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.

Book Summary

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.