A review by manlymangilly
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

3.0

Awesome concept and world, but I was thoroughly bored by the writer's obsession with the romantic aspects of the characters. A little bit of romance is fine, but with these books the entire focus of the story is on who is falling in love and all characters neatly pair up with people who are suitably unsuitable.

I saw it as a great waste of potential in an interesting world with a group of fascinating and powerful characters. Would have loved some characters who weren't so stomach churningly mushy and romantic. I struggled to relate to any of them.

This continues into the subsequent novels, and overall I ended up frustrated with the author that they didn't make better use of the wonderful world and magic they had created. Instead we watch an odd fantasy based bad romance play out over numerous books.

These are romance novels with a bit of fantasy, not fantasy novels with a bit of romance.