Review of Mistwood

Mistwood by Leah Cypess

Pages: 304

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: April 27, 2010

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Goodreads says, "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 Mistwod.  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."

You know when you first hear about a book and you think to yourself......Yes, this book sounds perfect for me.  I need to pre-order it immediately.  Then you anticipate its arrival, read amazing reviews from bloggers, and then finally you get the book!  You tear open the package and the excitement is nearly killing you.  But that's when things change....when you actually read the book.  Hmmm.  It isn't what you thought it was going to be like.  (It's like a bad blind date where the person you were meeting up with claimed to an entrepreneur, but actually works at Subway.) You give the book the benefit of the doubt and you put the book down in order to re-read parts of it later, hoping it's just you in a funk.  But you realize after all this melodrama that the book really isn't for you.  Unfortunately, I'm just not that into you....err...Mistwood.  Who can relate to this?  This was my experience with Leah Cypess' debut novel, Mistwood.  The premise, the book trailer, and the cover all sounded/looked amazing to me, but when I finally got my hands on it and read it, it fell unbelievably short.  

Isabel, the protagonist, is a shifter that protects the kings of Samorna and will for centuries as she is an immortal, mystical creature that is bound to protect the royal family.  I enjoyed the character of Isabel and the many issues she faced as a shifter.   For example, she suffers from a type of memory loss in which she can't recall some of her former powers.  Reading about how she is going to handle this conundrum was entertaining as well as her relationship with the king.  However, the character development, for me, was weak. I was not invested in the characters and I couldn't connect to them.  When I read a book, I want to be involved and rooting for the protagonist, but there wasn't enough back story for me to feel emotionally attached.   Unfortunately, the characters were one-dimensional and on top of that, the first half of the book was pretty bumpy.  I wish Cypess would explain more about the history of the shifter and the legend as I found that to be the most fascinating part.

Don't get me wrong.....there are some things that I do like about this novel.  It should be noted that after the first half of the book, things truly picked up.  I was pretty intrigued towards chapter fifteen or so and I thought Cypess did a good job developing the mystery.  As I said before, the premise is amazing and I wanted to enjoy this book, but I have to be honest with my review.  I also thought the setting was incredible; I kept visualizing Ireland in my head as Cypess described the castle and the surroundings.  In fact, I wish she would have developed the historical fiction aspect of the book a bit more, because the castle and Mistwood itself was pretty interesting.  

I feel like this book had a lot of promise, but for me, it just didn't click.....much like that bad blind date I was referring to before.  Some parts of the novel worked together beautifully and then other parts completely fell off track.  For example, one chapter I'd be hooked and then the next chapter would fall short for me.  I found myself cheating on this book with other books that I had a strong connection with (Ahhemm....City of Ashes) and I just couldn't get into it.

However, I have a strong feeling that this book would be enjoyed by younger teens/tweens. I will be, without a doubt, sharing this book with some of my younger students as I think it's is right up their alley.  I feel that I could comfortably recommend this book to my students without worrying about anything controversial, which is nice, because lately that hasn't been the case.   I also think fans of Kristin Cashore may enjoy this book, but be forewarned, Cypess has very large shoes to fill.   If you were hoping for a mind-blowing read filled with fantastical elements and a love interest, you are unfortunately pining after the wrong book.  If you want something fun and in the same neighborhood of Cashore, definitely pick Mistwood up this summer.  I have been reading more positive reviews than negative and perhaps it's just that simple case of I'm just not that into it; whereas, this book may be someone else's literary soulmate.  To each its own.

*You should decide for yourself if this is a book you'd like. Read the first three chapters here.  

*Buy the book here:  Mistwood

Watch the book trailer: