Friday, November 6, 2009

The Shadow of Mist by Yasmine Galenorn

The Shadow of Mist
An Otherworld Novella
by Yasmine Galenorn

part of:
Never After (anthology)
by: Laurell K. Hamilton
Yasmine Galenorn
Marjorie M. Liu
Sharon Shinn

Published: 2009
Genre: Fairy Tales, Paranormal, Romance
Paperback: 400 pages
Rating for story: 4
Overall rating for book: 4

Description of book from the amazon:
The bonds of love...
The bonds of matrimony...
The bonds between husband and wife...
Let's face it—some bonds are made to be broken.
Here, for the first time ever, are four stories from today's most provocative authors that take the classic idea of the "faerie tale wedding" and give it a swift kick in the bustle.

Description of story from book:
A selkie on the run from a century-old broken marriage arrangement has finally found true love--only to have the darkness from her past return to threaten both her and her dearly beloved.

My thoughts:
In-a-word: weres
This is my first selkie story and a nice intro too.

I first heard of this creature from reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Never had a chance to follow up on reading more about the selkies.

And, I've been meaning to watch the selkie movie, The Secret of Roan Inish which this author quotes...

The sea gives and the sea takes away.
-Grandfather to Fiona Conneely
from The Secret of Roan Inish

Selkies are able to transform to human form by shedding their seal skins, and can return to seal form by putting it back on.
-Wikipedia

This selkie story takes place in the modern world where shapeshifters and vampires are part of the population.

It's interesting to note that selkies can transform at will. They are not influenced by a full moon like were creatures.

Also, selkies are part of Pod communities like human clans or tribes.

We have an evil prince here who stalks our heroine. No swooning and mooning over this fairy tale prince.

The heroine has been on the run for a century until she is found. Then all is revealed when confronted by the prince. Turns out unbeknownst to her, she is a princess with much more family power and prestige in her background.

Being a fairy tale, all is well in the end with a little help from some were friends.

Have you come across selkies in your readings?

Reviews for other stories:
Can He Bake A Cherry Pie? by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Shadow of Mist by Yasmine Galenorn
The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie M. Liu
The Wrong Bridegroom by Sharon Shinn

~*~

*a rags to riches Cinderella-ish tale

*source of selkie

*part of my Once Upon a Week

*part of my Novella challenge


 
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