Mistwood (Mistwood #1)

I have to give applause to the author for how original the Mistwood is. The synopsis is another story because it was so ordinary and simple and bland. (It needs some improvement, obviously!)

In summary, Mistwood is a stunning beautiful story, lost in the neverending stacks of new and old books. Every move is brilliant and every word fits in with harmony like a sheet of lines and notes. Leah Cypess has created a new world where nothing is certain. Deception is everywhere. Any misplaced trust, you can be betrayed. Any wrong move, you can end up dead or worse.

The plot of Mistwood is cleverly written. With many strange twist and fascinating turns, Mistwood will delight readers of all ages. The ending was the last twist of Mistwood! It was so... Wow, I'm still speechless.

No dialects, unfortunately. It would be a nice addition if dialects were included because the Shifter world is another world and not at all the modern world.

Isabel, the Shifter, is intelligent and legendary. She doesn't remember anything from her past and can't use her shifting powers. She's careful and knows when someone is lying to her like the Prince and the other Prince. Isabel is amazing at unraveling deception, but horrible at internal unraveling. She's torn between her loyalty to the original prince and her loyalty to the new prince/false prince. Even worse, the original prince thinks she failed him and doesn't trust her anymore. (The twist involving Isabel is brilliant and so unexpected. The most shocking twist of Mistwood.)

Rokan, the false prince, is threaten by a hidden unseen force. He enlists the help of a certain Shifter to protect him. He knows a hidden truth/dead secret that will turn the Shifter against him forever. He's hopelessly naive and absolutely horrible at uncovering deception unlike the Shifter, Isabel.

Rating: Three point five out of five. The three point five will be round up to four.

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I really liked the premise of this book. It started off great and then things just got too confusing and messy for me because of the main character's amnesia.

Mistwood tells the story of the Shifter, a magical creature that was created (probably?) to protect and serve the King. However, when the previous King was assassinated, the Shifter turned her back on everything she knew and returned to her righful place in Mistwood.

Now, Prince Rokan is about to be crowned and he wants the Shifter by his side. When the Shifter is brought back to the castle, she is known as Isabel and many are aware of who she really is and doubt her ability or her desire to protect the Prince.

Like I said, things get messy especially when someone who claims he's the rightful Prince makes an appearance. Of course, little by little, Isabel is able to dig deep into her mind and remember what she made herself forget.

I think, overall, the story was okay. The setting was wonderful and interesting but the author lost me with the Shifter's amnesia and with what brought it on. Am I going to read the next book? Probably, because I'm intrigued by the story. Now that her memory is back, hopefully the sequel won't be as confusing.

This is one of those sitting-the-fence reads that I'm really glad I took the chance on. Ever read a review by someone you really trust (ie. another book blogger) that wasn't really positive, but you REALLY like the way the book sounds? Yeah, that was my conundrum right there, and (with all due respect to the blogger, because she's awesome) I'm glad I didn't listen to her because I really would have missed out.

The cover evokes this Lord of the Ring-esque world in my mind, but in reality the story and its situation sounds more like a royal court intrigue from the medieval times - or maybe Henry IV. Nothing is as it seems. Isabel, famed Shifter, guardian of the line of kings, emerges from the forest at the behest of the man who should be her next protectee - but she doesn't remember anything about who she is, or her duties.

From the beginning, I was attached to Isabel. She's determined to stick to the role of the mythical protector, but in reality she's just as lost and worried about the resolution as the reader. To me, she felt the way that Katsa (Graceling, Kristen Cashore) should have turned out, without all the gratuitous "no need to get married, just run around and pray you don't get pregnant" trifle that was shoved in. I loved the fact that (for once) the protagonist's self-discovery wasn't just centered around the romantic plot and being dependent on a man.

Rokan was a bit of a harder sell. Honestly, at times he seemed like a bit of a milk sop. ("Oh Daria! She's so perfect. Wait, why are you here bossing me around? Oh right, you're my protector. Hey, you're kinda cute...") I was glad he grew a bit of a backbone at the end...a bit.

When I reached the end, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I was relieved that it was a stand-alone book because - honestly, the endless series are becoming a bit much. On the other hand, GAH IT ENDS RIGHT THERE?! At least there's a companion novel, but that's little comfort considering that I'm pretty sure it won't be the same. Ah, well. I can't bash it before I try it.

Final verdict? Yes. A big, red-pen YES.

Reader reviewed by LostinBelieving

From the first page, the idea and scene captivated me. It was like the book was calling me in to experience a world that needed to be told. You know a book is going to be pretty awesome if it can do that within a thousand words.

But as I got into it, I wasnt as captivated as I had been from the beginning. Before I picked the book up, I had read so many reviews saying how amazing the book was. So I was like There is no way this book could be a disappointment if there are that many positive things about it.

As the story progressed after my little bump in the road, I fell in love with the characters. Isabel is a girl who is trying to find who she really is while trying to defend people she cares for. How many of us have tried to figure out stuff while dealing with the things of everyday life? Yeah, so even though she is a Shifter we can relate. I loved her courage and strength, making me wish I was somewhat like her. I also love Rokan. Even when things are revealed in the book, I honestly believe he is a nice person. His character reminds me of the boy next door trying to do everything right even though it might be too overwhelming. Im not gonna go into detail about the other characters, but I think they were well developed chorus characters.

The writing was easy to understand and I think the plot was original.  There was romance in the story, but there were other types of love that kept it alive. An amazing story that I would recommend to anyone who loves fantasy books!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Reader reviewed by The Bookshelf Sophisticate

Talk about the author staying one step ahead of the reader until the very end! Leah Cypess is a mastermind in my opinion, she had me guessing until the very end. As her YA debut novel, Mistwood is sure to make an impression on readers everywhere.

This was a story of mystery, intrigue, romance and danger and although Cypess presents readers with clues and puzzle pieces throughout her tale, I didn't stand a chance at putting it all together until she was good and ready to tell me. I will say that at times I loved that I was no closer to solving the mystery that is at the center of Mistwood, but it also frustrated me to no end.

Her writing style and character development have set the stage for what I'm sure will be a fabulous future of upcoming releases from Cypess. The main characters in Mistwood were incredibly unique and fresh and my only complaint where they are concerned is that I would have liked to have been able to get to know them even better. Will there be a sequel? I think there's room for one and would definitely enjoy reading more about Isabel and the whole royal family.

The ending left me torn. On one hand the surprises blew me away, but on the other hand I did feel like it was all wrapped up very quickly. And after having a mystery like this one last throughout the entire book, I thought it was strange the the conclusion really only took up a few pages. I'm hoping Cypess just didn't want to drag out an ending that wasn't meant to be the final glimpse we get, if there's a sequel in the works than I'm slightly happier and more understanding as to why the ending wasn't stretched out with more detail.

With the paranormal genre being so popular at the moment and the repeated characters like vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc...being in just about everything it was a nice change of pace to see a completely new type of character. Isabel is completely unique and I for one do not want this to be the first and only time we see the shifter, more of the likes of Mistwood would be completely welcome!