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Title: Mystic Guardian (Signet Eclipse)
ISBN: 0451221699
Author:
Patricia Rice
Publicate Date: 2007-07-03
Publish: 2007-07-03
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.45
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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1: Magical story
Leaves the reader wanting more as each page turns into an utterly delightful and heart-warming romance.~Affaire de Coeur
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2: Wonderful story!
MYSTIC GUARDIAN
Reviewed by Carol Carson Monk
MYSTIC GUARDIAN is the first book in a new trilogy by Patricia Rice called the Mystic Isle Series. Set in Brittany in 1789, it takes place in the fictional village of Pouchay and on a magical island off the coast of France, Aelynn.
Mariel St. Just is anything but ordinary. She is a fascinating, independent, loving woman who will do whatever it takes to put food into her pregnant sister's mouth, as well as the starving people of her village. Not to give a major plot point away, but she has an uncanny swimming ability. She is the perfect match for Trystan l'Enforcer, the man who shields and safeguards his island home of Aelynn and will do anything to protect it.
Mariel's mother has foretold of a visit from a 'golden god who will sail in on a ship from the past'. He will 'bear a sword of justice to save all in our village in a time of great famine and danger. He will be stronger than Hercules, faster than an Arabian steed, and more beautiful than a sun-blessed day'.
When a powerful, broad-shouldered, golden-haired man sails into the harbor of Pouchay, Mariel is certain he is the god her mother prophecied would appear. But when he begins sailing away without coming ashore, Mariel jumps into the sea and swims after his ship.
What follows is sheer delight! The coming together of two opposites such as Mariel and Trystan makes for pure fun. Whether it's saving both their ways of life, getting into scrapes and danger on several shores and locations, and best of all, falling in love, this book is a romantic, enchanting read.
I look forward to the second book in the series, MYSTIC RIDER. Pat Rice is a gifted writer, with the ability to pull the reader into the story and hold her there, spellbound, until the satisfying end.
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3: Unrealized potential
Mariel St Just, her pregnant sister and their entire Breton village are in desperate straits. This is a starving France on the brink of Revolution. Mariel's dead mother prophesied their being saved by a golden god with a sword of justice. When such a man does indeed arrive, Mariel decides he must save them. He is no god, but nor is Trystan an ordinary man, rather he is supernaturally talented and comes of a race that lives on the 'magic' protected island of Aelynn. Mariel, with mermaidlike abilities of her own, manages to follow his ship to the island. Chaos ensues, when Mariel flouts the islanders laws, steals their most sacred possession, escapes and sells it for food. Naturally Trystan follows for the chalice's sake and his own fated, overwhelming attraction to her.
Sounds good, an interesting new magical alternate spin on Revolutionary France. Except that it is nothing of the sort. Nowhere like being interesting, let alone a good story.
For a start Mariel and Trystan are arrogant pains in the neck. They both adhere to the maxim of explain nothing and treat everyone refusing to obey as a congenital idiot. Which makes them extremely unsympathetic and the reader irritated by their gyrations and unmoved by their fates.
Very disappointing. The world created is interesting and it's a shame the story doesn't live up to its potential.
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4: 3 stars
While trying to find a solution that will keep her pregnant sister and herself from starving to death, Mariel espies a "golden god" who ignores her hail and boards a ship that takes him away from her. Since her late mother foresaw that such a man would save them, Mariel calls upon her unusual powers to follow Trystan l'Enforcer to his hidden, island home. Such a thing should be impossible, and necessitates that she wed Trystan and become bound by an oath of silence to never reveal this magic island of Aelynn. Before the vows can be taken, Mariel escapes, taking with her a magical chalice that Trystan must get back. Unfortunately, when he catches up with Mariel, it has already been sold. Now, they must recover it for the survival of his home, then work out all the personal problems they have. By this time, not only must he wed her, but desperately wants to, and the attraction is no less on her part; however, they live in different worlds, literally, and that may be one fact that cannot be overcome.
*** Ms. Rice has created a world that brings to mind visions of Shangri-la or Brigadoon, yet with more magic. Merfolk, enchanted cups, and visions add depth and allure to this unusual tale. Readers will eagerly await the rest of the trilogy after this initial taste. ***
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5: It was good but . . .
I was really excited to see that Patricia Rice had a new novel out and I couldn't wait to read it. I think the new world Rice has created is interesting, if a little odd. I do think that too many of the island's inhabitants are a little to mysterious, talking in riddles and giving non answers.
I found Trystan to be a little cold in the beginning but I liked that he warmed up quite a bit by the novels end. I really liked Mariel in the beginning but I found her selfish attitude towards her affect on Trystan's life and her stupid actions irritating. It's not like Trystan was being completely unreasonable with what he needed her to do and her often callous disregard for his feelings turned me off.
While I thought Mariel's love for her sister and need to keep her promises to her mother was admirable, she acted like her sister was still a child instead of a grown married woman who I thought needed to learn how to take care of herself. Not to say Trystan was perfect but he was very understanding with Mariel's actions.
It may sound like I didn't like this book a whole lot but I felt the love that Trystan felt for each other was real, the secondary characters were well developed and brought a lot to the story, I liked Mariel a lot better by the story's end, and Rice has set the stage for the upcoming novels in the Mystic Isle series.
So if you want to read a novel about a new world, island mysteries, and alpha males and females then Mystic Guardian is the story for you.
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