The Turning Season

Three books into Sharon Shinn's shapeshifter series and I am meh about the whole thing. While The Turning Season isn't the train wreck that the first book Shape of Desire was, it is not anywhere close to my favorite book by the author either. Shinn is gifted at world-building, whether it's the unique role of the angels in the Samaria series, or the gifts bestowed on the characters in Troubled Waters and its sequel Royal Airs. Shinn is competent but not remarkable at characterization and dialogue. So I found The Turning Season to be enjoyable but slow, with very little action until the last fifty pages. The heroine, Karadel, was resourceful and compassionate. I liked the fact that she didn't pine away for either of the men who expressed interest in her, but I didn't believe that she felt much passion for them either.

As I've noted in previous reviews of this series, I appreciate the fact that Shinn portrays shapeshifters as something besides the uber-strong sexy alpha gods and goddesses that populate many romance novels. These shapeshifters don't always have control over their transformations, and life for them is short and dangerous. But that's not enough to hang an entire series on when the setting is so bland. I hope Shinn returns to her fantasy worlds and leaves this one behind.