Mystic by Jason Denzel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, A couple of steamy make out scenes 

 
For hundreds of years, high-born nobles have competed for the chance to learn of the Myst.

Powerful, revered, and often reclusive, Mystics have the unique ability to summon and manipulate the Myst: the underlying energy that lives at the heart of the universe. Once in a very great while, they take an apprentice, always from the most privileged sects of society.

Such has always been the tradition—until a new High Mystic takes her seat and chooses Pomella AnDone, a restless, low-born teenager, as a candidate.

Commoners have never been welcomed among the select few given the opportunity to rise beyond even the highest nobility. So when Pomella chooses to accept the summons and journey to Kelt Apar, she knows that she will have more to contend with than the competition for the apprenticeship.

For the most part, I enjoyed reading this book. It did start out a bit slow (that seems to be the case for several of the books I've read in the past month). I thought both Pomella and Sim were a little dumb at times. Some things they didn't pick up on were obvious to me, and I thought should have been obvious to them. Pomella was also a bit fickle when it came to the two love interests. I was really surprised at how far she was willing to go with one of them. For me the book read pretty innocent up until that point, and it just bothered me that it took that turn.

I did like the world that the author created. I found the fey creatures interesting and the magical use of the myst an interesting idea, but because I found myself rolling my eyes at things the characters did, I couldn't give this more than a three star rating. I really liked the way it ended though, and the book did pack one surprise for me.

This is the first book in a trilogy, but it works well as a standalone. I think I'll leave it as one.