"When Ileni lost her magic, she lost everything: her place in society, her purpose in life, and the man she had expected to spend her life with. So when the Elders sent her to be magic tutor to a secret sect of assassins, she went willingly, even though the last two tutors had died under mysterious circumstances.
But beneath the assassins’ caves, Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love. She will struggle to keep her lost magic a secret while teaching it to her deadly students, and to find out what happened to the two tutors who preceded her. But what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world."
"The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood.
But when she is needed she always comes.
Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.
Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.
Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.
Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew."
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.
