Mystic and Rider (Ace Fantasy Book)

I was previously familiar with Sharon Shinn via her Samaria novels, and so when I was in the mood to take on some epic fantasy, I was pleased to check out her Twelve Houses books. Mystic and Rider is the first of these, introducing the mystic Senneth, who has been appointed by her king to patrol the land of Gillengaria and find out how bad the anti-magic sentiment among the people has gotten. With her travel a small band of other magic-users, as well as two of the King's Riders, the elite cadre of warriors.

Mystic and Rider is not without problems; the initial pacing is somewhat clunky, and I found several of the character names and place names somewhat clunky as well. The clunky bits were never enough to drop me out of the story, though. And once the book got its feet under it, it hummed along nicely. I particularly appreciated a scene where Senneth is provoked into unleashing her fire magic.

As with the book as a whole, the grudging but increasing chemistry between Senneth and the Rider Tayse starts off somewhat clunkily. But it too gets its feet under it, and ultimately I found the development of their relationship satisfying.

Overall this was a decent little fantasy novel. The main plot of unrest fueled by an anti-magic cult in the realm is intriguing, and this was certainly more than enough to make me go ahead and continue with the series. Three stars.

First, a complaint. I got this book because I'd previously enjoyed [book:The Thirteenth House] and wanted to read the beginning of the series. But having read this one, I'm not sure if it's the beginning of the series either! It definitely precedes The Thirteenth House, and in fact, closes almost directly where the other opens, but is there some book before this one? I'm not sure! How difficult is it to put somewhere on the cover "# in the series"? Dammit, Shinn/Ace Fantasy, stop fucking with me.

(Oh wait, google reveals this is the first, it just starts very in media res. But this leads to a new rant: Dear Ms. Shinn, your website fails accessibility standards so hard.)

Anyway, this book has nothing that [Book:The Thirteenth House] does not, although it goes lighter on the yearning, and has nothing to trigger an infidelity squick. With those exceptions, my review for the other could be inserted here.