{"id":434,"date":"2007-09-15T19:00:28","date_gmt":"2007-09-16T02:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/434"},"modified":"2021-06-02T18:52:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:52:05","slug":"434","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/434","title":{"rendered":"The Shape-Changer’s Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shape-Changer’s Wife<\/a><\/em> (1995) Sharon Shinn<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Everything I’ve ready by Sharon Shinn I have really liked, so when I saw The Shape-Changer’s Wife<\/em> in a used bookstore, I picked it up.<\/p>\n

Then I left it on the bookshelf in one of those weird fits I go through, of worrying that a book–especially an earlier book–by an author I like won’t be as good as I’m hoping.<\/p>\n

Now I do have to say that being an earlier book, this did have some flaws. However, the strengths that I like so much about Sharon Shinn’s writing are clearly evident in The Shape-Changer’s Wife<\/em>. The characters are strong and unique individuals, the dialog is good, and the story is both original and fascinating.<\/p>\n

Aubrey is a student magician who has learned all his current master, Cyril, has to teach him, and wants next to learn the art of shape-changing. Cyril refuses to teach him shape-changing, but refers him to another magician, the powerful Glyrenden, who is a master of the art of shape-changing. Although Glyrenden is somewhat of a recluse, he agrees to take Aubrey has his student. However, when Aubrey arrives at Glyrenden’s castle, he discovers that his new master has taken a beautiful wife, and also has two very strange servants.<\/p>\n

There were, in my opinion, two weaknesses of the book. The first was that the relationship that developed between Aubrey and Lilith was pretty obvious. Although I have to say, how<\/em> that relationship developed was not obvious, and was very well done.<\/p>\n

The other weakness was the epilogue, which felt as if it was tacked on under the orders of an editor who felt it would make the story more consumer friendly. Personally, I recommend skipping the Epilogue, and leaving the ending as it was, since I found the ending to be very satisfying as it was.<\/p>\n

Other than those two small faults, the story was very enjoyable. Because it’s a short book, it made a good travel book, as it slipped easily in my pocket, and because the story was somewhat winding, it was good for reading in short chunks. (Although just past halfway through I ended up reading the remainder in one stretch.<\/p>\n

Plus, I really liked the cover. Since I often complain about covers (and fantasy books have some that are pretty horrific) I like to take note when I find one I think is particularly well done.<\/p>\n

Although this is a relatively short story (only 200 pages) if you are a fan of Sharon Shinn’s writing, this is a story you won’t want to miss. If you have not read her writing before, I would recommend this as a good place to start, as the story is very solid and well-done, and had really only two faults, both of which may be more personal peeves than faults. But the story more than makes up for it. So if you come across The Shape-Changer’s Wife<\/em> in a used book store (since it seems to be currently out of print) make sure you pick it up.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shape-Changer’s Wife (1995) Sharon Shinn Everything I’ve ready by Sharon Shinn I have really liked, so when I saw The Shape-Changer’s Wife in a used bookstore, I picked it up. Then I left it on the bookshelf in one of those weird fits I go through, of worrying that a book–especially an earlier book–by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,291],"tags":[339],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-sharon-shinn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/siQkW-434","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2146,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2146","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":0},"title":"Firebirds Rising","author":"Michelle","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Firebirds Rising (2006) edited by Sharyn November Huntress by Tamora Pierce Unwrapping by Nina Kiriki Hoffman The Real Thing by Alison Goodman Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint I'll Give you My Word by Diana Wynn Jones In the House of the Seven Librarians by Ellen Klages Wintermoon Wish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Firebirds-Rising.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1499,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1499","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":1},"title":"Never After","author":"Michelle","date":"November 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Never After (2009) Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, Sharon Shinn The only reason I have this book a second glance after seeing Laurell K. Hamilton's name was because I've read books by Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, and Sharon Shinn and loved what I read. So I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/never-after.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2252,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2252","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":2},"title":"General Winston’s Daughter","author":"Michelle","date":"February 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"General Winston's Daughter (2007) Sharon Shinn Averie is headed to Chiarrin, where her father and betrothed are with the army, which is currently seeking to make the area part of its empire. On the trip over Averie makes friends with Lieutenant Du'Kai, a Xan'tai member of the Aerberelle Army. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/General-Winstons-Daughter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/222","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":3},"title":"Mystic and Rider","author":"Michelle","date":"April 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Mystic and Rider (2005) Sharon Shinn I really liked this book. It's a good, solid, and lovely fantasy. Senneth is a mystic, leading a group through the country of Gillengarin upon the orders of King Baryn. In her group are two King's Riders, sent along, but unsure of Senneth and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Mystic-and-Rider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":376,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/376","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":4},"title":"Summers at Castle Autumn","author":"Michelle","date":"May 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Summers at Castle Auburn (2001) Sharon Shinn I picked up Summers at Castle Auburn because I'd read another Sharon Shinn book and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I came across Summers at Castle Auburn used I snatched it up, since I hadn't seen it before. Corie is the bastard daughter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Summers-at-Castle-Auburn.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2463,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2463","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":5},"title":"Quatrain","author":"Michelle","date":"August 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Quatrain (2009) Sharon Shinn Four novellas set in four different worlds: Samaria (Archangel), the land of Gold Mountain, Alora (Summers at Castle Auburn), and Gillengaria (the Twelve Houses). I have purchased the first book in the Archangel series, but had not read it, so I saw this as a nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Quatrain-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}