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Tales of a New World #1
Moon Chosen
Chosen to embrace her true identity. Chosen to follow her destiny. Chosen to change her world.
Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan, but she has been forced to turn from her duties, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save herself and her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating Tribe, strays across her path that Mari experiences something she has never felt before…
Now evil is coming, and with it, a force more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By breaking Clan Law and forming an alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik. Ready to embrace her true destiny…and battle the forces that threaten to destroy them all.
Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan, but she has been forced to turn from her duties, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save herself and her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating Tribe, strays across her path that Mari experiences something she has never felt before…
Now evil is coming, and with it, a force more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By breaking Clan Law and forming an alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik. Ready to embrace her true destiny…and battle the forces that threaten to destroy them all.
608 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2016
About the author
P.C. Cast
166 books27.7k followersPC was born in the Midwest, and grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between Illinois and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter Horses and mythology (at about the same time). After high school, she joined the United States Air Force and began public speaking and writing. After her tour in the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. PC is a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today Best-Selling author and a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers’ Best, and the Laurel Wreath. PC is an experienced teacher and talented speaker. Ms. Cast lives in Oregon near her fabulous daughter, her adorable pack of dogs, her crazy Maine Coon, and a bunch of horses. House of Night Other World, book 4, FOUND, releases July 7th, 2020. More info to come soon about the HoN TV series!
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December 12, 2020
See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was sent to me by the publisher for review. I do not think this was a smart choice.
Want to listen to me dissect this book with some friends? Check out this episode of Papercuts Podcast!! If you've ever wanted to hear what I sound like, this is your chance.
This is gonna be a long review and I’m not even covering everything I want to, so I’ve uploaded my notes on Google Drive for easy viewing. Just click the link! All quote citations and page numbers are in that document and based on the US hardcover edition.
Once upon a time, there was Revealing Eden by Victoria Hoyt, a novel that turned white people into the oppressed class and made the white main character donning blackface a narrative necessity. It was rightly called out for racism then and is still ridiculously racist now. If I weren’t already familiar with the Cast family’s brand of racism thanks to their House of Night series, I’d think Moon Chosen was written specifically to out-racist Revealing Eden and all the cultural appropriation and Magical Native American fuckery from the aforementioned series. Between blackface and all the racial coding, Moon Chosen may actually be the most racist YA novel of all.
The Earth Walkers, Mari’s maternal people, are described with phrases like “dirty, earthy skin,” “unrefined features,” “thick-browed,” and “wide-nosed,” among others. Her paternal people are the Companions, aka Tree Tribe, aka Treeple. Mari takes after them, so we can assume that most of them are fair-haired (“hair the color of sunlight”) with “small, straight nose[s]” and “clean, delicate brow[s].” Since she was a child, she and her mother have dyed her hair “dark and muddy, like brackish water” and used clay to alter her features as well as change her skin color. The different in skin tone is so significant that when she washes off all the clay, another character reacts to just how different her clay-covered skin color is versus her natural skin color.
I guarantee you the character isn’t saying “wow, your skin color is so different!” because Mari has tan lines. Mari doesn’t spend much time outside her underground home before the novel’s events.
Cast can try to cover it up by being vague about what color anyone‘s skin is, but THIS IS BLACKFACE.
!!!THIS IS BLACKFACE!!!
I could stop this review right goddamn there and be justified in my zero-star rating for Moon Chosen, but this ain’t even the full extent of this racist clusterfuck. I have four pages of notes in a Microsoft Word document because there’s so. Much. Bullshit.
The reason Mari has to cover her skin is that if her mixed heritage is discovered, she’ll be driven into Companion territory and left there, presumably dooming her to a life of slavery. This explanation comes over a hundred pages into the novel and should be shown rather than told. A much better opening to the novel would be her Clan capturing and punishing some Treeple. Then we would see firsthand what Mari has to fear instead of simply hearing about it from her infodump-happy mother Leda.
Blackface is also indicated by the sledgehammer-heavy racially coded language Cast describes the Earth Walkers and Treeple with. The descriptions of the Earth Walkers as listed above and their traditions indicate they’re coded as people of color, probably Native Americans/First Nations specifically (but with no specific tribe because of course not). The fair-haired Treeple are similarly coded as white and the Skin Stealer people who shouldn’t even be in this book read like descriptions of uncontacted tribes akin to those Michael Rockefeller was studying and documenting when he disappeared in 1961.
Seriously, the Skin Stealers have no place in the novel. If they had to exist–because they seem to exist so the Treeple look better in comparison–they shouldn’t have been introduced until the second book of the series and the Earth Walker/Treeple dynamic should have been the real focus.
That’s another way Cast racially codes the two core groups of the novel: the fair-haired, fine-featured people are the enslavers, the dark-haired, thicker-featured people the slaves. One quote explicitly outlines why the Treeple do so, painting them as a well-meaning people who genuinely believe they’re helping:
So Cast wants to be a Good White Woman(tm) and deconstruct racism in her novel. Well, it’s clear from the content that she doesn’t understand shit about how racism actually works. People who enslave others don’t have or even need a “good” reason like giving them a purpose to do so; they’ll make up their own reasons and characterize the people they’re enslaving as lazy, dumb, or otherwise subhuman. They convince themselves of this so thoroughly that even when presented with evidence to the contrary, they’ll still hold onto that belief.
The quote above and the Treeple’s perspective in the novel in general humanize racists just as badly as that new A&E show “Generation KKK” and all the fluffy features on fascists, white supremacists, and the like that have been coming out lately. Cast even tries to put the language of racism in the mouths of Earth Walkers when she has an Earth Walker character say that a Treeple boy they come across “isn’t a person.”
I bet Cast is someone who would say racism against white people is a thing (it’s not).
On to another device that contributes to the racial coding of the Earth Walkers as POC: Night Fever. This illness’s origin is never explained, but it affects the Earth Walkers by infecting the women with depression and the men with madness that can drive them to rape women. For this reason, men and women in the Clan live separately. The only fix is for the Clan’s Moon Woman to Wash them of Night Fever every three nights or so. The illness’s gender-specific nature shuts trans and nonbinary people out of yet another novel.
Night Fever’s effects on the Earth Walker men in particular invoke the beastly, predatory Black/Indigenous man image we’ve seen in films like 1915’s The Birth of a Nation and other media. Better yet, Mari goes on to blame the men and call them animals who should be put down because they choose not to be Washed most of the time. Mari has the ability to Wash them, but she chooses not to and in fact intends to abandon her Clan, leaving them with no Moon Woman at all after her mother’s death.
Because yeah, Mari is a terrible human being with no real personality or redeeming qualities. Had Cast been willing to make Mari face the consequences of decisions like abandoning the Clan that needs her, she could have made for an excellent anti-heroine. Alas, Mari is presented as flawless and faces no consequences whatsoever. She’s completely willing to abandon her people to madness, depression, and death. Her characterization is inconsistent, as seen when she’s murderously angry at a character one minute and decides in the next to help the same character.
Another character who could be incredible if they faced consequences and were interpreted differently: Leda. A saintly mother/mentor, she is the only person Mari interacts with on a regular basis and is the one to tell her what the Clan will do to her if they find out her father was a Companion. Much more interesting: an interpretation of Leda as a tyrannical mother figure who wants to keep Mari to herself, so she lies/exaggerates to her daughter about the dangers of being exposed and controls the Clan with an iron fist. She’s the only trained Moon Woman of their Clan, after all. They need her to Wash them.
I swear to God I’m wrapping this up. The worldbuilding, in two words, is fucking disastrous. Moon Chosen is a far-future post-apocalyptic tale. In a massive infodump by a Treeple storyteller, we learn that the Sun “belched its displeasure” (that is an actual goddamn quote) when the people got too obsessed with technology and wiped out most of the planet, presumably via global warming after knocking out all the satellites and electricity.
Though the Treeple live in trees, status in their tribe is dependent on whether you have a dog. BECAUSE DOGS IN TREES. The dog system of there being Shepherds and Terriers and Leaders is never explained adequately and makes you wonder if only two breeds of dog survived the belching sun’s apocalypse. Infodumps that can either be integrated better or eliminated altogether add at least a hundred pages to a novel that’s already suffering from long stretches where absolutely nothing of importance happens.
As a final niggle: the poetry used to call on the power of the Sun and the Moon is just bad. Dear God, you could make a drinking game out of trying to read these without laughing or cringing.
OKAY. I THINK I’M DONE.
Am I insulting Cast personally with much of this review? Probably, yeah. But due to a combination of this novel’s content, the content of her deeply racist House of Night series, and how she actually treated someone who criticized her for using the r-word with alomb, I feel confident saying this novel’s racial issues represent Cast’s own beliefs. It’s sad to see books like this still coming out after all the hard work done by We Need Diverse Books and independent advocates for diversity in children’s literature.
Want to listen to me dissect this book with some friends? Check out this episode of Papercuts Podcast!! If you've ever wanted to hear what I sound like, this is your chance.
This is gonna be a long review and I’m not even covering everything I want to, so I’ve uploaded my notes on Google Drive for easy viewing. Just click the link! All quote citations and page numbers are in that document and based on the US hardcover edition.
Once upon a time, there was Revealing Eden by Victoria Hoyt, a novel that turned white people into the oppressed class and made the white main character donning blackface a narrative necessity. It was rightly called out for racism then and is still ridiculously racist now. If I weren’t already familiar with the Cast family’s brand of racism thanks to their House of Night series, I’d think Moon Chosen was written specifically to out-racist Revealing Eden and all the cultural appropriation and Magical Native American fuckery from the aforementioned series. Between blackface and all the racial coding, Moon Chosen may actually be the most racist YA novel of all.
The Earth Walkers, Mari’s maternal people, are described with phrases like “dirty, earthy skin,” “unrefined features,” “thick-browed,” and “wide-nosed,” among others. Her paternal people are the Companions, aka Tree Tribe, aka Treeple. Mari takes after them, so we can assume that most of them are fair-haired (“hair the color of sunlight”) with “small, straight nose[s]” and “clean, delicate brow[s].” Since she was a child, she and her mother have dyed her hair “dark and muddy, like brackish water” and used clay to alter her features as well as change her skin color. The different in skin tone is so significant that when she washes off all the clay, another character reacts to just how different her clay-covered skin color is versus her natural skin color.
I guarantee you the character isn’t saying “wow, your skin color is so different!” because Mari has tan lines. Mari doesn’t spend much time outside her underground home before the novel’s events.
Cast can try to cover it up by being vague about what color anyone‘s skin is, but THIS IS BLACKFACE.
!!!THIS IS BLACKFACE!!!
I could stop this review right goddamn there and be justified in my zero-star rating for Moon Chosen, but this ain’t even the full extent of this racist clusterfuck. I have four pages of notes in a Microsoft Word document because there’s so. Much. Bullshit.
The reason Mari has to cover her skin is that if her mixed heritage is discovered, she’ll be driven into Companion territory and left there, presumably dooming her to a life of slavery. This explanation comes over a hundred pages into the novel and should be shown rather than told. A much better opening to the novel would be her Clan capturing and punishing some Treeple. Then we would see firsthand what Mari has to fear instead of simply hearing about it from her infodump-happy mother Leda.
Blackface is also indicated by the sledgehammer-heavy racially coded language Cast describes the Earth Walkers and Treeple with. The descriptions of the Earth Walkers as listed above and their traditions indicate they’re coded as people of color, probably Native Americans/First Nations specifically (but with no specific tribe because of course not). The fair-haired Treeple are similarly coded as white and the Skin Stealer people who shouldn’t even be in this book read like descriptions of uncontacted tribes akin to those Michael Rockefeller was studying and documenting when he disappeared in 1961.
Seriously, the Skin Stealers have no place in the novel. If they had to exist–because they seem to exist so the Treeple look better in comparison–they shouldn’t have been introduced until the second book of the series and the Earth Walker/Treeple dynamic should have been the real focus.
That’s another way Cast racially codes the two core groups of the novel: the fair-haired, fine-featured people are the enslavers, the dark-haired, thicker-featured people the slaves. One quote explicitly outlines why the Treeple do so, painting them as a well-meaning people who genuinely believe they’re helping:
“We care for them. We give them purpose. We protect them, even from themselves. Yet they are so base that over and over again they flee our safety and care and, heedless, rush to their destruction. […] What can be done with such creatures?” (p. 61)
So Cast wants to be a Good White Woman(tm) and deconstruct racism in her novel. Well, it’s clear from the content that she doesn’t understand shit about how racism actually works. People who enslave others don’t have or even need a “good” reason like giving them a purpose to do so; they’ll make up their own reasons and characterize the people they’re enslaving as lazy, dumb, or otherwise subhuman. They convince themselves of this so thoroughly that even when presented with evidence to the contrary, they’ll still hold onto that belief.
The quote above and the Treeple’s perspective in the novel in general humanize racists just as badly as that new A&E show “Generation KKK” and all the fluffy features on fascists, white supremacists, and the like that have been coming out lately. Cast even tries to put the language of racism in the mouths of Earth Walkers when she has an Earth Walker character say that a Treeple boy they come across “isn’t a person.”
I bet Cast is someone who would say racism against white people is a thing (it’s not).
On to another device that contributes to the racial coding of the Earth Walkers as POC: Night Fever. This illness’s origin is never explained, but it affects the Earth Walkers by infecting the women with depression and the men with madness that can drive them to rape women. For this reason, men and women in the Clan live separately. The only fix is for the Clan’s Moon Woman to Wash them of Night Fever every three nights or so. The illness’s gender-specific nature shuts trans and nonbinary people out of yet another novel.
Night Fever’s effects on the Earth Walker men in particular invoke the beastly, predatory Black/Indigenous man image we’ve seen in films like 1915’s The Birth of a Nation and other media. Better yet, Mari goes on to blame the men and call them animals who should be put down because they choose not to be Washed most of the time. Mari has the ability to Wash them, but she chooses not to and in fact intends to abandon her Clan, leaving them with no Moon Woman at all after her mother’s death.
Because yeah, Mari is a terrible human being with no real personality or redeeming qualities. Had Cast been willing to make Mari face the consequences of decisions like abandoning the Clan that needs her, she could have made for an excellent anti-heroine. Alas, Mari is presented as flawless and faces no consequences whatsoever. She’s completely willing to abandon her people to madness, depression, and death. Her characterization is inconsistent, as seen when she’s murderously angry at a character one minute and decides in the next to help the same character.
Another character who could be incredible if they faced consequences and were interpreted differently: Leda. A saintly mother/mentor, she is the only person Mari interacts with on a regular basis and is the one to tell her what the Clan will do to her if they find out her father was a Companion. Much more interesting: an interpretation of Leda as a tyrannical mother figure who wants to keep Mari to herself, so she lies/exaggerates to her daughter about the dangers of being exposed and controls the Clan with an iron fist. She’s the only trained Moon Woman of their Clan, after all. They need her to Wash them.
I swear to God I’m wrapping this up. The worldbuilding, in two words, is fucking disastrous. Moon Chosen is a far-future post-apocalyptic tale. In a massive infodump by a Treeple storyteller, we learn that the Sun “belched its displeasure” (that is an actual goddamn quote) when the people got too obsessed with technology and wiped out most of the planet, presumably via global warming after knocking out all the satellites and electricity.
Though the Treeple live in trees, status in their tribe is dependent on whether you have a dog. BECAUSE DOGS IN TREES. The dog system of there being Shepherds and Terriers and Leaders is never explained adequately and makes you wonder if only two breeds of dog survived the belching sun’s apocalypse. Infodumps that can either be integrated better or eliminated altogether add at least a hundred pages to a novel that’s already suffering from long stretches where absolutely nothing of importance happens.
As a final niggle: the poetry used to call on the power of the Sun and the Moon is just bad. Dear God, you could make a drinking game out of trying to read these without laughing or cringing.
OKAY. I THINK I’M DONE.
Am I insulting Cast personally with much of this review? Probably, yeah. But due to a combination of this novel’s content, the content of her deeply racist House of Night series, and how she actually treated someone who criticized her for using the r-word with alomb, I feel confident saying this novel’s racial issues represent Cast’s own beliefs. It’s sad to see books like this still coming out after all the hard work done by We Need Diverse Books and independent advocates for diversity in children’s literature.
February 15, 2021
TW - Racism
When I (painfully) tried to read this book, I was in a GR-annoys-me phase (you know what I mean), and didn't get to post a ranty DNF review because 1)not worth my time and 2)well, NOT WORTH MY TIME. It was the second book from P.C. Cast I tried to read and... Well, I never managed to reach 10%? Because what the fuck is this writing? Really?
ANYWAY. I would have probably forgotten this book even existed if not for seeing it on the NY Times list. Not that it would surprise me that much, given that Red Queen made it its home and you all know what I think about Mare fucking Barrows and her woman hate. But then I read reviews about Moon Chosen and... this racist shit is not acceptable, guys. In addition for being a terribly written novel taking place in a poorly crafted 'world-building' with a TSTL heroine whose actions make no sense, it had to include blackfaces and negative portrayal of dark-skinned and biracial characters? Like??? In what world??
I strongly invite you to read Paige's and AJ's reviews if you want to know more about it *shivers*
As for me, I won't try again to read anything by P.C. Cast. There's just not enough reading time in my life to waste it reading terrible books.
October 1, 2016
5 moonlit stars!
An ARC has been kindly provided by St Martin's Press, via NetGalley.com, in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve read many books written by this author being her House of Night series or her Goddess Summoning series. When I realized she was writing a new series, I had to read it and I feel so privileged to have been chosen by the publisher as it’s been a truly magical read.
I loved so many things in this book, beginning with the whole new world PC Cast has created depicted with many details, from the plants to the beasts and of course the clans and tribes. As she took the time to set the scene and the tone, the beginning was a little slow and I was lost between who was who but once I got my bearing, I was sucked in this post-apocalyptic world all ready to follow the main characters many adventures.
I walked right alongside Mari and Leda crossing heavily thorned brambles to get to their hidden burrow. I prepared healing potions with crushed leaves and flowers. I hunted with Nik in the dangerous forest to find the lost puppy, trying to avoid Wolf Spiders. I bathed in the moonlight or in the sunlight, depending on the tribe to gather strength and sanity. I could see the colors, hear the screams of animals or men turned feral as they were plagued by the Night Fever, I could smell either the healing sage or the putrid odor of bodies affected by the blight.
It was vivid, it was real…
This particular world is our earth, many years after the sun destroyed all technology. Men tried to survive through clans and tribes. Each tribe had its own distinctive features. Some tribes you’ll love, others you’ll despise and be disgusted by their way to survive but you’ll always be able to see their intricacies and what made them special.
Honestly I was impressed by the author’s writing as with just a few sentences, she made me envision each new main or side character in all their uniqueness. PC Cast is an experienced and gifted writer and it shines through this book. Many side characters fill the book, each very well portrayed, each serving their purpose to sustain the story and make it a magical experience.
Mari, the female main character is girl you will love very relatable with her doubts and dreams. She’s been born from the love of a Companion, from the Tribe of the Trees and a Moon Woman from the Earth Walker clan. Companions and Earth Walker cannot join, cannot love. She is a taboo and as such had to hide her true nature to the Clan’s men and women for fear of exile. She was also an incredibly talented artist and her true gift was more promising than anyone could have hoped. Caught between two worlds, she did not fit in and longed for being accepted for who she truly was. My heart hurt many times for Mari as I could feel her longing, her hope but also her deep despair when a dramatic event hit her full force.
Nik is her counterpart in his own tribe, the Tribe of the Trees a tribe known for enslaving Earth Walker’s women. For different reasons, he did not meet his people high expectations and was also always on the outskirts. He needed to belong, to be seen as worthy. He also had his lot of drama. The most talented archer of his tribe, he could never be a leading archer and it was slowly eating him. He was also a very likeable character courageous, loyal to a fault and ready to change his mind and stray from his people way if it meant creating a better, fairer world.
To my delight the villains were true “black no gray” villains: Dead Eyes with his barbaric and disgusting ways; Thaddeus with his arrogance and permanent anger, worsening by the end of the book as it turned to full hatred.
Each character had his/her own quest: Mari had to discover who she was meant to be, Dead Eye wanted to save his people and Nik had to find the lost puppy, prove his worth. Their paths cross, clash sometimes for better or other times for worse changing the future of their respective tribes.
It’s quite a big book but not once did I feel boredom or thought some parts should have been cut. I was carried away far from my day to day life living in this magical land and experiencing every joy, hope, pain or fear Mari and Nick felt.
If you loved the House of Night series I just know you’ll love this one too. My only complaint? I have to wait months to know what will happen next!
An ARC has been kindly provided by St Martin's Press, via NetGalley.com, in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve read many books written by this author being her House of Night series or her Goddess Summoning series. When I realized she was writing a new series, I had to read it and I feel so privileged to have been chosen by the publisher as it’s been a truly magical read.
I loved so many things in this book, beginning with the whole new world PC Cast has created depicted with many details, from the plants to the beasts and of course the clans and tribes. As she took the time to set the scene and the tone, the beginning was a little slow and I was lost between who was who but once I got my bearing, I was sucked in this post-apocalyptic world all ready to follow the main characters many adventures.
I walked right alongside Mari and Leda crossing heavily thorned brambles to get to their hidden burrow. I prepared healing potions with crushed leaves and flowers. I hunted with Nik in the dangerous forest to find the lost puppy, trying to avoid Wolf Spiders. I bathed in the moonlight or in the sunlight, depending on the tribe to gather strength and sanity. I could see the colors, hear the screams of animals or men turned feral as they were plagued by the Night Fever, I could smell either the healing sage or the putrid odor of bodies affected by the blight.
It was vivid, it was real…
This particular world is our earth, many years after the sun destroyed all technology. Men tried to survive through clans and tribes. Each tribe had its own distinctive features. Some tribes you’ll love, others you’ll despise and be disgusted by their way to survive but you’ll always be able to see their intricacies and what made them special.
Honestly I was impressed by the author’s writing as with just a few sentences, she made me envision each new main or side character in all their uniqueness. PC Cast is an experienced and gifted writer and it shines through this book. Many side characters fill the book, each very well portrayed, each serving their purpose to sustain the story and make it a magical experience.
Mari, the female main character is girl you will love very relatable with her doubts and dreams. She’s been born from the love of a Companion, from the Tribe of the Trees and a Moon Woman from the Earth Walker clan. Companions and Earth Walker cannot join, cannot love. She is a taboo and as such had to hide her true nature to the Clan’s men and women for fear of exile. She was also an incredibly talented artist and her true gift was more promising than anyone could have hoped. Caught between two worlds, she did not fit in and longed for being accepted for who she truly was. My heart hurt many times for Mari as I could feel her longing, her hope but also her deep despair when a dramatic event hit her full force.
Nik is her counterpart in his own tribe, the Tribe of the Trees a tribe known for enslaving Earth Walker’s women. For different reasons, he did not meet his people high expectations and was also always on the outskirts. He needed to belong, to be seen as worthy. He also had his lot of drama. The most talented archer of his tribe, he could never be a leading archer and it was slowly eating him. He was also a very likeable character courageous, loyal to a fault and ready to change his mind and stray from his people way if it meant creating a better, fairer world.
To my delight the villains were true “black no gray” villains: Dead Eyes with his barbaric and disgusting ways; Thaddeus with his arrogance and permanent anger, worsening by the end of the book as it turned to full hatred.
Each character had his/her own quest: Mari had to discover who she was meant to be, Dead Eye wanted to save his people and Nik had to find the lost puppy, prove his worth. Their paths cross, clash sometimes for better or other times for worse changing the future of their respective tribes.
It’s quite a big book but not once did I feel boredom or thought some parts should have been cut. I was carried away far from my day to day life living in this magical land and experiencing every joy, hope, pain or fear Mari and Nick felt.
If you loved the House of Night series I just know you’ll love this one too. My only complaint? I have to wait months to know what will happen next!
February 15, 2017
This is a book founded on racist stereotypes, blackface, and justifiable slavery, and abominable characters framed as "the good guys". We did an in-depth discussion over at Papercuts Podcast, but I wanted to have a text entry on it, too, so here's notes dump. GoogleDocs formatting is better, but here's the text.
PLOT BEATS
-Nik's introduction is him getting called out for his misogyny, being a total sexist, privileged shitface
-We're still supposed to like him tho.
-Relationship between MC and mother is WEIRD
-They're bffs but also like sisters, calls her "mama"
-That Scene Where Leda Dies
-After almost dying like five times. IT IS COMICAL AND NOT TRAGIC.
-The Sun People's origin story so anti-technology
-But before all could be death
all could be death,
from the ending came the beginning
came the beginning.
For not all of the people were deaf,
not all were deaf.
Some left the soulless cities,
the soulless cities.
And followed the promise of green,
of healing green,
To the forest they turned!
To the forest they turned!
It's like a fucking Atlantic article.
- WE'RE HERE, WE'RE QUEER, WE'RE DEAD
-The scene where Nik's father tells him about killing Mari's dad
-"Father, I have no right to judge you. You did what you believed you had to do, and the Elders did what they believed was best for the greater good of our Tribe. It's just so horrible. I can't imagine what it's been like for you carrying around this secret for all of these years."
looooooooooooooooool IT MUST HAVE BEEN SO HARD 4 U, NOT TELLING ANYONE HOW U KILLED UR BEST FRIEND
-Take a drink every time Nik's dad says "son"
-Mari decides to save Nik's life for NO REASON EXCEPT PLOT
-"What? Why would you do that?" Sora asked.
"Sora, by now you should know that I'd do anything for Rigel. He led me here. He won't let you kill this man. I don't think he could make it much clearer that he wants me to help. So that's why I'm going to examine him—for Rigel."
OH PC CAST, U AND YOUR TRANSPARENT PLOT LOGIC.
-By the end, Mari is a Good and Kind Savior
-She had to Wash the women. Her conscience wouldn't allow her to leave—to retreat back to her comfortable burrow and the friends waiting for her there—while knowing Earth Walker women were suffering and she had had the opportunity to relieve them of that suffering, even if it was only for a little while.
-Is this a legit character turn?
-Total Danerys "mother" moment
-"Together they ran the length of the dock, unbarring and flinging wide the doors, and as they did so women began to spill out of the houses, crying, "Moon Woman! Our Moon Woman!"
And then they were surrounding her, and it seemed a million hands reached for her as voices cried, over and over, for her to Wash them—save them."
-Keeping in mind the Mari = "good" white-coded features girl who hated her people, and Moon ppl = POC, this is really fucking gross.
GENERAL FUCKERY
-THEY TALK IN EXPOSITION CONSTANTLY.
-See also: literally any part of this book. Mari talks to painting, herself, dog, First scene is Mari and her mom explaining their naming conventions to each other. Nik exposits to father about things they already know, right up until the end.
-The Dialogue is Atrocious
-Leda's smile was serene. "Hello, Sora. Actually, this was an impromptu acknowledgment of pride in my daughter." She lifted the hand that she'd linked with Mari so that the Clan was sure to see. "And part of that pride is that her gray eyes mark her as a Moon Woman candidate."
"As do mine," Sora said.
Mari stifled her irritated sigh and spoke up before her mother could respond. "Yes, but you're usually so busy fluttering your eyelashes at our Clansmen that sometimes it's hard to remember your eyes are gray."
That is the world's wordiest, shittiest burn.
-Mari is a Monster
-After her mother dies and she refuses to wash the Moon People: "This first. Then Mama. Then I'll sketch Mama," Mari said. Clutching the charcoal she started making notes about the screams. She realized she should have counted them, and made a separate note to herself about that—COUNT THE SCREAMS NEXT TIME. [...] Writing about the direction the sounds seemed to come from, how long they lasted, and how it sounded like it was only one person screaming, and that it had definitely been a male voice.
"We'll stay away from the southeast tomorrow," she told Rigel."
SO MATTER OF FACT. COUNT THE SCREAMS OF YOUR PPL'S SUFFERING.
-"I just met you and you enslave my people, but you're totally my soul mate, Nik."
-Threatens Sora's life with mauling
-Re: Rigel: "So get used to him and stop acting like a silly Scratcher."
"Don't call me that!" Sora said, causing Rigel to give her a hard look as he bared his teeth at her. "See what I mean." Sora pointed at the pup. "We can't even have a conversation without him threatening me."
Mari lifted a shoulder. "Be nice and he'll stop doing that."
Sora: "STOP CALLING ME SLURS"
Mari: "BE NICE AND I WON'T LET MY DOG MAUL U."
-Aesthetics
-Mari is the specialest of specials, with her glowing gray-silver AND gold eyes.
-The glowing frond pattern, what is it with Cast and her dumb fucking tattoos?
-Still equating beauty with goodness/ugliness with evil
-Cannibal people women = ugly, dried-up HAGS
-Dove - "marred" beauty, sexypaleperfect except for her "cavernous", empty eye sockets
-"Maeve turned to look up at the Guardian. Her face was still beautiful , even though it showed lines of age, loss, and regret."
-Moon People Appearance (aka POC and blackface)
-Though Leda was Moon Woman, and the soul of the Clan, she was as plain in appearance as were most of her people. Leda was thick-browed, wide-nosed, and narrow-lipped. But in Mari's sketch, her mother's thin lips were lifted in a brilliant smile that was reflected in the one feature of hers that was truly remarkable, her wide, silver-gray eyes.
-This is so clearly the author stepping in to canonically tell us who is pretty according to our real-world (white supremacist) beauty standards. There is NO WAY a character like Mari would consider her MOTHER or her people "plain", because she has NOBODY TO COMPARE THEM TO. Her standards of beauty would align with theirs, what the fuck kind of shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit writing is this?
-Describes her hair after dye as "dark and muddy, like brackish water. ‘Like the rest of the Scratchers'."
-Paste "thickens her features" (says some variation of this phrase three times)
-Her default features described as: ‘Mari traced the line of her clean brow, delicate where her mother's was thick, down her face to her high, well-formed cheekbones, then over her small, straight nose.'
-"It showed a tall man whose facial features, except for his eyes, mimicked Mari's. He was standing beside a waterfall smiling at a plain young woman."
-"Mari wrapped her arms around herself as if to keep her heart from bursting from her chest. She wanted to run down the bank, take her place at her mother's side, and once and for all claim her birthright without being frightened that she would be cursed for her fair hair and sunlight-absorbing skin."
OH MY GOD.
-Nik re: Jenna: She was just so pitiful and ugly!
-Nik re: Mari: Her hair had been dark and matted — her skin the dirty, earthy color of all Scratchers
-Mari re: Nik: She looked from his hair to his face, and was even more intrigued. His features were so different from those of the Clansmen. Nik was more refined, with strong cheekbones and full lips. Had his jaw not been so square and his neck and shoulders not so powerfully built, Mari would have been tempted to call him pretty.
-Cast's "progressive gender balance" is still gendered
-Earth Walkers all lived in burrows they created from the living earth, usually choosing difficult, hidden places for their homes. Women tended to group their burrows together. Men, even those who were mated, lived apart from the Clanswomen, as Night Fever made cohabitation as dangerous as it was difficult. But the Clan didn't hide from one another. The women simply controlled day-to-day life—raising children, growing crops, weaving and counseling and lawmaking. Men hunted and served as protectors.
-Gender roles are rigidly divided, even live separately, have separate magical afflictions. Women are still domestic overseers, men are still "hunters/protectors". No room for people who don't fit the gender binary.
-Wonder if it's like HoN where there's no room for people of opposite gender who want to do "male things"/"women things"
-Moon People Affliction
-Men turn violent and rapey = racist depiction of men of color as "violent raping savage" stereotype. Somebody take away PC Cast's pen and computer and fucking human being card.
-Women turn sad and depressed???
-THE POETRY (fucking kill me now)
-Moon Woman I proclaim myself to be
Greatly gifted I bare myself to thee.
Earth Mother aid me with your magick sight
Lend me strength on this full moon night.
Come, silver light—fill me to overflow
So those in my care, your healing will know.
-Sora is the real hero here
-"Finally. I've been trying to find you for days." Sora glared at her as she tried to smooth her dirty shift and pulled leaves out of her long, tangled hair.
"I told you if you followed me I would kill you."
"I know very well what you told me, and that's why I didn't follow you—though that was a very mean thing to say to me. But I forgive you because you were carrying your dead mother."
-Sora u treasure
-But Sora gets her "just punishment" for being a SLUT
-CONSTANTLY HUMBLED BEFORE/BY PROTAGONIST FOR HER SINS
-Home destroyed by men who knew where it was BC Sora hosted them in it, slutty mcslutslut
-Almost raped until Nik saves her
-"Mari and Nik turned to face her. Sora was standing by the hearth with a blanket wrapped around her, bruised and bloodied, but whole."
PC CAST IS NOT A HUMAN BEING.
-Which is a character turning point re: Nik's goodness, btw. Begs Nik's forgiveness, AND HE HAS THE GAUL TO "FORGIVE" HER.
THAT IS THIS BOOK'S SHIT DYNAMICS. Sora thinks it's better to let Nik - a member of the clan who enslaves and kills them for sport - die, and SHE'S in the wrong. SHE later has to be saved BY HIM from HER PEOPLE, and then beg for HIS forgiveness for not being willing initially to save his life.
-Nik shows his in-ness by asking Rigel to "bite Sora just a little bit for him", similar to how Stark was always taking Aphrodite down a peg.
-Wants to be Moon Woman so she won't get left alone, which is WAY MORE INTERESTING MOTIVATION THAN JUST BEING NICE.
-Thinks Companions are ugly, which is an ACCURATE STANDARD OF BEAUTY.
-LEGIT QUESTION: Do we like Cast's Mean Girls more BC the narrative doesn't act like they're perfect? Are they genuinely well-written, or do we just like them more because they're the only ones with the balls to be mean to the MCs?
-The only good part
-"Rigel looked up at Sora and then sneezed all over her mostly empty bowl of stew.
"Oh, yuck. The creature is disgusting." She plopped the bowl in front of the pup. Wagging, his tail, he gulped the rest of her sneeze-covered stew."
-This is only good bc my dog would totally do this if he were smart enough
PLOT BEATS
-Nik's introduction is him getting called out for his misogyny, being a total sexist, privileged shitface
-We're still supposed to like him tho.
-Relationship between MC and mother is WEIRD
-They're bffs but also like sisters, calls her "mama"
-That Scene Where Leda Dies
-After almost dying like five times. IT IS COMICAL AND NOT TRAGIC.
-The Sun People's origin story so anti-technology
-But before all could be death
all could be death,
from the ending came the beginning
came the beginning.
For not all of the people were deaf,
not all were deaf.
Some left the soulless cities,
the soulless cities.
And followed the promise of green,
of healing green,
To the forest they turned!
To the forest they turned!
It's like a fucking Atlantic article.
- WE'RE HERE, WE'RE QUEER, WE'RE DEAD
-The scene where Nik's father tells him about killing Mari's dad
-"Father, I have no right to judge you. You did what you believed you had to do, and the Elders did what they believed was best for the greater good of our Tribe. It's just so horrible. I can't imagine what it's been like for you carrying around this secret for all of these years."
looooooooooooooooool IT MUST HAVE BEEN SO HARD 4 U, NOT TELLING ANYONE HOW U KILLED UR BEST FRIEND
-Take a drink every time Nik's dad says "son"
-Mari decides to save Nik's life for NO REASON EXCEPT PLOT
-"What? Why would you do that?" Sora asked.
"Sora, by now you should know that I'd do anything for Rigel. He led me here. He won't let you kill this man. I don't think he could make it much clearer that he wants me to help. So that's why I'm going to examine him—for Rigel."
OH PC CAST, U AND YOUR TRANSPARENT PLOT LOGIC.
-By the end, Mari is a Good and Kind Savior
-She had to Wash the women. Her conscience wouldn't allow her to leave—to retreat back to her comfortable burrow and the friends waiting for her there—while knowing Earth Walker women were suffering and she had had the opportunity to relieve them of that suffering, even if it was only for a little while.
-Is this a legit character turn?
-Total Danerys "mother" moment
-"Together they ran the length of the dock, unbarring and flinging wide the doors, and as they did so women began to spill out of the houses, crying, "Moon Woman! Our Moon Woman!"
And then they were surrounding her, and it seemed a million hands reached for her as voices cried, over and over, for her to Wash them—save them."
-Keeping in mind the Mari = "good" white-coded features girl who hated her people, and Moon ppl = POC, this is really fucking gross.
GENERAL FUCKERY
-THEY TALK IN EXPOSITION CONSTANTLY.
-See also: literally any part of this book. Mari talks to painting, herself, dog, First scene is Mari and her mom explaining their naming conventions to each other. Nik exposits to father about things they already know, right up until the end.
-The Dialogue is Atrocious
-Leda's smile was serene. "Hello, Sora. Actually, this was an impromptu acknowledgment of pride in my daughter." She lifted the hand that she'd linked with Mari so that the Clan was sure to see. "And part of that pride is that her gray eyes mark her as a Moon Woman candidate."
"As do mine," Sora said.
Mari stifled her irritated sigh and spoke up before her mother could respond. "Yes, but you're usually so busy fluttering your eyelashes at our Clansmen that sometimes it's hard to remember your eyes are gray."
That is the world's wordiest, shittiest burn.
-Mari is a Monster
-After her mother dies and she refuses to wash the Moon People: "This first. Then Mama. Then I'll sketch Mama," Mari said. Clutching the charcoal she started making notes about the screams. She realized she should have counted them, and made a separate note to herself about that—COUNT THE SCREAMS NEXT TIME. [...] Writing about the direction the sounds seemed to come from, how long they lasted, and how it sounded like it was only one person screaming, and that it had definitely been a male voice.
"We'll stay away from the southeast tomorrow," she told Rigel."
SO MATTER OF FACT. COUNT THE SCREAMS OF YOUR PPL'S SUFFERING.
-"I just met you and you enslave my people, but you're totally my soul mate, Nik."
-Threatens Sora's life with mauling
-Re: Rigel: "So get used to him and stop acting like a silly Scratcher."
"Don't call me that!" Sora said, causing Rigel to give her a hard look as he bared his teeth at her. "See what I mean." Sora pointed at the pup. "We can't even have a conversation without him threatening me."
Mari lifted a shoulder. "Be nice and he'll stop doing that."
Sora: "STOP CALLING ME SLURS"
Mari: "BE NICE AND I WON'T LET MY DOG MAUL U."
-Aesthetics
-Mari is the specialest of specials, with her glowing gray-silver AND gold eyes.
-The glowing frond pattern, what is it with Cast and her dumb fucking tattoos?
-Still equating beauty with goodness/ugliness with evil
-Cannibal people women = ugly, dried-up HAGS
-Dove - "marred" beauty, sexypaleperfect except for her "cavernous", empty eye sockets
-"Maeve turned to look up at the Guardian. Her face was still beautiful , even though it showed lines of age, loss, and regret."
-Moon People Appearance (aka POC and blackface)
-Though Leda was Moon Woman, and the soul of the Clan, she was as plain in appearance as were most of her people. Leda was thick-browed, wide-nosed, and narrow-lipped. But in Mari's sketch, her mother's thin lips were lifted in a brilliant smile that was reflected in the one feature of hers that was truly remarkable, her wide, silver-gray eyes.
-This is so clearly the author stepping in to canonically tell us who is pretty according to our real-world (white supremacist) beauty standards. There is NO WAY a character like Mari would consider her MOTHER or her people "plain", because she has NOBODY TO COMPARE THEM TO. Her standards of beauty would align with theirs, what the fuck kind of shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit writing is this?
-Describes her hair after dye as "dark and muddy, like brackish water. ‘Like the rest of the Scratchers'."
-Paste "thickens her features" (says some variation of this phrase three times)
-Her default features described as: ‘Mari traced the line of her clean brow, delicate where her mother's was thick, down her face to her high, well-formed cheekbones, then over her small, straight nose.'
-"It showed a tall man whose facial features, except for his eyes, mimicked Mari's. He was standing beside a waterfall smiling at a plain young woman."
-"Mari wrapped her arms around herself as if to keep her heart from bursting from her chest. She wanted to run down the bank, take her place at her mother's side, and once and for all claim her birthright without being frightened that she would be cursed for her fair hair and sunlight-absorbing skin."
OH MY GOD.
-Nik re: Jenna: She was just so pitiful and ugly!
-Nik re: Mari: Her hair had been dark and matted — her skin the dirty, earthy color of all Scratchers
-Mari re: Nik: She looked from his hair to his face, and was even more intrigued. His features were so different from those of the Clansmen. Nik was more refined, with strong cheekbones and full lips. Had his jaw not been so square and his neck and shoulders not so powerfully built, Mari would have been tempted to call him pretty.
-Cast's "progressive gender balance" is still gendered
-Earth Walkers all lived in burrows they created from the living earth, usually choosing difficult, hidden places for their homes. Women tended to group their burrows together. Men, even those who were mated, lived apart from the Clanswomen, as Night Fever made cohabitation as dangerous as it was difficult. But the Clan didn't hide from one another. The women simply controlled day-to-day life—raising children, growing crops, weaving and counseling and lawmaking. Men hunted and served as protectors.
-Gender roles are rigidly divided, even live separately, have separate magical afflictions. Women are still domestic overseers, men are still "hunters/protectors". No room for people who don't fit the gender binary.
-Wonder if it's like HoN where there's no room for people of opposite gender who want to do "male things"/"women things"
-Moon People Affliction
-Men turn violent and rapey = racist depiction of men of color as "violent raping savage" stereotype. Somebody take away PC Cast's pen and computer and fucking human being card.
-Women turn sad and depressed???
-THE POETRY (fucking kill me now)
-Moon Woman I proclaim myself to be
Greatly gifted I bare myself to thee.
Earth Mother aid me with your magick sight
Lend me strength on this full moon night.
Come, silver light—fill me to overflow
So those in my care, your healing will know.
-Sora is the real hero here
-"Finally. I've been trying to find you for days." Sora glared at her as she tried to smooth her dirty shift and pulled leaves out of her long, tangled hair.
"I told you if you followed me I would kill you."
"I know very well what you told me, and that's why I didn't follow you—though that was a very mean thing to say to me. But I forgive you because you were carrying your dead mother."
-Sora u treasure
-But Sora gets her "just punishment" for being a SLUT
-CONSTANTLY HUMBLED BEFORE/BY PROTAGONIST FOR HER SINS
-Home destroyed by men who knew where it was BC Sora hosted them in it, slutty mcslutslut
-Almost raped until Nik saves her
-"Mari and Nik turned to face her. Sora was standing by the hearth with a blanket wrapped around her, bruised and bloodied, but whole."
PC CAST IS NOT A HUMAN BEING.
-Which is a character turning point re: Nik's goodness, btw. Begs Nik's forgiveness, AND HE HAS THE GAUL TO "FORGIVE" HER.
THAT IS THIS BOOK'S SHIT DYNAMICS. Sora thinks it's better to let Nik - a member of the clan who enslaves and kills them for sport - die, and SHE'S in the wrong. SHE later has to be saved BY HIM from HER PEOPLE, and then beg for HIS forgiveness for not being willing initially to save his life.
-Nik shows his in-ness by asking Rigel to "bite Sora just a little bit for him", similar to how Stark was always taking Aphrodite down a peg.
-Wants to be Moon Woman so she won't get left alone, which is WAY MORE INTERESTING MOTIVATION THAN JUST BEING NICE.
-Thinks Companions are ugly, which is an ACCURATE STANDARD OF BEAUTY.
-LEGIT QUESTION: Do we like Cast's Mean Girls more BC the narrative doesn't act like they're perfect? Are they genuinely well-written, or do we just like them more because they're the only ones with the balls to be mean to the MCs?
-The only good part
-"Rigel looked up at Sora and then sneezed all over her mostly empty bowl of stew.
"Oh, yuck. The creature is disgusting." She plopped the bowl in front of the pup. Wagging, his tail, he gulped the rest of her sneeze-covered stew."
-This is only good bc my dog would totally do this if he were smart enough
December 13, 2016
@32%
I can't listen to another minute. I do not like these authors' style, I find the narrators voice annoying and I just don't care about the characters at all.
Major Gripes
1) Repetition: Every time a character speaks to another they use their name. Omg the "Mama, Mama, Mama.." had me wanting to scream "Make it stop" There was also repetition the story, events rehashed and retold many times.
2) TSTL- this girl who is and adult but acts like a child, get's herself into situations that common sense and her mother's warnings tell her not to. Life threatening situations !
3) The slavers leader just now after years and years feels like there may be more to his captives ?
Three red flags that hit me upside the head. I'm done. This author is not one I plan on reading again
I can't listen to another minute. I do not like these authors' style, I find the narrators voice annoying and I just don't care about the characters at all.
Major Gripes
1) Repetition: Every time a character speaks to another they use their name. Omg the "Mama, Mama, Mama.." had me wanting to scream "Make it stop" There was also repetition the story, events rehashed and retold many times.
2) TSTL- this girl who is and adult but acts like a child, get's herself into situations that common sense and her mother's warnings tell her not to. Life threatening situations !
3) The slavers leader just now after years and years feels like there may be more to his captives ?
Three red flags that hit me upside the head. I'm done. This author is not one I plan on reading again
January 3, 2017
I don’t know how I got roped into this, but it appears I’m reading more P.C. Cast. I blame Cynna, Olivia, Maverynthia and Paige for my pain and suffering. I will be joining them on the Papercuts Podcast to discuss this atrocity we have all endured.
Because this book is just so very… typical. It was utterly awful in several ways.
I think to understand a lot of the PROBLEMATIC awful elements of this book as opposed to the awful WRITING elements of this book and the awful CHARACTER elements of this book it is necessary to look at how this book treats race
A very very very very simplistic reading of this book would suggest there are no POC in this book – but I think that’s largely because an editor (yes, I actually believe this book may have gone near an editor despite all evidence to this contrary) looked at this and said “you’re going to make them POC? Nooooo, stop this Save the Pearls awful!”. This means the book is very very very very careful not to outright label skin colour of anyone. There’s one reference to Earth Walker skin colour:
“The dirty, earthy colour of all Scratchers”
Which pretty much makes their dark skin confirmed in the most utterly racist way possible.
Even if it were ambiguous and it is rarely mentioned, that doesn’t mean the racialisation of the Earth Walkers and the Tree Tribe aren’t clear. The physical descriptions have several markers – the Earth Walkers have black, coarse hair, broad noses; the Tree Tribe has blond hair, small noses. And these are just some examples – Mari spends most of the book hiding her mixed race identity using dark hair dye and darkening her skin and disguising her features with mud – which screams darkening her skin. Sure she could be disguising herself by being the person who is literally and clearly blathered in mud all the time
But… really? I mean can someone even live like this? She thinks the tribe ostracises her – but if she is this filthy all the time is it any surprise everyone backs away from her. Ultimately, another character openly comments that her skin is a different colour. It’s hard to avoid the idea that the Earth Walkers are not a POC analogue even if not POC themselves
And we know that with some extra really problematic tropes that have been dropped on them. The Earth Walkers are cursed – at night if they are not “washed” in moonlight the women become passive, despairing, depressed and suicidal while the man become animalistic, violent, savage rapists. So much so that even washed they cannot live with their wives and daughters because big angry rapey men – with POC coding this isn’t just problematic, this is disgustingly racist. Seeing this the Tree Tribe kills the animalistic men and enslaves the women – assuming they’re helpless, pathetic, incapable of helping themselves and the good noble tree tribe HAS to enslave them for THEIR OWN GOOD
Seriously, this white saviour narrative is so strong Cecil Rhodes would ask you to steady on a little. Not only are these magical slave/slaughter traits disgusting in and of themselves, but they’re also used as redemption for the Tree Tribe’s slavery. One thing this book does manage is to make it clear that enslaving the Earth Walkers is wrong – but this narrative of woo-woo JUSTIFIES them, it absolves them. They’re not evil, they just didn’t understand that this entire race of people they were murdering didn’t want to be murdered and enslaved. They’re killing them FOR THEIR OWN GOOD.
The woo-woo which causes the POC to rape and be enslaved is an appalling, insurmountable part of this book which pollutes my tablet with its presence. But it’s not the only issue – the way the Earth Walkers (coded POC) and the Tree Tribe (coded white) are described is utterly awful. The Earth Walkers are ugly – coarse, rough featured, plain; while the Tree Tribe are “refined”. This is the objective description of the two people – the beautiful blonds and the ugly, coarse POC who are rapists and enslaved.
This is awful – and a lot of this awful comes from Mari, our protagonist. Oh how I hate her. The only reason she isn’t the most hate of protagonists is because The House of Night and the hot mess of Zoey exists and give this heap of wasted trees 12 books I’m sure I’ll loathe Mari as muchl
Mari is half tree tribe, half Earth Walker. She was raised by her mother, Leda, an Earth Walker. She has never ever met her father who died when she was born. She doesn’t seem to have ever met a member of the Tree Tribe before this book. She knows of them only as brutal slavers and the heritage which forces her to hide inside and plaster herself in blackface mud. She is not as product of Tree Tribe culture at all
So why does SHE think the Earth Walkers are all the ugliest, coarse plainness while the Tree Tribes are so pretty? Where has she even got this beauty standard from? Who taught her to call her OWN MOTHER ugly while putting the murdering tree people on a pedestal of blond, green eyed beauty? How does someone grow up, ostracised in a society, having to hide their features and decide EVERYONE in that society is grossly ugly except her precious self? I don’t care what kind of self-confidence you have, this is not how things work, even if you are so self-centred small planets should orbit you?!
Any my gods is she self-centred and hateful. Especially to her OWN people, the people who raised her, her mother’s people. She refers to the Earth Walkers as “Scratchers”, a slur the Tree Tribe uses to denigrate the Earth Walkers… how does she even KNOW this word? She has no exposure to Tree Tribe culture, so how has she heard their slurs? And why, good gods, why, is she using it all the damn time? Why has she absorbed this level of contempt for her own people that she psychically learns insults about them?!
Read More
Because this book is just so very… typical. It was utterly awful in several ways.
I think to understand a lot of the PROBLEMATIC awful elements of this book as opposed to the awful WRITING elements of this book and the awful CHARACTER elements of this book it is necessary to look at how this book treats race
A very very very very simplistic reading of this book would suggest there are no POC in this book – but I think that’s largely because an editor (yes, I actually believe this book may have gone near an editor despite all evidence to this contrary) looked at this and said “you’re going to make them POC? Nooooo, stop this Save the Pearls awful!”. This means the book is very very very very careful not to outright label skin colour of anyone. There’s one reference to Earth Walker skin colour:
“The dirty, earthy colour of all Scratchers”
Which pretty much makes their dark skin confirmed in the most utterly racist way possible.
Even if it were ambiguous and it is rarely mentioned, that doesn’t mean the racialisation of the Earth Walkers and the Tree Tribe aren’t clear. The physical descriptions have several markers – the Earth Walkers have black, coarse hair, broad noses; the Tree Tribe has blond hair, small noses. And these are just some examples – Mari spends most of the book hiding her mixed race identity using dark hair dye and darkening her skin and disguising her features with mud – which screams darkening her skin. Sure she could be disguising herself by being the person who is literally and clearly blathered in mud all the time
But… really? I mean can someone even live like this? She thinks the tribe ostracises her – but if she is this filthy all the time is it any surprise everyone backs away from her. Ultimately, another character openly comments that her skin is a different colour. It’s hard to avoid the idea that the Earth Walkers are not a POC analogue even if not POC themselves
And we know that with some extra really problematic tropes that have been dropped on them. The Earth Walkers are cursed – at night if they are not “washed” in moonlight the women become passive, despairing, depressed and suicidal while the man become animalistic, violent, savage rapists. So much so that even washed they cannot live with their wives and daughters because big angry rapey men – with POC coding this isn’t just problematic, this is disgustingly racist. Seeing this the Tree Tribe kills the animalistic men and enslaves the women – assuming they’re helpless, pathetic, incapable of helping themselves and the good noble tree tribe HAS to enslave them for THEIR OWN GOOD
Seriously, this white saviour narrative is so strong Cecil Rhodes would ask you to steady on a little. Not only are these magical slave/slaughter traits disgusting in and of themselves, but they’re also used as redemption for the Tree Tribe’s slavery. One thing this book does manage is to make it clear that enslaving the Earth Walkers is wrong – but this narrative of woo-woo JUSTIFIES them, it absolves them. They’re not evil, they just didn’t understand that this entire race of people they were murdering didn’t want to be murdered and enslaved. They’re killing them FOR THEIR OWN GOOD.
The woo-woo which causes the POC to rape and be enslaved is an appalling, insurmountable part of this book which pollutes my tablet with its presence. But it’s not the only issue – the way the Earth Walkers (coded POC) and the Tree Tribe (coded white) are described is utterly awful. The Earth Walkers are ugly – coarse, rough featured, plain; while the Tree Tribe are “refined”. This is the objective description of the two people – the beautiful blonds and the ugly, coarse POC who are rapists and enslaved.
This is awful – and a lot of this awful comes from Mari, our protagonist. Oh how I hate her. The only reason she isn’t the most hate of protagonists is because The House of Night and the hot mess of Zoey exists and give this heap of wasted trees 12 books I’m sure I’ll loathe Mari as muchl
Mari is half tree tribe, half Earth Walker. She was raised by her mother, Leda, an Earth Walker. She has never ever met her father who died when she was born. She doesn’t seem to have ever met a member of the Tree Tribe before this book. She knows of them only as brutal slavers and the heritage which forces her to hide inside and plaster herself in blackface mud. She is not as product of Tree Tribe culture at all
So why does SHE think the Earth Walkers are all the ugliest, coarse plainness while the Tree Tribes are so pretty? Where has she even got this beauty standard from? Who taught her to call her OWN MOTHER ugly while putting the murdering tree people on a pedestal of blond, green eyed beauty? How does someone grow up, ostracised in a society, having to hide their features and decide EVERYONE in that society is grossly ugly except her precious self? I don’t care what kind of self-confidence you have, this is not how things work, even if you are so self-centred small planets should orbit you?!
Any my gods is she self-centred and hateful. Especially to her OWN people, the people who raised her, her mother’s people. She refers to the Earth Walkers as “Scratchers”, a slur the Tree Tribe uses to denigrate the Earth Walkers… how does she even KNOW this word? She has no exposure to Tree Tribe culture, so how has she heard their slurs? And why, good gods, why, is she using it all the damn time? Why has she absorbed this level of contempt for her own people that she psychically learns insults about them?!
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August 14, 2016
Dogs, Skin Stealers and Earth Walkers Oh My!
Moon Chosen
Rating: 5/5
Summary: Mari is half Earth Walker and half Companion. Her dual “ethnicity” has always caused her and her mother to be extremely cautious. She must pretend to be a sickly full-blooded Earth Walker by dying her hair, skin and avoiding sunlight at all costs. In the sunlight, Mari’s skin comes alive with the green glowing Mother Plant fronds that declare her Companion bloodline. When a small pup chooses her as his Companion, Mari’s life changes.
Nik is a Companion who has not been chosen by a canine. It causes him much strife since his Father is the Leader and Sun Priest of their Tribe. When a pup escapes the Tribe on his watch, Nik feels responsible and takes it on himself to track the dog. When he goes into Scratcher territory, he crosses paths with a unique girl who can harness the power of the Sun.
What both Mari and Nik don’t know is that change is broiling in the Skin Stealer clans. And this change could endanger both their families.
I received this an Advance Readers’ Copy in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley, thanks to the author and her publisher.
I have been a fan of P.C. Cast since I found her House of Night books my freshmen year of high school. I was worried that the world wouldn’t be as imaginative and complex as HoN was, but I shouldn’t have. Cast has created a beautiful reality with three distinct cultures that are trying to coexist with each other. Misconceptions run rampant and change doesn’t come easily.
Mari was an interesting character. I liked her because she was so brave and willing to do things for those she cared about. In the beginning, Mari is very afraid of what makes her different and the powers she may have. Over the course of the events, Mari grows up and in to those powers. She also begins to trust herself and believes in her choices. It was wonderful to see this change and watch her become such a strong character. I hope she continues her growth in the next novel.
My other favorite character was Sora. At first glance, she seems shallow, flirtatious and lazy. We come to find out there is much more to Sora than her appearance gives her credit. She deeply values the friendships she develops and she has an appreciation for her own culture and future role in the Clan.
The plot is highly intriguing as we follow Nik, Mari, Dead Eye of the Skin Stealers and occasionally Thaddeus. Nik and Mari do most of the narrating, which is totally cool with me because I don’t like the Skin Stealers or Thaddeus. They’re evil and creepy! The book is long, but it never felt like it dragged for me. I loved learning more about each culture and what they do. Especially when Mari is healing, I found those sections the most intriguing since she uses a lot of herbs and her powers. There was a lot of thought put into developing this world and making each culture unique.
Overall, I seriously loved this and can’t believe I’ll have to wait forever for the next one!
Moon Chosen
Rating: 5/5
Summary: Mari is half Earth Walker and half Companion. Her dual “ethnicity” has always caused her and her mother to be extremely cautious. She must pretend to be a sickly full-blooded Earth Walker by dying her hair, skin and avoiding sunlight at all costs. In the sunlight, Mari’s skin comes alive with the green glowing Mother Plant fronds that declare her Companion bloodline. When a small pup chooses her as his Companion, Mari’s life changes.
Nik is a Companion who has not been chosen by a canine. It causes him much strife since his Father is the Leader and Sun Priest of their Tribe. When a pup escapes the Tribe on his watch, Nik feels responsible and takes it on himself to track the dog. When he goes into Scratcher territory, he crosses paths with a unique girl who can harness the power of the Sun.
What both Mari and Nik don’t know is that change is broiling in the Skin Stealer clans. And this change could endanger both their families.
I received this an Advance Readers’ Copy in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley, thanks to the author and her publisher.
I have been a fan of P.C. Cast since I found her House of Night books my freshmen year of high school. I was worried that the world wouldn’t be as imaginative and complex as HoN was, but I shouldn’t have. Cast has created a beautiful reality with three distinct cultures that are trying to coexist with each other. Misconceptions run rampant and change doesn’t come easily.
Mari was an interesting character. I liked her because she was so brave and willing to do things for those she cared about. In the beginning, Mari is very afraid of what makes her different and the powers she may have. Over the course of the events, Mari grows up and in to those powers. She also begins to trust herself and believes in her choices. It was wonderful to see this change and watch her become such a strong character. I hope she continues her growth in the next novel.
My other favorite character was Sora. At first glance, she seems shallow, flirtatious and lazy. We come to find out there is much more to Sora than her appearance gives her credit. She deeply values the friendships she develops and she has an appreciation for her own culture and future role in the Clan.
The plot is highly intriguing as we follow Nik, Mari, Dead Eye of the Skin Stealers and occasionally Thaddeus. Nik and Mari do most of the narrating, which is totally cool with me because I don’t like the Skin Stealers or Thaddeus. They’re evil and creepy! The book is long, but it never felt like it dragged for me. I loved learning more about each culture and what they do. Especially when Mari is healing, I found those sections the most intriguing since she uses a lot of herbs and her powers. There was a lot of thought put into developing this world and making each culture unique.
Overall, I seriously loved this and can’t believe I’ll have to wait forever for the next one!
August 17, 2016
Mari has been raised by her mother who is an Earth Walker. Calling on the power of the moon her mother can heal the clan and needs to name a replacement for her position. Mari should be the one chosen but Mari has had to hide half of herself her whole life because her father was not of the Earth Walkers. When an attack happens Mari decides to stop hiding the other half of herself after she is chosen by a canine from her father's clan.
Nik is from the clan that Mari's father had come from and is out with other members from his tribe searching the lost pup when he sees Mari call on the power of the sun. Nik finds out who Mari might be from his father who was friends with Mari's father and is determined to track her down. Unfortunately what brings the two together is Nik needing Mari's help.
Moon Chosen was an intriguing read that had me hooked with parts of the story and a bit confused and bored with others. Early on the story jumps POVs rather quickly and it almost feels like you've managed to switch books mid-reading. It was hard to figure out just what each section meant to the others until fairly late in the book.
I think for me personally I would have enjoyed this one a lot more without the slow build and confusing start. The length of the book is over six hundred pages and it felt there could have been a more direct approach to the world and character building that could have cut the book down quite a bit and not had me wondering if I should continue on reading in the beginning.
I think around midway through or perhaps a bit farther everything began to make sense in the story and the parts that I had been enjoying in the earlier sections merged with the parts I was a bit iffy on and it became a much more enjoyable fantasy read.
Overall, 3.5 stars for Moon Chosen. An enjoyable fantasy read with interesting concepts to the different tribes of people but a very slow pace that could get a bit confusing.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
Nik is from the clan that Mari's father had come from and is out with other members from his tribe searching the lost pup when he sees Mari call on the power of the sun. Nik finds out who Mari might be from his father who was friends with Mari's father and is determined to track her down. Unfortunately what brings the two together is Nik needing Mari's help.
Moon Chosen was an intriguing read that had me hooked with parts of the story and a bit confused and bored with others. Early on the story jumps POVs rather quickly and it almost feels like you've managed to switch books mid-reading. It was hard to figure out just what each section meant to the others until fairly late in the book.
I think for me personally I would have enjoyed this one a lot more without the slow build and confusing start. The length of the book is over six hundred pages and it felt there could have been a more direct approach to the world and character building that could have cut the book down quite a bit and not had me wondering if I should continue on reading in the beginning.
I think around midway through or perhaps a bit farther everything began to make sense in the story and the parts that I had been enjoying in the earlier sections merged with the parts I was a bit iffy on and it became a much more enjoyable fantasy read.
Overall, 3.5 stars for Moon Chosen. An enjoyable fantasy read with interesting concepts to the different tribes of people but a very slow pace that could get a bit confusing.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
December 21, 2016
TRIGGER WARNING: THis book contains rape, threats of rape, racism and homophobia and thus I will be highlighting them
So if you love racist as hell books like "The Continent" have we got a book for you! Also probably want to go read one of those 5★ reviews.
First of all we have Earth Walkers who are the black, maybe dark skinned Asian people based on the fact that "but her eyes were wrong. They were bigger and almost almond-shaped." Presumable "almost" meaning that her Companion father helped her to get more "normal" white people eyes.
Then there are the Companions. The Tree Tribe. These are the blond haired, blue eyed white people that are "WISE AND JUST" even though they enslave and murder the Earth Walkers and call them Scratchers. I don't remember if there was a vulgar term for Companions.. probably isn't one because they are so White and Pure and Wise and JUST! They have dogs. Shephard are better than Terriers. What happened to all the other dogs? Who knows! This is dystopia.
Finally we have the Skin Stealers. They are the cannibals that don't really do anything except paint themselves like Native Americans, have lots of sex, skin people and eat them. We don't have a vulgar term for them either.
Now takes all of this together and add a lot of filler and you'll have this book. This was a very tedious book to get through having so many words that don't add to the story at all.
We have Mari that whines that she's not the Moon Woman, yet she fakes being sick and doesn't really practice. Compare this with Sora that does want to be the Moon Woman, but we are supposed to see her in a bad light because she makes eyes at the guys and acts like a typical person. She's kind of the princess type that's weak and is going to need Mari to save her later. She also almost gets raped just to put her in her place.
Then there is Nik the Companions that is also part of the white savior trope that we have going on here. Mari is basically the other half.
Oh then there's the Night Fever that strikes the Earth Walkers. We don't know what causes it, but
Drawing down the moon can cleanse them of it. This needs to be performed every 3 days or the women turn into a depressed crying mess and the men turn into violent rapists. :D Fun right?
Now comes the fun when a shepard pup escapes the Treeple and runs off to Mari. So all the Treeple get together to find the pup leading to Mari's clan where then eventually leads to Mari's mom dying, Jenna being enslaved, Jenna's dad being killed, Danita being "raped so bad she might be unable to have children" and pretty much all of Mari's clan being murdered by the Companions.
Where do the Skin Stealers fit into this? They kind of bait the Companions and set it up for Mari and Nik to meet. The lesbian couple is broken up by one of them dying. That's about it. Oh and they make Thaddeus evil, even though he was on the path because "Terrier people can't be leaders so I'm going to kill everyone to make a point." Then Mari washes the people that the tree people kidnapped and everything is on fire. Then there is maybe a trans person, or a trans cat? Right at the end.
All amongst this is Mari calling her people Scratchers the derogatory name for them that she leart from somewhere.
Now amongst this is just endless spewage of words that you can honestly skim past and still understand what's going on. Add to this copy paste basic Wiccan rituals that you can find in any 101 book. Cast doesn't even do this once just to illustrate. No, it's every. Damn. Time.
So we have maybe Native American stand ins that kill and eat people, paint their bodies and wear their skin.
Black, maybe Asian or Islander men that go "crazy" and rape and kill people when they aren't washed every 3 days. The women cry a lot and die of a broken heart.
And the white people that kill and enslave the Earth Walkers but who are called "wise and just" by Mari's mother, who is an Earth Walker.
I could talk about the amazing amount of misogyny going on in here, but I think others have covered it. Because we have that going on too.
So if you love racist as hell books like "The Continent" have we got a book for you! Also probably want to go read one of those 5★ reviews.
First of all we have Earth Walkers who are the black, maybe dark skinned Asian people based on the fact that "but her eyes were wrong. They were bigger and almost almond-shaped." Presumable "almost" meaning that her Companion father helped her to get more "normal" white people eyes.
Then there are the Companions. The Tree Tribe. These are the blond haired, blue eyed white people that are "WISE AND JUST" even though they enslave and murder the Earth Walkers and call them Scratchers. I don't remember if there was a vulgar term for Companions.. probably isn't one because they are so White and Pure and Wise and JUST! They have dogs. Shephard are better than Terriers. What happened to all the other dogs? Who knows! This is dystopia.
Finally we have the Skin Stealers. They are the cannibals that don't really do anything except paint themselves like Native Americans, have lots of sex, skin people and eat them. We don't have a vulgar term for them either.
Now takes all of this together and add a lot of filler and you'll have this book. This was a very tedious book to get through having so many words that don't add to the story at all.
We have Mari that whines that she's not the Moon Woman, yet she fakes being sick and doesn't really practice. Compare this with Sora that does want to be the Moon Woman, but we are supposed to see her in a bad light because she makes eyes at the guys and acts like a typical person. She's kind of the princess type that's weak and is going to need Mari to save her later. She also almost gets raped just to put her in her place.
Then there is Nik the Companions that is also part of the white savior trope that we have going on here. Mari is basically the other half.
Oh then there's the Night Fever that strikes the Earth Walkers. We don't know what causes it, but
Drawing down the moon can cleanse them of it. This needs to be performed every 3 days or the women turn into a depressed crying mess and the men turn into violent rapists. :D Fun right?Now comes the fun when a shepard pup escapes the Treeple and runs off to Mari. So all the Treeple get together to find the pup leading to Mari's clan where then eventually leads to Mari's mom dying, Jenna being enslaved, Jenna's dad being killed, Danita being "raped so bad she might be unable to have children" and pretty much all of Mari's clan being murdered by the Companions.
Where do the Skin Stealers fit into this? They kind of bait the Companions and set it up for Mari and Nik to meet. The lesbian couple is broken up by one of them dying. That's about it. Oh and they make Thaddeus evil, even though he was on the path because "Terrier people can't be leaders so I'm going to kill everyone to make a point." Then Mari washes the people that the tree people kidnapped and everything is on fire. Then there is maybe a trans person, or a trans cat? Right at the end.
All amongst this is Mari calling her people Scratchers the derogatory name for them that she leart from somewhere.
Now amongst this is just endless spewage of words that you can honestly skim past and still understand what's going on. Add to this copy paste basic Wiccan rituals that you can find in any 101 book. Cast doesn't even do this once just to illustrate. No, it's every. Damn. Time.
So we have maybe Native American stand ins that kill and eat people, paint their bodies and wear their skin.
Black, maybe Asian or Islander men that go "crazy" and rape and kill people when they aren't washed every 3 days. The women cry a lot and die of a broken heart.
And the white people that kill and enslave the Earth Walkers but who are called "wise and just" by Mari's mother, who is an Earth Walker.
I could talk about the amazing amount of misogyny going on in here, but I think others have covered it. Because we have that going on too.
November 26, 2017
I found this book thoroughly enjoyable, even with the vast world building (which I usually do not like). The characters are interesting and there is a good amount of them so you get many different perspectives. I am glad I already have Sun Warrior here because I am very much ready for this story to continue!
Overall, intriguing and a good pace.
Overall, intriguing and a good pace.
October 18, 2016
**Review copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.**
Moon Chosen quickly turned into an obsession for me. One of those reads that you can't put down and will try to read everywhere. No really. At one point I begged a charger off of some poor stranger so that I could just KEEP READING! When someone was talking to me in line while checking out I held up my Kindle and said, “Middle. Book. Reading.” (Not one of my finest moments.)
I will be the first to admit you have to really pay attention to the start of the book. There's three main leads and each represent a group of people. Earth Walker's, People, and Companions are the tribes here. What might be confusing is that three main leads for each group are part of the changing point of view, and some other characters. At the beginning you really have to take note of the names as the other tribes have different names for each other. Not to mention completely different ideas of what they're like. Pile that on top of learning this rich world it might be overwhelming.
I love how brave this book is! Touching on slavery, all kinds of murder/cruelty, asking questions about societies accepted ideas, and cannibalism. Moon Chase smoothly takes on many hot topic issues and deftly drops it into this rich world without feeling heavy handed. Or preachy. The ideas and actions of the characters will leave you thinking every time you have to put the book down.
Cast's writing has always been addicting. A lot of people asked me if this was like the writing in The House of Night series. No, this is like Cast's other books. The writing is stunning and the attention to detail is fabulous! Some of the characters I thought echoed a few from The House of Night, mainly the mean girl who eventually becomes a friend. Other than the lore of herbs and the magic of the Moon Mother's I thought it was pretty original from that series. Oh, and there is animal bonding. Companions bond with dogs, and apparently there's a branch of clan that bonds with cats. (Okay, so there are quite a few similarities. It still feels refreshing though!)
Thank you! Thank you Cast for creating Mari! What a wonderful lead. She's strong and opinionated. Watching her grow as a person was a pleasure. Even if I didn't always agree with her actions and ideas I understood her. Romance was not a driving force behind her actions. Yes, there is a romance. It is not the focus though and it actually REALISTICALLY builds up in the story. So that I bought the emotions. Another big thank you.
The other three main leads are just as well realized. Nik is a sweet and idealistic guy. It was wonderful watching him seek the truth. Following him as he started to question how righteous the Companions were is a reminder that one should always question the status quo. Many times he was the damsel and Mari got to save him. So there is that. Then there is Dead Eye, the lead representing the People. The People are known by the other tribes as Skin Stealers. Yeah, they're the cannibals. To be quite honest they're the bad guys. However, I was totally addicted to their story and what horrible plot Dead Eye was scheming up. So chilling.
Cast's attention to the world and the seamless way the POVs all connected took my breath away. Every page turn was accompanied by my frantic breathing as I tried to keep up my pace of consumption. The pictures where I nice touch too. I loved the plant stuff that accompanied the lore and the other drawings as well. The history of the world and the tribes was awesome. While at times Moon Chosen seemed to follow a set of steps for a High Fantasy books it didn't take away from the original ideas here. Quite a few times I found myself surprised!
This is an earth after the apocalypse, but it's pretty much High Fantasy. Not dystopian. Yeah, you could pop it into apocalyptic if you really wanted. The world is so rich I am not gonna even attempt to tarnish it by summarizing it.
Overall I am completely devoted to the series! It's cruel that the next one doesn't even have an expected publication date yet! I NEED MORE. Finally another fabulous lead to add to the latest releases of Young Adult High Fantasy. Not to mention that FINALLY the book isn't revolving around romance or the female lead's need to have a man(s). Thank you. The attention to the world building was exactly what I needed to wash away the disappointment of this years reads from my mind! So what I'm saying is: This is brilliant!
Content Warning: Some of the characters get raped or almost raped, it's not gone into detail. Characters have sex, again not gone into detail. Plenty of sexual humor. Also, homosexual relationships. Of course sexual humor.
I should also toss out that there is cannibalism, and the skinning alive of not only humans but animals. It's not super detailed, but it's there.
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!
Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.
Moon Chosen quickly turned into an obsession for me. One of those reads that you can't put down and will try to read everywhere. No really. At one point I begged a charger off of some poor stranger so that I could just KEEP READING! When someone was talking to me in line while checking out I held up my Kindle and said, “Middle. Book. Reading.” (Not one of my finest moments.)
I will be the first to admit you have to really pay attention to the start of the book. There's three main leads and each represent a group of people. Earth Walker's, People, and Companions are the tribes here. What might be confusing is that three main leads for each group are part of the changing point of view, and some other characters. At the beginning you really have to take note of the names as the other tribes have different names for each other. Not to mention completely different ideas of what they're like. Pile that on top of learning this rich world it might be overwhelming.
I love how brave this book is! Touching on slavery, all kinds of murder/cruelty, asking questions about societies accepted ideas, and cannibalism. Moon Chase smoothly takes on many hot topic issues and deftly drops it into this rich world without feeling heavy handed. Or preachy. The ideas and actions of the characters will leave you thinking every time you have to put the book down.
Cast's writing has always been addicting. A lot of people asked me if this was like the writing in The House of Night series. No, this is like Cast's other books. The writing is stunning and the attention to detail is fabulous! Some of the characters I thought echoed a few from The House of Night, mainly the mean girl who eventually becomes a friend. Other than the lore of herbs and the magic of the Moon Mother's I thought it was pretty original from that series. Oh, and there is animal bonding. Companions bond with dogs, and apparently there's a branch of clan that bonds with cats. (Okay, so there are quite a few similarities. It still feels refreshing though!)
Thank you! Thank you Cast for creating Mari! What a wonderful lead. She's strong and opinionated. Watching her grow as a person was a pleasure. Even if I didn't always agree with her actions and ideas I understood her. Romance was not a driving force behind her actions. Yes, there is a romance. It is not the focus though and it actually REALISTICALLY builds up in the story. So that I bought the emotions. Another big thank you.
The other three main leads are just as well realized. Nik is a sweet and idealistic guy. It was wonderful watching him seek the truth. Following him as he started to question how righteous the Companions were is a reminder that one should always question the status quo. Many times he was the damsel and Mari got to save him. So there is that. Then there is Dead Eye, the lead representing the People. The People are known by the other tribes as Skin Stealers. Yeah, they're the cannibals. To be quite honest they're the bad guys. However, I was totally addicted to their story and what horrible plot Dead Eye was scheming up. So chilling.
Cast's attention to the world and the seamless way the POVs all connected took my breath away. Every page turn was accompanied by my frantic breathing as I tried to keep up my pace of consumption. The pictures where I nice touch too. I loved the plant stuff that accompanied the lore and the other drawings as well. The history of the world and the tribes was awesome. While at times Moon Chosen seemed to follow a set of steps for a High Fantasy books it didn't take away from the original ideas here. Quite a few times I found myself surprised!
This is an earth after the apocalypse, but it's pretty much High Fantasy. Not dystopian. Yeah, you could pop it into apocalyptic if you really wanted. The world is so rich I am not gonna even attempt to tarnish it by summarizing it.
Overall I am completely devoted to the series! It's cruel that the next one doesn't even have an expected publication date yet! I NEED MORE. Finally another fabulous lead to add to the latest releases of Young Adult High Fantasy. Not to mention that FINALLY the book isn't revolving around romance or the female lead's need to have a man(s). Thank you. The attention to the world building was exactly what I needed to wash away the disappointment of this years reads from my mind! So what I'm saying is: This is brilliant!
Content Warning: Some of the characters get raped or almost raped, it's not gone into detail. Characters have sex, again not gone into detail. Plenty of sexual humor. Also, homosexual relationships. Of course sexual humor.
I should also toss out that there is cannibalism, and the skinning alive of not only humans but animals. It's not super detailed, but it's there.
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!
Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.
November 27, 2016
Title: Moon Chosen (Tales of a New World, #1)
Author: P.C. Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2016 (Oct 18)
Genre: YA Fantasy
This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA's Tumblr, or my Goodreads page
My Review:
First of all, I must recognize the beauty of this cover. Has to happen. Might as well be now:
Ok. Had to do that. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
My opinion on this book is not going to be popular. I can already tell based on some of what you had to say when I mentioned I was reading it. But we will get there. And I'll explain. Let's get to the meat of the novel...
First thing you need to know: just like the byline says, these are "tales of a new world." So there's going to be confusion. There's going to be alternating POVs. There are definitely going to be parts you don't understand at first but make sense later as they all come together.
Let's start with Mari:
Mari is a Moon Woman's daughter. She lives in a burrow with her mother, Leda, the Moon Woman of her tribe of Earth Walkers. The Moon Woman is responsible for using the power of the moon to "Wash" the other members of the tribe. When it comes to women, it cures them of melancholia. When it comes to the men, it cures them of Night Fever (madness). These washings must take place every three days to keep the tribe mentally healthy.
Mari has a secret that she must keep from the tribe with her mother's help: she is only half Earth Walker. Her father was a Companion, a man whose tribe killed him for loving an Earth Walker. Mari, the product of their union, must hide her Companion features with clay and dye her wheat-colored hair dark. No one must know or they both will be banished from their tribe. Mari apprentice's with her mother but fears the power of the moon as she is only half-Earth Walker. When she goes out in the sun, her skin lights up with patterns and she must always wear a cloak to disguise the markings.
Nik is a Companion: a member of the Tribe of the Trees. When a canine chooses one of the members of the tribe, the bond is holy and permanent. They connect with the dogs on a psychic level. They take Scratchers (what they call Earth Walkers) because they seem them as children that can't care for themselves. Nik has no canine and is past the time of choosing. One day when a pup comes towards him, he gets excited, knowing this could be it. But the pup runs past and out into the night...and Nik tries to find him.
Dead Eye knows the statue of his God, The Reaper, is nothing but a statue. His God is dead. The Skin Stealers have sacrificed and dined on the flesh of their sacrifices, wearing their skins, but their people are still dying as their skin slowly peels off their body painfully. One day, Dead Eye has a revelation: he skins a deer but lets it live, and packs his wounds with the deer's flesh (I know, his parts are extremely gross). When his skin touches that of the deer, it heals! He now knows that he is the tribe's Champion, their new God. And he will lead them to victory, no matter what the cost...no matter who dies.
These three stories are eventually interwoven into a complex tale that will suck you in, make you feel, and introduce you to the sides of human nature that we love and hate. These are tales of Cast's new world...and even after 600 pages, I wanted more.
Is It Classroom-Appropriate?
Ummm, yes and no. There are parts that are great, but there are some rape scenes that can be disturbing . I would say introducing it in junior year and up would work. The intricacies of the people's lives are fascinating and could make a good anchor text if used with supplemental materials...are these people mutants of our old world, or are they products of their environment and just a step in evolution? Could this happen if we aren't careful? It really made me think about the way these people connect to the Earth: each tribe (and there are more as we see near the end) has abilities and weaknesses, skills and misunderstandings. It's a truly interesting tapestry of human development.
Age Range:
So it's too new to be on Lexile.com, so I would say 15 and up. The rape and sacrifice scenes can be disturbing. I wouldn't want a young reader to have nightmares. Though the scenes are necessary, they aren't pretty. And the book is long: it is a tome. Some people might get discouraged with the pacing and the length. I almost did but when I was about to get frustrated, the scene would switch to another POV, and I would learn more about thr other tribes. Definitely keep only for advanced readers with patience. I would be wary of giving this book to anyone with sensitivities to rape scenes or violence.
End Result:
So...I have to go with my heart on this one. I really liked Moon Chosen. It kept me engaged and reading...and I still am thinking about it. No insta-love, no chosen one trope (if anything, Nik is not a chosen one and Mari tries hard all the way), no weird love trainagles. There is diversity in love (the Tribe of the Trees have many different types of couples). There is reverence for the Earth. Reverence for nature and animals.
I give Moon Chosen ★★★★★. And I thought about this a long time. I was tempted to give it less because others didn't like it, but then it's not my rating, is it? I get why others might now have liked it: it does take awhile to develop, but I really liked the writing style and pacing myself. Then again, as you know with me, I have a plethora of patience when it comes to books. I think if people who DNF it pick it up again and get past the slow parts, they might like it. Then again, they might not.
I can't recommend it to anyone because now that I have seen some of the reviews, I don't know if others will like it like I did. But I'm also an easy sell. I like anything with magical worlds that are written well. I'm a book pushover. So don't read it based off my review...read it based on the blurb and what you think you might feel about a story like this. I DO hope to find other people that like this one, but I might be in the minority here.
What do you think of Moon Chosen? Have you read it? I haven't read any other Cast novels so I'm coming in with a blank slate. Do you think it's worth a read?
Author: P.C. Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2016 (Oct 18)
Genre: YA Fantasy
This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA's Tumblr, or my Goodreads page
My Review:
First of all, I must recognize the beauty of this cover. Has to happen. Might as well be now:
Ok. Had to do that. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
My opinion on this book is not going to be popular. I can already tell based on some of what you had to say when I mentioned I was reading it. But we will get there. And I'll explain. Let's get to the meat of the novel...
First thing you need to know: just like the byline says, these are "tales of a new world." So there's going to be confusion. There's going to be alternating POVs. There are definitely going to be parts you don't understand at first but make sense later as they all come together.
Let's start with Mari:
Mari is a Moon Woman's daughter. She lives in a burrow with her mother, Leda, the Moon Woman of her tribe of Earth Walkers. The Moon Woman is responsible for using the power of the moon to "Wash" the other members of the tribe. When it comes to women, it cures them of melancholia. When it comes to the men, it cures them of Night Fever (madness). These washings must take place every three days to keep the tribe mentally healthy.
Mari has a secret that she must keep from the tribe with her mother's help: she is only half Earth Walker. Her father was a Companion, a man whose tribe killed him for loving an Earth Walker. Mari, the product of their union, must hide her Companion features with clay and dye her wheat-colored hair dark. No one must know or they both will be banished from their tribe. Mari apprentice's with her mother but fears the power of the moon as she is only half-Earth Walker. When she goes out in the sun, her skin lights up with patterns and she must always wear a cloak to disguise the markings.
Nik is a Companion: a member of the Tribe of the Trees. When a canine chooses one of the members of the tribe, the bond is holy and permanent. They connect with the dogs on a psychic level. They take Scratchers (what they call Earth Walkers) because they seem them as children that can't care for themselves. Nik has no canine and is past the time of choosing. One day when a pup comes towards him, he gets excited, knowing this could be it. But the pup runs past and out into the night...and Nik tries to find him.
Dead Eye knows the statue of his God, The Reaper, is nothing but a statue. His God is dead. The Skin Stealers have sacrificed and dined on the flesh of their sacrifices, wearing their skins, but their people are still dying as their skin slowly peels off their body painfully. One day, Dead Eye has a revelation: he skins a deer but lets it live, and packs his wounds with the deer's flesh (I know, his parts are extremely gross). When his skin touches that of the deer, it heals! He now knows that he is the tribe's Champion, their new God. And he will lead them to victory, no matter what the cost...no matter who dies.
These three stories are eventually interwoven into a complex tale that will suck you in, make you feel, and introduce you to the sides of human nature that we love and hate. These are tales of Cast's new world...and even after 600 pages, I wanted more.
Is It Classroom-Appropriate?
Ummm, yes and no. There are parts that are great, but there are some rape scenes that can be disturbing . I would say introducing it in junior year and up would work. The intricacies of the people's lives are fascinating and could make a good anchor text if used with supplemental materials...are these people mutants of our old world, or are they products of their environment and just a step in evolution? Could this happen if we aren't careful? It really made me think about the way these people connect to the Earth: each tribe (and there are more as we see near the end) has abilities and weaknesses, skills and misunderstandings. It's a truly interesting tapestry of human development.
Age Range:
So it's too new to be on Lexile.com, so I would say 15 and up. The rape and sacrifice scenes can be disturbing. I wouldn't want a young reader to have nightmares. Though the scenes are necessary, they aren't pretty. And the book is long: it is a tome. Some people might get discouraged with the pacing and the length. I almost did but when I was about to get frustrated, the scene would switch to another POV, and I would learn more about thr other tribes. Definitely keep only for advanced readers with patience. I would be wary of giving this book to anyone with sensitivities to rape scenes or violence.
End Result:
So...I have to go with my heart on this one. I really liked Moon Chosen. It kept me engaged and reading...and I still am thinking about it. No insta-love, no chosen one trope (if anything, Nik is not a chosen one and Mari tries hard all the way), no weird love trainagles. There is diversity in love (the Tribe of the Trees have many different types of couples). There is reverence for the Earth. Reverence for nature and animals.
I give Moon Chosen ★★★★★. And I thought about this a long time. I was tempted to give it less because others didn't like it, but then it's not my rating, is it? I get why others might now have liked it: it does take awhile to develop, but I really liked the writing style and pacing myself. Then again, as you know with me, I have a plethora of patience when it comes to books. I think if people who DNF it pick it up again and get past the slow parts, they might like it. Then again, they might not.
I can't recommend it to anyone because now that I have seen some of the reviews, I don't know if others will like it like I did. But I'm also an easy sell. I like anything with magical worlds that are written well. I'm a book pushover. So don't read it based off my review...read it based on the blurb and what you think you might feel about a story like this. I DO hope to find other people that like this one, but I might be in the minority here.
What do you think of Moon Chosen? Have you read it? I haven't read any other Cast novels so I'm coming in with a blank slate. Do you think it's worth a read?
October 2, 2016
I enjoy entering the worlds that P C Cast creates and the world within 'Moon Chosen' is certainly well constructed. Mari is a Moon Woman of the Earth Walker people but she has another side to her. Her mother's true love was a Companion of the Tree Tribe, a people who are the sworn enemy of the Earth Walker, so Mari is a combination of both sun and moon (an identity that she struggles with at times). This is an intriguing book that travels through a world that exists after the fall of modern civilization - it explores what is left of people when technology fails and the world collapses. This book was probably four and half stars for me in reality as there were a few moments at the beginning where I got a little lost and just wanted the story to get going. However once the story did take off it was fabulous and I wanted to know more and more about the characters. Mari is a great central character who continually showed strength and resolve as she faced challenge after challenge. There are several other characters from Nik, a potential love interest from the Tree Tribe, to Sora, a fellow Moon Woman with a prickly personality but ultimately a good heart. The fantasy elements within the story are very good and the development of the different types of people from Skin Stealers to Earth Walkers was really well done. The use of dogs and cats as animal familiars almost adds an appealing layer to the story.
I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book through Netgalley to read and review. I honestly think that this is a new series that will only get better and better. I can't wait to see how life will progress for Mari as she embraces all of who she is and takes on the future.
I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book through Netgalley to read and review. I honestly think that this is a new series that will only get better and better. I can't wait to see how life will progress for Mari as she embraces all of who she is and takes on the future.
December 14, 2016
I purchased this book based on the blurb and cover drawing. I thought Mari's "special animal ally" was a wolf. It's not. This is my first book by this author. I see all the 5-star reviews for this book, but I did not enjoy it and won't be following the series.
I found the story slow in spots during the first several chapters. The savagely gruesome acts of human and animal cruelty were written much too explicitly. When I began reading, I thought the story took place in the past. About one third into the book I learned it was the post-apocalyptic future. There are 3 separate tribes that live rather primitively. Near the end of the story a fourth tribe is very briefly introduced.
I liked how the dogs are revered and the concept of them choosing a life-long human Companion. The story ends in a cliffhanger with much to be resolved.
I found the story slow in spots during the first several chapters. The savagely gruesome acts of human and animal cruelty were written much too explicitly. When I began reading, I thought the story took place in the past. About one third into the book I learned it was the post-apocalyptic future. There are 3 separate tribes that live rather primitively. Near the end of the story a fourth tribe is very briefly introduced.
I liked how the dogs are revered and the concept of them choosing a life-long human Companion. The story ends in a cliffhanger with much to be resolved.
September 30, 2016
2 stars
Netgalley says I downloaded this book July 26th, it's now September 30th. Officially the longest I've taken to finish a book - if what I did is even called reading.
I got so excited when I first read the blurb, OMG this book sounded amazing! And then I got approved. I immediately jumped in and I was ready to be captivated. Here's the deal: this is a book that needs one of the following,
a) a good editing - and I mean, it's currently at 600 and something pages. 350-400 would be the appropriate page count. Why? Because it's wordy and with very long descriptive sentences that make no sense to the reader. Why? Because the book has it's own terms and no dictionary I can flip to, to know what the hell is happening. Don't get me wrong, I love big books, the bigger, the better, but this is insanely huge with it's own terms, terms there were not even explained ten chapters in, so I was completely lost. Plus, there are endless repeats and re-phrasing of stuff we just read.
b) an appendix, or anything that will outline this strange new world I know nothing about, anything to make sense of the non-stop descriptions that were only there to make us get it but that wouldn't be necessary if we had an appendix and we could go in knowing who was what and why.
Don't get me wrong, this book brings something new and original to the table (earth walkers, moon women, the dogs, everything, really) but the material is so messy and so long and frankly boring, you can't navigate to get to the good part. This book legit made me re-read whole chapters just to understand what just happened.
Netgalley says I downloaded this book July 26th, it's now September 30th. Officially the longest I've taken to finish a book - if what I did is even called reading.
I got so excited when I first read the blurb, OMG this book sounded amazing! And then I got approved. I immediately jumped in and I was ready to be captivated. Here's the deal: this is a book that needs one of the following,
a) a good editing - and I mean, it's currently at 600 and something pages. 350-400 would be the appropriate page count. Why? Because it's wordy and with very long descriptive sentences that make no sense to the reader. Why? Because the book has it's own terms and no dictionary I can flip to, to know what the hell is happening. Don't get me wrong, I love big books, the bigger, the better, but this is insanely huge with it's own terms, terms there were not even explained ten chapters in, so I was completely lost. Plus, there are endless repeats and re-phrasing of stuff we just read.
b) an appendix, or anything that will outline this strange new world I know nothing about, anything to make sense of the non-stop descriptions that were only there to make us get it but that wouldn't be necessary if we had an appendix and we could go in knowing who was what and why.
Don't get me wrong, this book brings something new and original to the table (earth walkers, moon women, the dogs, everything, really) but the material is so messy and so long and frankly boring, you can't navigate to get to the good part. This book legit made me re-read whole chapters just to understand what just happened.
August 22, 2016
I have read all of P.C. Cast’s previous adult and Young adult series. I had already pre-ordered this book from Amazon but was excited to get a copy from the publisher via Netgalley to review( thanks so much!). This book was definitely top notch well written. As always, P.C. Cast has created a well developed mythology, as well as highly intricate and multi-dimensional characters.
In this series, there are many different types of people, including earth walkers and companions. Mari has a secret, she is a half Earth walker and half companion but no one else know but her mother Leda. Nik, Sora and Dead eye are also interesting characters that you will grow to care about. Cast does an excellent job of creating strong and likeable women characters and usually bases her story mythologies the same.
What sets this story apart from other attempts at paranormal YA is the quality. Even when she writes for a younger audience, Casts treats her audience to the best story and doesn't dumb anything down.I would recommend this book to any fans of Cast, as well as it would be a great introduction to her work.
I loved the action, as well as the plot of this book. This is a very strong start to a new series and I really look forward to reading the rest
In this series, there are many different types of people, including earth walkers and companions. Mari has a secret, she is a half Earth walker and half companion but no one else know but her mother Leda. Nik, Sora and Dead eye are also interesting characters that you will grow to care about. Cast does an excellent job of creating strong and likeable women characters and usually bases her story mythologies the same.
What sets this story apart from other attempts at paranormal YA is the quality. Even when she writes for a younger audience, Casts treats her audience to the best story and doesn't dumb anything down.I would recommend this book to any fans of Cast, as well as it would be a great introduction to her work.
I loved the action, as well as the plot of this book. This is a very strong start to a new series and I really look forward to reading the rest
March 20, 2017
Ok. So for those of you who started this book and went into WTF fast, I'm with you. But, since I am a fan of Cast and stubborn, I stayed with even through the myriad times of WTF's.
Basically it's dystopian. Sometime in the not too distant future the earth is hit with solar flares that knock out technology and cause all kinds of natural disasters. After diseases, etc. people separate into various groups and go back to a more primitive way of life.
Some stay in the city and become cannibals, some make their homes in the trees and have dogs as their helpers, some live in caves and worship the moon.
To add to the terror are huge spiders, roaches and beetles that have mutated into people eating horrors and skin eating, fatal diseases. So, crappy place to live.
Anyway, about 600 pages later we come to a cliff hanger that needs another book to resolve it.
You know how some books can be a thousand pages and feel short? This is not one of those. But, at least if you start it knowing it's dystopian you can skip a few of the WTF's. :-)
P.S. Every time he called her 'the girl on fire' I cringed.
Basically it's dystopian. Sometime in the not too distant future the earth is hit with solar flares that knock out technology and cause all kinds of natural disasters. After diseases, etc. people separate into various groups and go back to a more primitive way of life.
Some stay in the city and become cannibals, some make their homes in the trees and have dogs as their helpers, some live in caves and worship the moon.
To add to the terror are huge spiders, roaches and beetles that have mutated into people eating horrors and skin eating, fatal diseases. So, crappy place to live.
Anyway, about 600 pages later we come to a cliff hanger that needs another book to resolve it.
You know how some books can be a thousand pages and feel short? This is not one of those. But, at least if you start it knowing it's dystopian you can skip a few of the WTF's. :-)
P.S. Every time he called her 'the girl on fire' I cringed.
August 27, 2016
I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I LOVED this book, loved. P.C. Cast created a world and characters that kept me up at night. It has been a while since I read a book that kept me up, way past my bedtime, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Would Mari be able to stay safe? Would Nik find what he was searching for? Would vastly different tribes/clans be able to figure out a way to live in peace together?
My only disappointment was that this is book one in a series and I have to wait for the next book in order to have some of my questions answered. I didn't get a happy ending wrapped up in a bow. Instead I had the realization that this book is not even published yet so that means I'll have to wait even longer to read the next one!
If you love fantasy, epic worlds, or dogs, you will love this book.
I LOVED this book, loved. P.C. Cast created a world and characters that kept me up at night. It has been a while since I read a book that kept me up, way past my bedtime, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Would Mari be able to stay safe? Would Nik find what he was searching for? Would vastly different tribes/clans be able to figure out a way to live in peace together?
My only disappointment was that this is book one in a series and I have to wait for the next book in order to have some of my questions answered. I didn't get a happy ending wrapped up in a bow. Instead I had the realization that this book is not even published yet so that means I'll have to wait even longer to read the next one!
If you love fantasy, epic worlds, or dogs, you will love this book.
November 6, 2016
It's amazing how much your thoughts can change in the span of reading a book. When I first started Moon Chosen I have to admit to it being a bit of a struggle. Ok, maybe a little more than a bit. It was very slow paced, and with the book being around 600 pages in length I wondered at how the story would play out if things continued in that vain. Continue in that vain for the most part it did, but I ended up really enjoying the chance to get to know the characters really well. And the pacing did pick up through certain stages when called for. I also had a few issues with the main character, Mari. She was really rather childlike for her age and I really struggled to connect with her. But somewhere along the line I found that the times when I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about it, and I'd find myself sneaking in a few chapters here and there throughout the day when I should have been doing other things. Yeah, I was kind of hooked!
One of the early saving graces for Moon Chosen is that it's told from a few different character perspectives, and that's what kept me interested. I wanted to see how this very different group of characters would fit together and impact the story, and each other. As I said, Mari came across as very young, but things happen and circumstances change and so did Mari. Her growth ended up being one of the things that I enjoyed most. She has strength, and wisdom, and compassion, but she's also able to make hard choices. The relationships that she forms with the other characters were just wonderful. Friendship and romance developed really naturally, and everything was just so believable.
And what's a good story without a good villain, and Moon Chosen sure has a few of those. Even the completely deranged and sadistic evil villain. Yeah, my skin crawled. Itched even. And once you read the book, then you'll understand.
And how could I not mention Rigel. I'm pretty sure he stole the whole damn show!
While I ended up absolutely falling in love with this book and the characters and world that P.C. Cast has created, I still have questions. In fact, I have a whole lot of questions. But with more books to follow I'm sure that some, if not all of those questions will be answered. I just have to find some patience somewhere while I wait for the next book.
One of the early saving graces for Moon Chosen is that it's told from a few different character perspectives, and that's what kept me interested. I wanted to see how this very different group of characters would fit together and impact the story, and each other. As I said, Mari came across as very young, but things happen and circumstances change and so did Mari. Her growth ended up being one of the things that I enjoyed most. She has strength, and wisdom, and compassion, but she's also able to make hard choices. The relationships that she forms with the other characters were just wonderful. Friendship and romance developed really naturally, and everything was just so believable.
And what's a good story without a good villain, and Moon Chosen sure has a few of those. Even the completely deranged and sadistic evil villain. Yeah, my skin crawled. Itched even. And once you read the book, then you'll understand.
And how could I not mention Rigel. I'm pretty sure he stole the whole damn show!
While I ended up absolutely falling in love with this book and the characters and world that P.C. Cast has created, I still have questions. In fact, I have a whole lot of questions. But with more books to follow I'm sure that some, if not all of those questions will be answered. I just have to find some patience somewhere while I wait for the next book.
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December 6, 2017
""I don't think Earth Walkers are less than human. Not anymore - not after meeting you and Sora." "Oh, so now you like Sora?" Mari unsuccessfully tried to keep a smile from tilting her lips up. "Bloody beetle balls no! I don't like Sora. But I also don't think she's less than human. I think she could take on many Warriors of the Tribe and probably defeat them."
"She's actually not a very good fighter. She doesn't believe in physical exertion."
"She could definitely nag them to death," Nik Said."
This book is absolutely amazing, I'm so in love with it!! I'm like can I re-read this right now, please? Nope, your TBR is too big haha..
I must confess, when I started this book I was really confused at first. But like all beginnings of a new series, it takes a while for the reader to explore the new world. [lol, the series is called Tales of a New World hihi] Especially with this series. It's set in a world like ours, but far into the future where nature has won the battle with civillization. So, no the world is not completely fantasy, nor is it a true dystopia. It's a new world, far beyond the world we know today. Thus I think the world building was absolutely fantastic. I already loved her [and Kristin's] House of Night series, where the world building was very good too. But that was in Tulsa, like we know it. Setting a story in a world far into the future is much more difficult, especially when so many people have their own versions and thought about how the future will be.
To top off how difficult it must be to imagine a world in the future, P.C. also had to think of how life is in the future. I admire her ideas of different tribes. People have evolved with how they live in this new world. The Earth Walkers [or Scratchers if you're a mean person], the Tribe of the Trees/Companions and the people in the city or Skin Stealers. They are all unique in their own way of living. And not only did she give them a history, current situation and traditions, she also let them evolve in this first book. Which is amazing, because people evolve everyday. And everyone has taboos and prejudices about everyone who's not like them. But we see the growth in the characters in the book as they learn about who the others really are. P.C. put a valuable life lesson in this book. She shows us there's more than meets the eye.
Our main characters are art in themselves. All so divers and unique in their own way. We see characters that truly live up to the prejudices and people fighting to show their inner self. Mari, Rigel, Sora, Nik and Sol really grew on me big time.
Mari is truly a unique woman, facing loss, love and hard struggles, but realistic and optimistic whenever she can.
Sora is a pain in the ass, but like she does to Mari, she really grows on you and grows a lot as a character herself.
Nik is our new favourite BBF [BookBoyFriend] and takes a special place inside your heart from the moment you meet him. Like Mari, he faced a lot of difficult times, but is really persistent and so never gives up on hope, Rigel and love.
Sol is Nik's Father, but a very important side character in this story. I love his compassion and understanding. He's so human and carries a lot of guilt, but also a lot of love and pride for his son.
Rigel is our main furry character here. I imagine him being the model for the cover of this beautiful book!! If you never liked dogs, you'll love them after reading this!! He makes me miss my old Shepard ='[
There are a few other characters which I believe will get a bigger part in this story in the coming books. I'm talking about Dead Eyes, the champion of the Skin Stealers, and The Oracle. But in this book I didn't like the Skin Stealers. Don't get me wrong their part in this book was really good, but I don't like them as characters. I'm hoping Dead Eye and The Oracle will change the Skin Stealers for the better. Because I believe you'll get their title and why I don't like them very much. Bad people, bad people!! It's true they also have a hard time living, no future is without diseases, but like their name says, they think stealing skins is a cure... Bad people!!
The story building and plot was very good!! It took my breath away on multiple occasions. Sometimes when good things happened, other times when bad things happened. But like I said in the first few sentences of this review, I think it's such a good story, I want to hold the real hardcover in my hands and re-read it like this very second!! [I got my copy as a PDF, so my Kobo couldn't handle it and my Kindle app distorted the pictures. Which meant I could see the beautiful drawings, but spread on like four pages....]
I truly recommend it to all of you. It has fantasy elements in it, it's exciting to read and will take your emotions on a good rollercoaster ride. Like I said before, it shows us valuable life lessons too =]
I thank you P.C. Cast for writing this beautiful and amazing story and I can't wait for the next book to be finished.
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October 18, 2016
*ARC provided by St. Martin's in exchange for an honest review*
"Sometimes it is our greatest kindnesses that are the most difficult to bear."
I have been waiting almost a month to share my thoughts about this fantastical and overwhelmingly precious work of art that I can't believe the day has finally come! *Excuse me while I participate in a happy dance of sorts* I admit, I have only read the House of Night series that P.C. co-wrote with her daughter, Kristin, so I didn't know exactly what to expect from a solo work, but let it be known, I was entranced from cover to cover.
The fact that every chapter was introduced with an illustration made me fall in love with it that much more. Illustrations are always welcome in my opinion! Personally, those illustrations made reading this an interactive experience. They made me study them and wonder how it would tie into their particular chapters which was fun!
As soon as I read how the synopsis mentioned this world included animal Companions, or allies, I was automatically hooked! The first thing I thought of was my own ally, Xena the Warrior Bunny, and was curious about how P.C. would execute that plot line (while I also mentally included Xena). I have read about particular characters having a sort of animal 'ally' but I haven't read a book where it was the main focus... Until now! That particular plot line made me cherish this story even more because animals will always be the loves of my life. It made me happy to no end to see them getting the attention they deserve.
This book has a few different POV's that kind of confused me in the beginning but only because I was thinking too much and wondering how important they were all to the story, if at all. It didn't take me long to appreciate and love them all in their own way ,while internally kicking myself for ever doubting P.C.
We have our main character, Mari, who is an Earth Walker and an 18 year old artist. I completely appreciated her amazing relationship/bond with her mother, the Healer of their Clan, that it brought me to tears time and time again. Their powerful bond made me yearn for something like it, but they made me feel like I was a part of it, so I didn't feel left out too much. Mari's character development was astounding and I couldn't help but cheer her on every step of the way.
Then we have Nik, the son of the leader of a rival Tribe who's actions aren't quite nice towards the Clans Mari is a part of. We follow him as he tries to get a grip on what makes him so different than the others of his Tribe and I completely loved watching his character grow. His story was so heartbreaking that I couldn't help but cry for him a couple times. We also get to witness how he crosses paths with Mari and my anticipation for their meeting was off the charts. I also loved witnessing his developing relationship with his father. It rivaled Mari's relationship with hers but they were unique and wonderful in their own way.
Since I've talked about the heroes I love, let me take a moment to also call out the villain of this story. I normally don't do this in my reviews because the villains don't really stick to me, but that wasn't the case here. This one most definitely raked and embedded its figurative claws into my skin that I can't shake no matter how hard I try. Dead Eye's actions were so atrocious and disgusted me to no end that I have to bow to P.C. for accomplishing such a feat. I've never read about another villain executing these particular horrible acts and I can't even explain how much I admire her for creating him. Dead Eye owns the villain name with a capital 'V' and a part of me can't wait to see what else he will gross me out with next.
This story was so full of suspense and intensity that I felt like my heart beating 10000000 miles a minute. This was full of unlikely friendships, sweet romance, humor, loyalty, betrayal, and growth. It had it all plus so much more. This book tore my heart out and mended it, only to tear it apart again... And that cliffhanger didn't make matters any better.
For this story being almost 600 pages, I was so addicted to it that it felt like it was, at most, half of that. I am dying for more if this beautiful world that has stolen my heart. Even though it has been about a month since I read this, the entire world has been deeply etched into my mind that I remember it as if I have just read this a minute ago. The sequel has officially become one of the most anticipated releases of my life. I don't even know if this review came close to explaining how much I treasure this series, but I tried.
This is ins't a 5 star rating, this completely blew my rating system out of the park.
"Sometimes it is our greatest kindnesses that are the most difficult to bear."
I have been waiting almost a month to share my thoughts about this fantastical and overwhelmingly precious work of art that I can't believe the day has finally come! *Excuse me while I participate in a happy dance of sorts* I admit, I have only read the House of Night series that P.C. co-wrote with her daughter, Kristin, so I didn't know exactly what to expect from a solo work, but let it be known, I was entranced from cover to cover.
The fact that every chapter was introduced with an illustration made me fall in love with it that much more. Illustrations are always welcome in my opinion! Personally, those illustrations made reading this an interactive experience. They made me study them and wonder how it would tie into their particular chapters which was fun!
As soon as I read how the synopsis mentioned this world included animal Companions, or allies, I was automatically hooked! The first thing I thought of was my own ally, Xena the Warrior Bunny, and was curious about how P.C. would execute that plot line (while I also mentally included Xena). I have read about particular characters having a sort of animal 'ally' but I haven't read a book where it was the main focus... Until now! That particular plot line made me cherish this story even more because animals will always be the loves of my life. It made me happy to no end to see them getting the attention they deserve.
This book has a few different POV's that kind of confused me in the beginning but only because I was thinking too much and wondering how important they were all to the story, if at all. It didn't take me long to appreciate and love them all in their own way ,while internally kicking myself for ever doubting P.C.
We have our main character, Mari, who is an Earth Walker and an 18 year old artist. I completely appreciated her amazing relationship/bond with her mother, the Healer of their Clan, that it brought me to tears time and time again. Their powerful bond made me yearn for something like it, but they made me feel like I was a part of it, so I didn't feel left out too much. Mari's character development was astounding and I couldn't help but cheer her on every step of the way.
Then we have Nik, the son of the leader of a rival Tribe who's actions aren't quite nice towards the Clans Mari is a part of. We follow him as he tries to get a grip on what makes him so different than the others of his Tribe and I completely loved watching his character grow. His story was so heartbreaking that I couldn't help but cry for him a couple times. We also get to witness how he crosses paths with Mari and my anticipation for their meeting was off the charts. I also loved witnessing his developing relationship with his father. It rivaled Mari's relationship with hers but they were unique and wonderful in their own way.
Since I've talked about the heroes I love, let me take a moment to also call out the villain of this story. I normally don't do this in my reviews because the villains don't really stick to me, but that wasn't the case here. This one most definitely raked and embedded its figurative claws into my skin that I can't shake no matter how hard I try. Dead Eye's actions were so atrocious and disgusted me to no end that I have to bow to P.C. for accomplishing such a feat. I've never read about another villain executing these particular horrible acts and I can't even explain how much I admire her for creating him. Dead Eye owns the villain name with a capital 'V' and a part of me can't wait to see what else he will gross me out with next.
This story was so full of suspense and intensity that I felt like my heart beating 10000000 miles a minute. This was full of unlikely friendships, sweet romance, humor, loyalty, betrayal, and growth. It had it all plus so much more. This book tore my heart out and mended it, only to tear it apart again... And that cliffhanger didn't make matters any better.
For this story being almost 600 pages, I was so addicted to it that it felt like it was, at most, half of that. I am dying for more if this beautiful world that has stolen my heart. Even though it has been about a month since I read this, the entire world has been deeply etched into my mind that I remember it as if I have just read this a minute ago. The sequel has officially become one of the most anticipated releases of my life. I don't even know if this review came close to explaining how much I treasure this series, but I tried.
This is ins't a 5 star rating, this completely blew my rating system out of the park.
August 14, 2016
I received this book from NetGalley, from the author and published in exchange for my honest review!
Wow, I forgot how much I loved P.C. Cast! This book was SO unique, and Cast really created a world that nobody has ever made yet! This was a good change from all the popular vampire and werewolf books.
The world building, and writing in this book was terrific! Everything was so detailed, and made you really feel like you were there. I love the ideas of Earth Walkers, Skin Stealers, and the Tree Tribe! I've seriously never read anything like this book in my entire life. It mixes a lot of mythology, along with a sort of modern twist.
The characters were fantastic! Our main character Mari, was very easy to relate to and like. She was very kind and strong willed, always there for her friends. Sora was terrible at first, but she became one of my favorite characters very fast. Nik was adorable, and extremely likable. Cast also had a way of making Dead Eye as crazy and deranged as he is!
I just can't get over how different this book was. I absolutely LOVED it! The beginning was a little confusing because of not having any back story, and I was lost for the first 5 or so chapters. But I eventually got it, and got super into the book! There was so much action, plot twists, and friendship, it was hard not to enjoy! Really sad that I now have to wait until the next one comes out, which is probably in a long time since this one isn't even out yet! (hehe)
Anyways, 4.5/5 star rating from me! I took off a half star only because the beginning was confusing and had no back story before diving in.
Wow, I forgot how much I loved P.C. Cast! This book was SO unique, and Cast really created a world that nobody has ever made yet! This was a good change from all the popular vampire and werewolf books.
The world building, and writing in this book was terrific! Everything was so detailed, and made you really feel like you were there. I love the ideas of Earth Walkers, Skin Stealers, and the Tree Tribe! I've seriously never read anything like this book in my entire life. It mixes a lot of mythology, along with a sort of modern twist.
The characters were fantastic! Our main character Mari, was very easy to relate to and like. She was very kind and strong willed, always there for her friends. Sora was terrible at first, but she became one of my favorite characters very fast. Nik was adorable, and extremely likable. Cast also had a way of making Dead Eye as crazy and deranged as he is!
I just can't get over how different this book was. I absolutely LOVED it! The beginning was a little confusing because of not having any back story, and I was lost for the first 5 or so chapters. But I eventually got it, and got super into the book! There was so much action, plot twists, and friendship, it was hard not to enjoy! Really sad that I now have to wait until the next one comes out, which is probably in a long time since this one isn't even out yet! (hehe)
Anyways, 4.5/5 star rating from me! I took off a half star only because the beginning was confusing and had no back story before diving in.
Want to read
April 16, 2020I LOVED the House of Night series, so of course when I saw this book I had to buy it. I would love to find or order her other books, she is such a spiritual person. There is even illustrations in the book for every chapter.
July 8, 2017
Elegida por la luna me ha decepcionado por su trama densa, mal desarrollada, inconsistente y con personajes con los que es imposible conectar.
Reseña completa en THE BEST READ YET BLOG
Reseña completa en THE BEST READ YET BLOG
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
January 11, 2018A copy of this novel was provided by Pan Macmillan Australia for review.
Why I Did Not Finish Moon Chosen
1) Animal cruelty.
One of the reasons why I started putting trigger warnings on all of my reviews is because I cannot stand it when I read about animal cruelty. It makes me feel horrible and disgusting. So the fact that Moon Chosen had such graphic and repetitive animal cruelty was abhorrent to me, and I was quite frankly horrified by it. I don’t go into a YA fantasy expecting to read the foul things that I read in Moon Chosen.
2) It was boring as hell.
If the book had been cut down by 50% in terms of length it might have actually been an interesting book. But in the 61% of Moon Chosen that I did read about two actual noteworthy plot things happened.
3) There was no world building.
For the first book in a series called Tales of a New World you would expect quite an interesting story of what this new world is like, and why there is a new world at all. But nope. All I got was a half assed explanation about technology being busted and something about the sun, and oh look now there’s magic and people skin other people alive and then eat them.
4) The characters were not worthy of investment.
If I at least cared about one of the characters then maybe pushing forward might have been worth it. Or even the 61% might have been worth it. But I only cared about the dogs in this book, and after reading about one being drowned and one being tortured I’d had enough.
5) The killing off of a queer character.
In the 61% of the book I read, there were three queer characters. One was a guy with a boyfriend, and the other two were girls in a relationship. The sexualities of these characters was a complete non-issue, which I appreciated. Up until the point one of the girls was killed off. Does the author not know that queer girls are constantly killed off? That they never have a happily ever after? That queer girls are used as tear inducing fodder for allocishet people’s stories? If she does, I am disappointed. If she doesn’t, then she should have looked into it before killing off one of her only two queer girl characters.
In all honesty, I cannot recommend Moon Chosen. There was not one aspect of this book that I could say is worth wading through the rest of the awful crap it is filled with.
© 2016, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity . All rights reserved.
trigger warnings: multiple murders, death of a parent (murder and head trauma), animal cruelty (graphic torture and murder) - please keep in mind that as i did not finish this book, i don't have a comprehensive list of trigger warnings
Why I Did Not Finish Moon Chosen
1) Animal cruelty.
One of the reasons why I started putting trigger warnings on all of my reviews is because I cannot stand it when I read about animal cruelty. It makes me feel horrible and disgusting. So the fact that Moon Chosen had such graphic and repetitive animal cruelty was abhorrent to me, and I was quite frankly horrified by it. I don’t go into a YA fantasy expecting to read the foul things that I read in Moon Chosen.
2) It was boring as hell.
If the book had been cut down by 50% in terms of length it might have actually been an interesting book. But in the 61% of Moon Chosen that I did read about two actual noteworthy plot things happened.
3) There was no world building.
For the first book in a series called Tales of a New World you would expect quite an interesting story of what this new world is like, and why there is a new world at all. But nope. All I got was a half assed explanation about technology being busted and something about the sun, and oh look now there’s magic and people skin other people alive and then eat them.
4) The characters were not worthy of investment.
If I at least cared about one of the characters then maybe pushing forward might have been worth it. Or even the 61% might have been worth it. But I only cared about the dogs in this book, and after reading about one being drowned and one being tortured I’d had enough.
5) The killing off of a queer character.
In the 61% of the book I read, there were three queer characters. One was a guy with a boyfriend, and the other two were girls in a relationship. The sexualities of these characters was a complete non-issue, which I appreciated. Up until the point one of the girls was killed off. Does the author not know that queer girls are constantly killed off? That they never have a happily ever after? That queer girls are used as tear inducing fodder for allocishet people’s stories? If she does, I am disappointed. If she doesn’t, then she should have looked into it before killing off one of her only two queer girl characters.
~
In all honesty, I cannot recommend Moon Chosen. There was not one aspect of this book that I could say is worth wading through the rest of the awful crap it is filled with.
© 2016, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity . All rights reserved.
trigger warnings: multiple murders, death of a parent (murder and head trauma), animal cruelty (graphic torture and murder) - please keep in mind that as i did not finish this book, i don't have a comprehensive list of trigger warnings
November 4, 2016
Earth Walkers, Skin Stealers, and Companions inhabit the post-apocalyptic earth created by P. C. Cast in Moon Chosen, Book 1 of the Tales of a New World Series. The book follows the intersecting paths of the three clans. The hero and heroine, Nik and Mari join forces to change their world and dispel incorrect assumptions about the differing clans.
Here’s what I liked most: The cover design is beautiful and the premise is imaginative. It’s like nothing I’ve read before. The author describes the new world she’s created with incredible attention to detail. It’s vivid and poignant. I enjoyed the Moon-woman / Earth Mother concept. P.C. Cast writes awesome Goddess worship and ritual scenes. She really builds a magical “new world” for her readers to explore. The detailed and vivid world building was both a blessing and a curse (more on that later).
A lot of common YA tropes are used in this book. It’s emotional and gripping. There’s a pretty good mix of fantasy, young adult, and light romance elements to entertain most readers.
Character development is a really strong point in this novel. I have to admit; I didn’t like our heroine Mari early on. She was very immature, but grows up a lot over the course of the novel. Each of the main characters develop and essentially grow up during the events of the story. Experiencing that growth and witnessing these characters embrace their destinies was great.
The Companion relationship with their canines is a thing of beauty. Essentially, each Companion is chosen by a canine. Once paired, they develop an unbreakable bond that allows them to communicate with one another. This tugged on my heartstrings.
I had a few minor issues with the book. The first is that this book is long. Over 600 pages long! I completely understand the need to set the scene and acclimate the reader to an unfamiliar world, but this was much longer than expected or necessary in my humble opinion.
I also had some minor issues with some of Mari’s dialogue. Early on it was it a bit choppy and juvenile. For those with triggers, there are instances of violence and rape, though the scenes aren't described in a graphic way.
With that said, this is a great start to a new series. It’s original and vivid. I absolutely loved the House of Night series and was over the top excited when I received this ARC. I’m really looking forward to see what happens next.
I rate it: 4 Full Moon Stars
I’d recommend to readers who enjoy Dystopian, Young Adult and Fantasy reads.
Here’s what I liked most: The cover design is beautiful and the premise is imaginative. It’s like nothing I’ve read before. The author describes the new world she’s created with incredible attention to detail. It’s vivid and poignant. I enjoyed the Moon-woman / Earth Mother concept. P.C. Cast writes awesome Goddess worship and ritual scenes. She really builds a magical “new world” for her readers to explore. The detailed and vivid world building was both a blessing and a curse (more on that later).
A lot of common YA tropes are used in this book. It’s emotional and gripping. There’s a pretty good mix of fantasy, young adult, and light romance elements to entertain most readers.
Character development is a really strong point in this novel. I have to admit; I didn’t like our heroine Mari early on. She was very immature, but grows up a lot over the course of the novel. Each of the main characters develop and essentially grow up during the events of the story. Experiencing that growth and witnessing these characters embrace their destinies was great.
The Companion relationship with their canines is a thing of beauty. Essentially, each Companion is chosen by a canine. Once paired, they develop an unbreakable bond that allows them to communicate with one another. This tugged on my heartstrings.
I had a few minor issues with the book. The first is that this book is long. Over 600 pages long! I completely understand the need to set the scene and acclimate the reader to an unfamiliar world, but this was much longer than expected or necessary in my humble opinion.
I also had some minor issues with some of Mari’s dialogue. Early on it was it a bit choppy and juvenile. For those with triggers, there are instances of violence and rape, though the scenes aren't described in a graphic way.
With that said, this is a great start to a new series. It’s original and vivid. I absolutely loved the House of Night series and was over the top excited when I received this ARC. I’m really looking forward to see what happens next.
I rate it: 4 Full Moon Stars
I’d recommend to readers who enjoy Dystopian, Young Adult and Fantasy reads.
August 6, 2016
I have read and loved PC Cast's House of Night series and was so looking forward to getting stuck into this new series. It did however, take me quite a while to be totally absorbed in the book, I'd say about halfway. The story is beautifully written in multiple POVs, following 3 main "tribes" as they live in what I can only assume is the future on earth. We follow Mari and her clan who are earth walkers as she and her mother help the clan fight off the dreadful night fever. We also follow Nik and his tribe of the Trees as they try to stave off the blight. We then have an additional tribe who live in the City of the Others, and their would be leader Dead Eye, they're practically cannibals and skin their prey while it is alive. Nik and Mari meet one fateful day and all their lives are changed forever. I really loved the interaction between Nik and Mari and would have liked them to have met earlier in the book. Action packed, with some love interests and lots of intrigue. The book ends with a tolerable cliffhanger, but it has left me with so many questions. I look forward to getting them in book 2. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 22, 2019
"Ich wünschte, ich fände endlich meine eigene Geschichte..."
Und, meine Güte, die hat sie gefunden.
Ich wusste nicht, was mich erwartet. Ich habe das Buch eigentlich nur ausgesucht, weil so viele von euch P.C. Casts Bücher so toll finden. Zu Beginn war ich mir da absolut nicht sicher, ob ich mich je in diese Welt hineinfinden würde. Es fliegen so viele Begriffe durch die Gegend, die erstmal nicht erklärt werden und man muss sich erstmal ein wenig treiben lassen, bevor man nach und nach immer mehr versteht. Wenn man dann erstmal die Zusammenhänge versteht, ist es aber eine faszinierende, wenn auch sehr grausame Welt, durch die man den Figuren gerne folgt. Also, Mari und Nik. Fahlauge ist einfach nur widerlich. (Wer keine Szenen verträgt, in denen Tiere bei lebendigem Leibe gehäutet werden- oder auch unabhängig davon mit großen Krabbelviechern Probleme hat-, sollte dieses Buch vielleicht nicht lesen.) Aber ich glaube, er wird noch sehr wichtig werden im Folgeband, ebenso wie Bast und ihr Herrchen.
August 3, 2016
I won a copy of Moon Chosen in a Goodreads giveaway.
I have read all of P C Cast's books and I have enjoyed them all. This book was by far my favorite! The author's character development was very extensive. I felt that I personally knew them.
In a world that has been ruined there many dangers and very strict rules to protect life. Mari has been taught these rules and many others by her mother Leda. From birth Mari and Leda have kept a secret. A secret that could have both women killed. This secret will soon be revealed after a dreadful accident leaves Leda dead.
Moon Chosen describes a world of love and loyalty but also a world of distrust, hate and fear.
I can't wait for the next book in this series. Well written Ms Cast!
I have read all of P C Cast's books and I have enjoyed them all. This book was by far my favorite! The author's character development was very extensive. I felt that I personally knew them.
In a world that has been ruined there many dangers and very strict rules to protect life. Mari has been taught these rules and many others by her mother Leda. From birth Mari and Leda have kept a secret. A secret that could have both women killed. This secret will soon be revealed after a dreadful accident leaves Leda dead.
Moon Chosen describes a world of love and loyalty but also a world of distrust, hate and fear.
I can't wait for the next book in this series. Well written Ms Cast!
June 15, 2019
This book was so interesting to me. I listened on audible and the narrator really gave the story life. The character development in the main character was amazing. Nick was my favorite character, though! He’s literally a puppy and he just deserves all the happiness in the world. Nick hasn’t had the easiest of lives— his mother died when he was young, and a pup never chose him. But he’s still really nice and respectful to everyone. HE’S A MAN WITH A SOMEWHAT ROUGH PAST AND IS STILL KIND TO, AND RESPECTS WOMEN!!👏🏼👏🏼
Nick also cries when he is sad. Can we please normalize men crying if they’re sad or hurt? Anyway, I enjoyed this and am excited for the next!
Nick also cries when he is sad. Can we please normalize men crying if they’re sad or hurt? Anyway, I enjoyed this and am excited for the next!
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