Mistwood is the first in Leah Cypess’s
Mistwood series. After reading Nightspell (Review here), I couldn’t wait to get my hands on
it, so I downloaded it onto my Kindle.
At the time I noticed that it only had 3.56
stars on Goodreads. That surprised me because it has a great premise. Isabel is
a shifter who can take any shape needed to fulfil her main and only purpose –
to protect the prince or king from harm, even at the cost of her own life. It’s
been years since her services were required so she's somewhat surprised when
Prince Rokan comes to her forest – Mistwood – to claim her allegiance. He wants
her as a bodyguard to protect him from an unknown assassin.
That is the simple outline, but trust me,
this story has more twists and turns than a spiral staircase. Everyone,
including Prince Rokan, is keeping secrets from Isabel. Slowly she begins to
unravel all the plots and subterfuges – only to discover something horrific and
life changing about herself.
Isabel is a fascinating character and Rokan
– as untrustworthy as he is - grew on me too. The book is beautifully written. Leah
Cypess is most certainly a talented writer. But in the end, I realised why Mistwood had only 3.56 stars on
Goodreads. I did not like – or expect – the ending. All strength to Leah
Cypess though, she kept me guessing until the last page. But still, I didn’t
like how it all turned out. Maybe you’ll feel differently, so I still recommend
Mistwood to anyone who loves a high
fantasy adventure/mystery with a paranormal twist. Even though I only give it
three stars, I will definitely be reading it again. I enjoyed it that much.
cheers
Gwynneth
