One fun thing about the move is that now I have access to two local library systems, and they have different books from my old library system. Late last year, I read Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn, the start of a series, but my library system didn’t have the second book. I tried requesting it through Interlibrary Loan, but something must have gone wrong because even though several library systems in the metro area had it, they never got it in for me. But the library here did have it, so I finally got to read book 2, The Thirteenth House.

This series is structured somewhat like a romance series, with it being about a group of people, and each book has a different person from within the group as a main character. There’s also a different romance in each book. There’s an overarching plot about some political turmoil in the kingdom that this group is helping the king deal with, but this book could still function as a standalone. I barely remembered the first book, it’s been so long since I read it, and I was able to follow the story. It’s the sort of thing where you could follow the plot if you hadn’t read the earlier book, but you’d grasp more about the characters and situation if you had.

This book centers on the young noblewoman who has shapeshifting powers, and even though this seems to be a somewhat medieval-ish fantasy world (medieval technology, but it otherwise doesn’t seem to be pinned to any particular era from our history), this particular book has a very Regency vibe. It’s the social season, in which the nobles of the elite Twelve Houses of the kingdom each host big house parties and balls for the other nobles, who make the circuit of them all, along with some of the upper lesser nobles in each province, known collectively as the Thirteenth House. Our heroine is using her shapechanging abilities to impersonate her introverted sister and attend the social functions on her behalf. Meanwhile, the other members of the group are guarding the young princess, who’s making her big social debut. There are rumblings of threats from disgruntled lesser nobles, and the regent who would advise the princess if she became queen has been threatened. What complicates things for our heroine is the fact that she fell in love with this regent, and he with her, when she rescued him from kidnappers. The only problem is that he’s married. She’s never worried about social conventions before, but is this a social convention she’s willing to break? And if she does, could she lose out on another possible love?

This book is less of a “fantasy road trip” than the first one in the series, since they aren’t really on a quest, but they are on a journey as they travel around the kingdom. It’s fun seeing a lot of the conventions of the Regency romance placed in a magical world. The romance in this one is not one that could fit into a genre romance novel, and it provides an angsty contrast to the Regency-like fun in the rest of the plot. Romance readers might have issues with the relationship, but I would encourage you not to judge it without reading the whole book because it does work out in a satisfying way for the character, and there are some twists.

I really enjoy this kind of series structure, with the big-picture external plot that carries through the whole series and the individual romance plots in each book. We get to see the world and the characters through different eyes in each book since there’s a different protagonist. The main characters from the first book are secondary characters here, and we get to see how they’re progressing. Meanwhile, potential storylines are being set up for the other characters that I assume will play out in future books. This is what I’m trying to do with the Rydding Village series, though I’m sort of keeping Elwyn as a secondary heroine in all the books, so there’s the book heroine and then there’s Elwyn as the series heroine, and we’ll get both their perspectives in each book. The big picture plot will start to have a bigger effect starting in book three, which I’m gearing up to start writing.