Mistwood

Leah Cypess
Greenwillow Books (2010)
ISBN 9780061956997
Reviewed by Madeleine Sullivan (age 17) for Reader Views (8/11)

“Mistwood” by Leah Cypess opens with the capture of a girl in a forest. The girl, Isabel, does not know who she is or was. But we soon discover that Isabel is the shifter, an age-old creature charged with protecting the king and his family. The shifter can take on many forms, be it a cat or stone, a bird or a wolf. And although she has been doing this for centuries, she does not remember it at all, and she is in a forest, not protecting the monarchy. But now the ruling prince (soon to be king) has reclaimed her for the task of protection.

Isabel struggles to protect Rokan; her powers are not what they were and her ability to shift is severely impaired. (I will admit that I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see more action-packed shifting, but I was satisfied with the explanation by the end of the book.) She must deal with sorcerers, admirers, doubters, and lies, in addition to figuring out who she was and who she is now.

Leah Cypess employs a descriptive writing style which I enjoyed. Her descriptions of what a person did, where they were, what they saw, or what they were wearing were detailed providing clear pictures of the book, without getting bogged down in showing every detail of everything; the descriptions were not so much as to make the reader feel as if the book was “filmed” in slow motion. However, I did not feel that there were clear depictions of explanations of what characters were thinking or feeling. I could see the characters well, but I couldn’t always empathize with or understand them.

The first half of the book wasn’t exactly slow moving, but it wasn't exciting or captivating. At first, I felt that the plot was predictable, the characters were black and white, instead of gray, and the stories and motivations and conflicts were flat. I felt as though Cypess was trying to paint a picture to set up for the rest of the book but instead left me waiting for anything to surprise me.

The book really took off around chapter nine, when we first meet Kaer. At this point, I read the book very quickly, excited to see what would happen. I was caught up in an interesting story with characters who were neither clearly good nor evil, whose motivations were varied but real. And although I successfully predicted a major plot point conclusion, I was woefully wrong in how we got there. The twists Cypess added throughout the second half kept me reading and guessing, and, happily, guessing incorrectly.

“Mistwood” was an enjoyable read. It was neither particularly intricate, philosophical or complex, but it had enough twists and turns to keep it exciting. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, light fantasy book. I plan on reading the sequel, not only to finish the story, but to see more of the characters and plots I saw during the intriguing second half.

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