Dun Lady's Jess

I got this book and promised a review. Sometimes books I get like this are just so-so, but this one was special. What I liked about it was the fascinating concept and how well it was executed. It was totally believable to me that this woman had been a horse, one who had a special bond with her rider. The other characters were interesting and full. I was glad the author offered both the POV of the human characters and Lady/Jess. Plenty of action, a bit of romance, magic, great characters, intriguing concept. What's not to like? I'm getting the others in the series, too.

Dun Lady’s Jess
By Doranna Durgin

I put my name in on the early review request site on goodreads for the opportunity to win, read and review a free copy of Dun Lady’s Jess by Doranna Durgin and was lucky enough to win. I have read books about shape-shifters but this is not a book like that…not at all…it is unlike any book I have read before. In this book the main character is a horse that is magically transformed into a woman when she suddenly finds herself in another world. Her struggles to live within a human body and learn how to behave as a woman while thinking as a horse along with all that surrounds this process is embellished with humans who find and befriend her, villains from whence she originated, and an eventual return show more to her original world that sees her once again as a horse. The story was well written by an author that is prolific but new to me. There were some typos but that is the only negative I have for this book. I plan to read more books by this author in the future. show less

This is a crackling good story with a complex structure and strongly-drawn characters. It starts in a world powered by magic, where it sets the stakes: there are other worlds, which may be a danger. Now that these worlds have been found, the wizard's council must learn how to close the transition between them. A courier sets off on his horse with key information.

In the midst of a perilous chase, the courier, Carey, and his mare, Dun Lady's Jess, find themselves in modern-day USA. The twist is that the story follows Jess, who arrives as a naked young woman entangled in a saddle, bags, and bridle and stunned by the new world. She is found by some quite ordinary people, and eventually finds herself at a stable, as a worker instead of as a show more boarder.

The author has a beautiful gift for translating a horse's sensibility and reactions into a human context. Jess learns to be human, but her equine side is still very much a part of her. And meanwhile there are bad guys from her home world looking for her and those all important saddlebags.

The characters are well-drawn, the stakes are high, and the two worlds neatly drawn. It starts as sword and sorcery, becomes urban fantasy with ordinary people put into extra-ordinary circumstances, and transitions again to sword and sorcery.

This book is a re-issue of a previously out-of-print book, and first part of a trilogy. I believe it is only available as an e-book. I read this in two days, and am now looking to buy the next in the series. Highly recommended for fans of both urban and sword and sorcery fantasy. show less

When I read the introduction and discovered that this book was going to be about a horse that had been turned human, I began to have second thoughts about my choice to request it in the Early Reviewer program. I am not generally a fan of magically changed animals and it takes a very good story and a very well written animal to make me change my opinions on the matter. This book simply blew my mind with how well the shape shifting was done. All of the things I had heard about the horse being beautifully written are true and then some. The story was as believable as the characters, which is saying quite a lot, since it brings magic into the modern world and still manages to hide it rather well. I could not put this down and I am certain I show more will desperately devour the other books that follow in the series.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review. show less

This story features another world, parallel to ours, that has magic.... where anything done with magic can be felt by other people with magical abilities- and intercepted by magic as well. To avoid that, important items are written down and carried by couriers on horses. When the book opens, a new and possibly dangerous spell is being taken on horseback from a magician's hold to his ruler- and the courier gets attacked by men who want the spell for someone else. In the confusion of a fight, the courier invokes a charm that should protect him- it does, by magically transporting him and his horse to our world.

His horse is somehow turned into a woman. Two people walking in the woods find her there alone and unconscious, naked except for show more the horse's tack, saddle and blanket. They take her home intending to call authorities in the morning. But after arguing about it, decide she has suffered some kind of trauma and they'd rather help her personally, than see her locked up by police or committed to an insane asylum. She still has the mind of a horse, so she acts very strangely for a person. She has a limited use of language, which gets better with some practice. Once over her shock, she is very anxious to find the man who was her courier- but it so happens that his attacker was also transported to our world. So the horse-woman gets her new friends involved in trying to find the courier and help him return to his own world, while evading "the bad guys"...

Hardest to get around were the poorly-written characters- human characters, that is. The horse-turned-woman is very convincing. In fact, she's the best aspect of the entire book, and the main thing that kept me reading. The author obviously knows horses, and her idea of how an animal suddenly transformed into a person might think and behave was excellently done. But the other people in the story often had me baffled.... and their personalities did not stand out well- in fact, I didn't even care when one of the main group got killed. The two main villains were unbelievable as well- their statements and actions often didn't make sense. Parts of the storyline that had to do with conflict between the courier's side and "the bad guys" in the other world really started to bore me, so much that I almost quit halfway. However the description of this alternate, magical reality was interesting, and the details about horses so well done that I'm considering reading the sequel- although prepared to roll my eyes at what the people say and do, and just pay attention to the animals in it, haha.

It's overall kind of an odd mix. Parts of this book feel like an action/thriller, parts like urban fantasy, and then it starts to lean towards being a romance as well. Not strongly any one thing- except for the horses.

more at the Dogear Diary show less

Dun Lady's Jess
by Doranna Durgin

The horse Jess' world-views are shatterd and reformed
I could not wait to pick up this ebook about a horse turned human. A Compton Crook winner, picked up and reedited Julie E. Czerneda, whoom I trust to only let the very finest animal anthropofiction slip through.
The story rose to my expectations pulling me into the lives of Dayna and Erik when their world are intruded upon by Jess, and her relentless search for her missing rider.
I like the immediate and strong bond i formed with the characters in their predicament. I like a few more surprises in such a strong well paced story.
I'll recommend this story for those who love horses and light romance or the ones who like to root for those out of their dept. show more

I received "Dun Lady's Jess" from Bookview Café through LibraryThings "Early Reviewers" program. I am happy to reciprocate with my honest review.
4 out of 5 stars * * * * show less

Dun Lady’s Jess
Doranna Durgin

Review by Jessica Atha

"Dun Lady’s Jess" by Doranna Durgin is a fantasy about the unpredictability of love and magic, changing form, and traversing worlds.

In order to protect a dangerous, world-changing spell from an evil witch, our two heroes – a courier named Carey and his horse, Dun Lady’s Jess – are thrown into another world by the very spell they are trying to protect. The two are separated and Jess is left alone to find Carey in an unfamiliar place while dealing with an unexpected side effect – the spell turned her into a human woman!

Durgin writes in a highly detail-oriented style, which is vital to an inhuman perspective, even in third person. A transformation of the mind from animal to show more human or vice versa is difficult to do, and fascinating when done right. The transition from horse to human is extremely well-handled and Jess’s learning curve of thinking, speaking, and even moving around is perfectly paced while she tries, without words for the most part, to convince her human rescuers that she is not a normal woman.

After Jess finds Carey, her slowly emerging morals and personality also fit the transition of a deep relationship between a man and a horse to that of a man and a woman – the relationship of trust and dedication that is the heart of the story.

I was extremely gratified when, about halfway through, Carey, Jess, and their new friends travel back to their world of magic, and the effects of the spell are reversed. I appreciate that the minds of the horse and woman (labeled conveniently for the reader as Lady and Jess respectively) do not become one and the same. This distinction is what kept me from getting weirded out by the romantic feelings that could borderline bestiality.

The narration in third person point of view jumps around from character to character. This is well done, but somewhat inevitably makes the individual character voices (except for Carey and Lad Jess) less distinct. To keep the narrative voice consistent and flowing, they end up melding into the same voice. While they all had unique personalities and story lines, perhaps their voices may have been better heard in an alternating first person point of view.

The main villain Calandre, whom they must contend with upon their return, is not as frightening as her minions. She is physically cute and unthreatening; most of her personal threats are abstract and her motive seems to originate in an exclusion from the cool magicians. Two of her minions in particular inspire the most fear in the role of antagonist: one who follows them to Earth and hunts them down; and the second in the other world whose specialty is torture.

The question of why the two worlds, Camolen and Earth, are so similar (despite the presence/absence of magic) is brought up more than once, yet remains unanswered. I’m hoping that this is touched in one of the other books in the Changespell Saga, which also includes "Changespell," "Changespell Legacy," and "Barrenlands," the prequel.

"Dun Lady's Jess" is perfect for horse-lovers, fans of other-worldly adventures, and those who simply enjoy fantastical stories of unusual transformations. show less