Tava Ell Var fears the Shifterai, the shapeshifters from
the Shifting Plains, knowing only what her father has told
her. It was by their hands that her mother suffered
horribly and, soon after Tava's birth, died. Now, a
warband lead by Kodan Sin Siin has come to rid her people
of the same bandits that killed her father. And their
price is her. Now, she is being forced to go with the
people she fears most, but she has a secret. She is a
shapeshifter just like them.
Kodan knows Tava's secret, but he wants to teach Tava that
his people are not the same as those how hurt her mother.
In doing so he must teach and show Tava the truth about the
Shifterai. While teaching her he they both try to hide
their growing feelings toward one another. But there is a
malevolent force that would do anything to keep them apart.
I really enjoyed this book. (In fact, I read it twice in
one day.) SHIFTING PLAINS takes place in the same world as
the Sons of Destiny series by Jean Johnson, but isn't a
part of the series. I loved that it could be read alone
without having to read the rest of the Sons of Destiny
series. The plot was interesting and believable, but my
favorite part of the book was the cultural elements among
the Shifterai that readers learned about as the story
progressed. It made the book colorful and the people come
alive.
There were times throughout SHIFTING PLAINS that Tava would
do things that seemed out of character. Sometimes she was
a strong character, others she wasn't. And while I
wouldn't mind seeing more of her in the future, she came
off as being unbelievable in some areas, especially when it
came to her relationship with Kodan.
I hope that this is the beginning of a series because I
would love to learn more about the other characters and the
Shifterai. I just hope that the characters will stay in
character. Plus, there are some major questions that were
not answered by the end of the book. So if having a
mystery left over when the book ends bothers you, don't
read this book.
Centuries before the time of the Sons of Destiny, a
female shapeshifter became the leader of the people of the
Shifting Plains...
Tava Ell Var never really
knew her mother, but she did know her tragic fate at the
hands of a band of cruel shapeshifters-a history set down by
Tava's father as a warning about life on the Shifting
Plains. But after her father is murdered, Tava encounters a
Shifterai warband fighting to rid the Plains of the
terrorizing bandits
Shifterai leader Kodan Sin Siin
is sympathetic to Tava's suffering, but he's determined to
bring the wary young woman to the Plains. Because he knows
her secret: She, like he and his men, is a shapeshifter.
Once she joins them, he knows that she will see for herself
the true fate that awaits her on the Plains, and most of
all, lose her fear of his people. And, in time, he knows she
will find her place is in their fight-and by his side.