Simply Sam’s Reviews > Mystic and Rider > Status Update

He kissed her, and that was the end of it. No more pretending, no more holding back. Life changed by love, life sparkling now with its own peculiar magic. He tightened his hold and let the transformation take over. When he lifted his mouth from hers, he knew, he would be a different man. Okay, so it's kind of a kissy book.

“I trusted you to save me,” he said. It was hard to speak the words. “I suppose that’s something,” she said, and leaned in and kissed him. Yes! I love the slow burn romance between these two.

“They could kill your soul, Tayse. They could blacken it with sorcerous fumes till it turned so dark you would never get it clean again. A mystic’s touch is degrading...Have you been consorting with mystics, Tayse? Have they corrupted you? Is the flesh even now barely binding together a heart that is veined with ill intent and blood that runs black as tar?“

She hated them, but they hated her; maybe she was the canker, the witch, the atrocity they believed. And if she was not what they thought her—if she was not evil—she could not give in to evil impulses. She could not kill them all from a sense of vengeance. She could not allow herself to be guilty of such crimes. She did not want to be either as terrible as they thought her or as merciless as she thought them.

“I'd say it’s not the place to be practicing magic.” “And I was going to jump on the table, turn myself into a wolf, and go baying to the moon,” Donnal said. “Don’t bother trying to impress us,” Justin said. “We’re impressed enough already.” That's sarcasm folks. I'm starting to like Justin more and more.

Okay. Something needs to HAPPEN! There's a whole lot of meandering without every really going anywhere. Travel here. Stop for the night. Travel there. Stop for the night. Practice fight. Travel some more. And on and on. That's all that's happened in almost 200 pages. This better pick up...

“There is no reason it should die,” she said. “It has done nothing but try to live, given only the skills it was born with.” Tayse lifted his eyes, unfathomable in the night, to examine Senneth. “And you are not overfond of killing anything,” he said. “I am not. You think that is a weakness on my part.” “I don’t think you have any weaknesses at all,” he said.

Senneth sat on the window seat, appearing to embroider something. He found himself wondering if this was a skill she really had and, if so, what particular pattern she was working on.

Deny it did you want to Tayse, but I think you liiike her.