This is the first book in the Mystwalker series by Leigh Evans. It was published 2012 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks and the audiobook I listened to was made by Graphic audio with a full cast narrating the story. It’s a paranormal novel, filled with werewolves and fae, with some romance added on top.
The story follows Hedi Peacock, a half-fairy and half werewolves, who has lost her parents as werewolves and fairies aren’t suppose to mix. Her twin brother was taken by the fae court as “payment” while she hid with her exiled fae aunt. One day her aunt was taken by the local werewolves and Hedi is determined to get her back, even if it means that she has to work together with the handsome werewolf, Robson Trowbridge. A task not easily done as her wolf and his seem set on mating and neither of the humans are as willing, as Hedi believes Robson betrayed her family and Robson has lost his entire family, including his wife.
Hedi is young, eager to fight and go against the rules to get what she wants. She is also lonely and misses her family, relying on a necklace that comes to life for company despite the necklace draining her. Robson is the son of an alpha who has lost everything and is running from everyone. He is strong and rough against the edges, preferring to brood over taking action.
These two are the main focus of the story with only some few side characters showing up for a scene or two before going away. It is a decent plot and a well written story. My main gripe with it is that it has many tropes common for these kinds of books. Such as the power dynamic, such as Hedi are introduced as strong only for the male lead to show up and be far stronger than her. The female leads power is often connected to inheritance as well than that is no different in this book. Robson is also the typical brooding male lead with a sad background, and Hedi is the typical female lead with the sad background. The book also has the trope of fated mates and so on.
If you enjoy these tropes than this book does write them well, though not in a unique way. The tropes feel integrated into the story instead of being stuck onto the story because the author wants the story to be popular.
I like the lore of the world the author has started to build up and the world feels like it was well thought-out instead of just being tacked on like many other paranormal stories where a generic romance just happens to take place in a story with werewolves. I also liked that there actually is a decent plot with a conflict and a goal outside banging the hot guy, which rarely exist in romance stories.
What I had a problem with was the characters. The narrators did a decent job with giving them life, but I believe that if I would have read the book instead of listening to it with graphic audio, I would have found the characters a bit bland. They were defined by their backstory instead of their personality, ambitions and goal. Frankly, in many cases we rarely finds out how they actually feel about something.
For example, Hedi’s twin brother was kidnapped by the fae when they were small. She constantly astral project into the fae world, but does she do it because she wants to find her brother? Or is it something else? Hedi does a lot but the book doesn’t do a good job explaining why she does the things she does. If we would have gotten a lot more answers to the why question, we would have gotten more depth to the character. At least so that I could feel more connected to them. For now, I care for the world but not the fate of the characters in it.
For those who enjoy action, this one might feel a bit dull as it focuses on the world, often through backstory and talk. There are some action scenes but they are few and far between. I don’t care for action, so I wasn’t bothered by the lack of them, but I can see other people being bored by it.
I would give it a 7 out of 10, maybe even an 8, but I do think the rather flat characters who are defined by their background instead of traits and personality does lower the rating a bit. It made me care more about the world than the characters in them, which might be hard to sustain in a series. I would recommend it for those who want a paranormal romance with a lot more worldbuilding in it and an actual thought-out world instead of the male lead just being a randomly paranormal creature to check off an box.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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