Dark Moon Defender

by Sharon Shinn

Grade: Good
Story: Justin falls in love.

So. Now I have to write on all three books in a very interesting manner. Do you think I can? I don't.

--Justin is still my favourite character. I must admit, I'd had this hope that he might fall for Kirra. But the fascinating this about this series, I'm finding, is how unique and real the characters seem. At one point, Senneth and Kirra are talking about the unexpectedness of who Justin decided to fall in love with and how it was actually very suitable, and I realized that they were quite right. All of these characters' romances were exactly suitable to their characters, even if unexpected.

--Sometimes I wish romances were never written for the main characters. The problem is that main character is in LOVE. They're not going to be reasonable, and they're going to be all mushy and stuff. It can be delightful to see it or experience it (I presume), but I don't know if you really would want to be in someone else's head when they're experiencing it. They tend to be a little too single minded and willing to be all ... squishy.
Or it could be written for the main character, but less from their POV, because there certainly are books where the main character falls in love and I enjoy it quite a lot.

--On her website, Shinn says that originally the book had a cover where Justin looked exactly like Josh Holloway. That would have been TERRIBLE. I would have never liked Justin if I thought he looked like Josh Holloway. Nothing against Josh Holloway, though. I admit he is very handsome, and Sawyer ended up being one of my favourite characters on LOST. But--but--not in books! Books are different than movies. I can like Josh Holloway characters in movies, but not ever in books, I don't think.
Now, mind you, the present cover isn't great either. There's still a faint Josh Holloway resemblance. But it's bearable.

--There's a possibility I might want to own this series. It's not one I'd recommend to most people (although you can read it, Christina, if you're reading this). There's too much "content" for one thing. But I find that the characters stick in my brain. It would be sad to not ever see them again. I'll have to read the last book before I decide for sure.

See the first books: Mystic and Rider and The Thirteenth House, and the next books: Reader and Raelynx and Fortune and Fate.