Still Life With Shapeshifter (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
HERE'S THE THING. I love Sharon Shinn. I've read every single book she's ever written, and there really aren't that many authors I can say that about. I love her brand of fantasy/sci fi, I love the characters she creates and writes about, I love the way she tells stories. AND HERE'S THE THING ABOUT THAT. I liked this book? But I do not like this series. Everything that I love about her just does not work for me when placed in a modern contemporary setting. THAT SAID, I really liked Melanie, Brody is a fantastic character, Ann made me weep, and I liked the way she connected this story to the first book. Janet's storyline made me weep harder than Ann's did. So I liked this, but I really hope that she goes back to her fantastical settings soon. Ouch. So much sadness. This is a beautiful, well-written novel and though it is not as oppressively sad as the first in the Shifting Circle series it is still ultimately a pretty bleak read. I love Sharon Shinn, but this much loneliness is a bit much for me right now. Her books set in worlds she created herself are often full of connection, friendship, love and adventure, but this series set in our world, dealing with shapeshifters and the people who love them is an altogether less hopeful place, one where love and grief walk hand in hand. Shapeshifters live on the edges of society, in homeless shelters and state parks and the people who love them have to make enormous sacrifices to keep their secrets hidden. All our POV characters are human, people who have given up everything to love shapeshifters, to raise them, to marry them, to look after them, the shifters themselves are alien and unknowable, no matter how beloved they might be. The support people are our main characters, and in this book they start to form a community, to help each other out, to claim some life and love for themselves, but still their role seems to be that of endless suffering and it was all a bit much. I need to find something happy to read now!
What do You think about Still Life With Shapeshifter (2012)?
I didn't rate it higher only because it made me sad at the end.
—Dandash
I also liked this second book much more than the first.
—Micake
