasy writer. I really enjoyed her Semaria Trilogy, and I look forward to reading other books by her.… (mer)