Review: A Ranger's Tale by Mysti Parker

Title: A Ranger's Tale
Author: Mysti Parker
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Tallenmere #1

Tradepaperback, 213 pages

Publication: December 18, 2010  by Melange Books

Source: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

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High elf Caliphany Aranea leads an enviable life as King Leopold's niece and daughter of Sirius, Leogard's most famous wizard. Yet, being forced to follow in her father's footsteps and being betrothed to a man she doesn't even like makes her want a taste of life outside the city walls. As a young boy, half-elf Galadin Trudeaux witnessed his parents' death at the hands of pirates. After being raised by those same murderers and forced to do their bidding, he escaped and now lives an honest life as a sea merchant and ranger.

When two brutes at Leogard Harbor attempt to kidnap Caliphany while she dreams of faraway lands, Galadin comes to her rescue. Impressed by his skills, she asks him to train her as a ranger. Though he is hesitant at first to train a woman of her class, Caliphany's hefty sack of gold finally persuades him. Unfortunately, her father is not amused, and the two must escape before Caliphany faces a forced marriage and Galadin faces a noose.

From that moment on she and Galadin embark on an adventure of a lifetime. Only if they can survive the trials ahead, will they find a love that stands the test of time.

A RANGER’S TALE is a fantasy-romance novel about an Elvin princess who wants more in life. The story takes place in the magical land of Tallenmere where humans, elves, wizards, trolls, and faeries coexist with one another.  Caliphany Aranea is the daughter of Tallenmere’s most prominent wizard and is the only niece of King Leopold. Caliphany’s parents hope that since she is the last heir of the family that she’d eventually take over her dad’s job as a teacher in the mage guild. Caliphany doesn’t want to be stuck doing the same thing day in and day out; instead she longs to travel to different lands, for all she seen is within the city’s wall. Finally fed up with people dictating her fate Caliphany set sails with ranger-pirate Galadin, who saved her from a near kidnapping attempt.    

The story is told from three different point-of-views; the first half is told from Cali and Galadin’s perspective and in the last half the author adds another person.  I didn’t really like Cali right away; she came off as annoying and naive in the beginning. For someone who is 100 years old (elves age slow) she acted like an adolescent. Thankfully as the story went on, readers got to see Cali slowly grow and mature (since the book spans about 8-10 years give or take).  Let’s just say that Cali in the beginning and Cali in the end are almost two different people, but I think it makes sense when one has a family of their own.  Cali isn’t the type of woman that stands back and let’s other people fight her battle; she tough and can definitely hold her own.  Then we have our main hero Galadin, he was a pirate turned ranger (warrior/ hunter who sell goods to different lands/merchants) who is half Elvin and half human. He happened to be on his many sailing trips when he meets Cali. He rescues her from a kidnapping attempt and later hired to teach her everything he knew about being a ranger. I really liked Galadin, he had a tough life growing up and a bit of a shady past but eventually got out of that life. Galadin is everything readers look for in a male lead; he’s sexy, kind/humble, strong and a warrior. 

I really enjoyed A RANGER’S TALE. I love the perfect balance of fantasy and romance, both genres never out-doing the one another. The book was pretty steamy, almost leaning toward erotica if I really think about it but it never once took anything away from the story or its characters. While I liked most of the book, there were two things I didn’t like. Towards the last half of the book something happened to Galadin and while not Cali’s fault…I didn’t like how fast she kind of moved on. She never once stopped loving Galadin but some of the stuff she chose to do was questionable in my opinion and in a way she was stringing ---blank--- on…it all rubbed me the wrong way. Regardless of these two little problems I had with the book, A RANGER’S TALE overall had a good story and world-building that kept me engaged the entire time.  If you like fantasy or a steamy romantic story then this is the book for you.