Shapechanger's Wife; S. Shinn

Off the top- according to a Dear Author interview, Ms. Shinn does not have a website. Kinda old school, I guess, but hopefully it helps her write faster. A girl can hope, right?

The Shape Changer's Wife was published in 1995 by Ace Books. Only 200 pages long, it's a deceptively zippy little book. The story runs along two levels- superficial or deep. Whichever suits your fancy. This title has a mythical tone to it that reminds me of Patricia McKillip's work. SCW is my first full length work by Ms. Shinn. I read part of a story a while ago & enjoyed it, but never pursued her works further.

The basic plot runs this way. Sorcerer's apprentice decides he wants to learn to shapechange, but Sorcerer A refuses to teach the apprentice this skill and steers the apprentice to Sorcerer B. Apprentice toodles off to Sorcerer B's place and commences to learning whatever Sorcerer B will teach him. Pretty soon though, apprentice realizes the people at S.B's are kinda..odd. Not only that, the local villagers dislike all of the inmates at S.B.'s.

What has Sorcerer B done? What are his motives? What is the moral and ethical dividing line between knowledge and action? If you love someone is it still love if you force them to be someone they aren't?

Unfortunately for me I borrowed this from the library. Shape Changer's Wife would be a keeper for me if this one was mine. If I can find one at my UBS I plan to buy one.