Mystic by Alyson Noel

TL;DR everything's a mess in the aftermath of Echo

(finished 7/16/15)

I managed to find Mystic in the library trip after reading Echo, so I figured "why not?" and checked it out. It was actually the first book I read out of that haul. (It was also the only one I had any real interest in since I wanted to read it before I forgot details from Echo. The rest are standalones or the first in their series.) 

Honestly, for the first half of the book, essentially nothing happens. All hell breaks loose at about the 70% mark, but at the 50% mark I sat back and tried to figure out how to put what happened into words. And essentially it came down to "not much". It never got boring, per se, and it did take me up until 50% to realize that nothing had really happened, but the reality is that it's just laying the groundwork for the climax without doing anything exciting.

(My World History teacher used to say "but the reality is, is that" and it used to drive me crazy. I honestly tried to avoid using that phrase right there but that was the best I could come up with. Please forgive me.)

So yeah, once Daire manages to find Dace again, all the action in the book starts. A lot happens in the span of about a day in the book. (I think Mystic only takes place over about a week, anyway.) People on Goodreads mention that they feel like Mystic is really only a set-up book for Horizon, and I can definitely see that. The setup to the climax isn't too bad but it all felt a little too convenient. I'm not even sure why I feel that way, other than the fact that (again) Daire and Dace don't really communicate and their narrations sometimes betrayed what was going on or held back key information until they were talking about what happened a couple chapters later. There was stuff that they mentioned later that would've been cool to know about during the scene, but I guess maybe that would've ruined the mood of what was going on. I don't know. 

I have very little to say about Daire and Dace, but that's mainly because they spent most of the book separated from each other. The sex scene is definitely a lot later in the book, and I feel like the lead-up into it is better. They also do trust each other more (at least, Daire trusts Dace with what he's doing), which is definitely an improvement. They still drive me crazy and rank very low on my current "YA couples I've read" list, but hey, at least they got better slightly. I still wish they'd quit acting like Romeo and Juliet, though. It's a little sickening. 

Xotichl got a pretty big chunk of the narration since essentially nothing was happening with Dace for the first half, and I actually appreciate her chapters. Xotichl's definitely my favorite character. She's a strong female character who doesn't need to kick butt to stand on her own. I want a book just about her. Not Daire. Xotichl is more interesting. 

I made another spreadsheet with all the sticky notes from the book if you're curious. (There are spoilers. Like always. Keep that in mind.) I didn't use as many sticky notes as Echo, but jeez, Dace and Daire can be so ignorant sometimes. 

TL;DR I kinda read Mystic because of the whole "watching a trainwreck" thing regarding Dace and Daire, but it was better than Echo. If you read up to Echo, you may as well continue reading. You're already halfway through the series.