Customer Reviews

Beneath the Thirteen Moons

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Picture a world entirely of swamp where people lived in homes carved into the trees.

Mahri Zin was what the Royals called a water rat. She was a boat-smuggler whose only thought was to kidnap a Healer to cure her hidden village, even if it killed her. Mahri had a high tolerance for zabba, but even with all the power the root gave her she could not save her village without the knowledge Healers had. When she finally kidnapped a Healer, he turned out to be Prince Korl Com'nder! Even so, Mahri could not return the Prince of Sea Forest until her village was safe.

Korl was the most arrogant, spoiled-rotten man with an extremely healthy ego. He fell for Mahri even when he had woken up to find that Mahri had taken control of his muscles with her root enhanced powers and was knocking out his guards with her bone staff. She WOULD be his! What he wanted, he got! He just had to make her understand it.

Korl was a Healer first, a Prince second. But when they realized the only way to save the village was to have a Bond of Power, they still hesitated. A Bond was for life, unbreakable. Whenever one of them died, the other would too. They would be One, knowing each other inside and out. They would See into each other's very souls. They would share power...until death.

Korl's time with Mahri and her village would change him. However, when he finally returned to the Palace Tree, his half-sister would do all she could to kill him and take the Crown. Only Mahri could save him. Together, Mahri and Korl would change the entire world as they knew it!

***** In a single word, "Wow!" I mean W-O-W-! I have never read such a wonderful tale as this. Kathryne Kennedy's computer must smolder from the power she creates in her stories! I simply cannot describe how awesome or how thrilling I found this novel to be. I am begging everyone out there who reads my words here...BUY THIS BOOK! If you love romance and fantasy (magic powers) you will NOT be disappointed. Enough said. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

On an unknown planet somewhere in the future, humans have created a new civilization; one that requires Zabba to survive. For Mahri, a swamp-rat and a smuggler of Zabba root, she is content to live in the wild swamp. But when a serious illness threatens those she cares about, she travels into the city, to the Healers Tree trying to get aid for the people in her village. Hoping to kidnap a low level healer that won't be missed, she is instead horrified to discover she has abducted the crown Prince Korl!

Ms Kennedy has written a where technology is lost, huge creatures of the sea rule the planet and people live in giant trees that serve as cities and land. I love this world! It's a different version of Kevin Costners' WATERWORLD, but one I found so much more believable. Monsters still live underwater and giant birds of prey (think flying dinosaurs) live above the tree canopy. The forests are so beautiful thru Maris' eyes and described so well by Ms Kennedy. There is both beauty and danger in the jungle; were animals are familiar, and yet and the same time so different than our Earth animals.

Zabba root is coveted by the Royals, as is the true history of Mahris's people hidden by them as well. Zabba, from what I understand, opens the mind, and depending on the person's tolerance depends on the extra-sensory abilities allowed.

While the attraction between Mahri and Korl has a lot of chemistry and sparks flying, Mahri fights the attraction' at the same time it's an instantaneous union. She doesn't trust him, yet she is too easy on him. Regardless, I really liked Mahri as a woman. She is strong, independent and yet discovers she needs more to be complete. Korl is strong and is studying the Healing arts to help his people. He is a healer first, then the crown prince. However, with Mahri he is tenderhearted (like all hero's should be) yet still manages to have the arrogance you would expect as due his station of Crown Prince. I felt he was the epitome of a good alpha hero.

Jaja, Mahris' pet is part monkey-part fish, as well as telepathic. In my mind I had such a visual of all his facial expressions that between his actions and his personality I laughed out loud.

BENEATH THE THIRTEEN MOONS is such an awesome story! I only hope Ms Kennedy has plans for future novels as I highly recommend this novel.

This book was reviewed for: http://pnr.thebestreviews.com/

I just finished this book. I'm a huge fan of Ms. Kennedy, her recent "Fire Lord's Lover" being a big favorite of mine. I pre-ordered this book without hesitation based on how much I have enjoyed her previous work. Sadly- this book didn't work for me at all. When I came to write a review, I noticed that this book had already been released in 2003! Oooooh...that just burns me when they don't mention that it is a re-release. I guess it is possible that she updated or expanded it, but I still think Amazon or the publishers should let you know. Anyway- my criticisms of the book:
1. The sci-fi/magic aspects are a little too far out there for me. Obviously the author has a great imagination, but I couldn't imagine the world they were in as well as I probably needed to. I prefer her other books where she has created a magical version of a historical period that actually existed.
2. The heroine carried on the "I'm angry and don't trust the hero at all" shtick for WAY too long; almost until the last page. The hero has more of a love at first sight experience. It started to get annoying after a while when she kept rejecting him over and over and over.
I am hopeful that with the author's next book she will continue with her unfinished story lines (The relics of Merlin or the Elves kingdom's that were in the Fire Lord's Lover. Fingers crossed!

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

If you are like me and kicking yourself for missing Beneath the Thirteen Moons in its first incarnation, then now you can rest easy because Kathryne Kennedy's first book is available once more. And I for one am thrilled to finally be able to get this book in my hot little hands.

Mahri Zin is a swamp rat, making ends meet as a smuggler of zabba root, prized for the power it gives the user to See into the minds of others and influence the environment. She's proud and she's a wilding, able to use zabba's power far more than most people, as yet unaffected by overdosing as happens to so many others. Now her village has been struck ill and is in desperate need of a healer. Mahri has no qualms about kidnapping a healer to save her people, though she gets a little bit more than she bargained for in the process.

Prince Korl Com'nder has the gift of healing, but he also has a duty to his family as rulers of the Sea Forest. He's always been granted anything he desired, so he gets a rude awakening, quite literally one night, when he is kidnapped by an outlaw who demands he save her family and their village from a terrible illness striking them down. The last thing he wants is to be whisked away into the expansive waters of their world, though he soon finds out that is exactly what he needs.

Now Korl and Mahri must join forces to save Mahri's village, and defeat an enemy determined to steal the crown rightfully belonging to Prince Korl. However, there is only one way to do both of those things, and it comes with a price that means permanent changes to both their hearts and their lives.

Beneath the Thirteen Moons is a beautifully told and incredibly realized fantasy world from the imagination of a master, Kathryne Kennedy. The Sea Forest planet is a world inhabited by humans crash-landed there so long ago they no longer remember their original home. The landscape is so brilliantly done that I was right there with Mahri on her adventures. The world is so amazingly vivid that I had no difficulty imagining the beauty of the world and its inhabitants. I especially loved the natives of this striking land. We don't start seeing them until later in the story but they were so exotic, compared to Mahri's people.

Korl and Mahri have an immediate attraction, though Mahri is resistant for so long, convinced she had no need for a partner again, after losing her mate. They are consistently at odds in the beginning and I loved watching the fireworks as Korl's royal pride clashes with Mahri's determination to save her village. Korl knows right away he desires Mahri, no matter how resistant she is to his charms. Seeing the relationship develop between this couple, as Mahri comes to terms with her growing love for Korl, makes for many sigh-worthy moments. The character growth happens gradually throughout the novel until both Korl and Mahri reach the point where we know their love will carry them through everything thrown their way.

Beneath the Thirteen Moons is a delightfully entertaining blend of fast paced action and tender emotion, interspersed with plenty of humor (most often in the form of Mahri's scene-stealing companion, the monkfish Jaja), and breathtaking intrigue. All of the elements I've come to expect from Kathryne Kennedy are here, and it is evident that her skill for painting magical worlds was present from the beginning, only growing and becoming more sophisticated with time and practice. I so thoroughly enjoyed my travels to the world of the Sea Forest that I hope we get a chance to come back for a visit in some later book.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, November 2010. All rights reserved.

This was a delightful romance/science fiction novel. The setting was very refreshing compared to normal science fiction genre of a waterworld. The protagonists had plenty of sparks flying and sexual attraction to keep the book interesting. Great description of the world, but it makes me want another book, this went too fast. I wish the other characters were developed better, but the book would not have read as fluidly as it has if effort was made in that direction and certainly leaves room for another of a series book. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would recommend it for adult readers since there was plenty of sexual activity and reference throughout.

This is a terrific story. When someone loaned me this book, I did not think it would be nearly as good as my friend was exclaiming. It turned out to be even BETTER than I could have possibly imagined.

I tell everyone I know to go look for this title in the stores and that is not something I do often. I am going to get my own copy, for sure!

Buy this book! Enough said.

Reviewed by Scott for Huntress Reviews.

With dazzling descriptions, nonstop action and searing romance, Kathryne Kennedy's BENEATH THE THIRTEEN MOONS thrusts you headlong on a dangerous journey in an extraordinary world brimming with wonders and treachery.

In the water world of Sea Forest, everyone lives in trees rooted on the ocean floor. Lowly Mahri needs a Healer to save her fellow villagers from the plague. But Healers are of the privileged upper classes, who do not deign to treat the downtrodden commoners. So, she kidnaps one. But, unknown to her, the Healer she captures is Korl, Royal heir to the king of Sea Forest.

Dodging pursuit from Korl's enemies and the myriad dangers of their world, she succeeds in bringing her prize home to her village. But attraction as overwhelming as it is forbidden grips them both. While Sea Forest teeters on the brink of radical change, Korl's and Mahri's warring desires become the focal point, and either the solution or doom, of their world.

The only word to describe this book is WOW! Ms. Kennedy has taken the traditional fantasy of chest-thumping hero and clinging heroine and turned it on its ear. The prime mover and shaker is the outlaw Mahri, smuggler of the proscribed zabba root, basis of the Royals' power. Korl is a Healer (c'mon, how often do you see a male healer?), and while not averse to using his fists when necessary, is also kind. Ms. Kennedy also weaves in more than enough romance to satisfy even the most rabid romance junkie.

The third character is Sea Forest itself. Richly imagined and bursting with exotic inhabitants, Ms. Kennedy's vibrant tapestry of a world is the only possible setting for this joy of a romance.

For a different take on fantasy and tons of fabulous romance, BENEATH THE THIRTEEN MOONS is a welcome change from all the same-old, same-old out there.

ARC supplied by Sourcebooks

I was so enchanted with Ms. Kennedy's second novel, Enchanting the Lady, that I had to read her first. Unfortunately for those of us who might want to own the equally enthralling Beneath the Thirteen Moons, which I read in one sitting, it was published by Five Star. It's not that Five Star's a bad publisher, mind you, but it markets its books to libraries rather than booksellers. It also doesn't seem to maintain a backlist for very long. Hence the unavailability of new copies and the $113.00 price at this writing for used copies of Thirteen Moons! While my library system sadly doesn't own this title, I was able to obtain it through InterLibrary Loan (ILL) in little more than a week. While we can hope one day Thirteen Moons will be re-released in paperback to the general public, for now don't wait -- head to your local library and borrow it. If they don't own it, ask them to ILL it for you. (And make sure they've ordered Enchanting the Lady as well.) You won't regret it.

This book has such vivid descriptions of Sea Forest that the fictional world comes to life immediately. I LOVED the setting, and the characters!

The main characters are Mahri, a water-rat, and Korl, the Prince of Sea Forest and a Healer.
One night Mahri sneaks up to the Healer Tree in the city to kidnap a Healer to save her village and family. Mahri has a high tolerance of zabbaroot, which allows her to See and have magical powers, but water-rats and commoners are not allowed the knowledge of the root, nor is it legal for them to use it or sell it. Mahri has a very stong tolerance for the zabbaroot, but she does not know how to use it to heal her family from a deadly disease that has spread through the swamps. Her lifemate and young child have already died a horrible death because she was unable to save them, and she vows to not let the same thing happen to her lifemate's family.

This is the reason that Mahri decides to kidnap a Healer that no one will notice is missing...instead she kidnaps Prince Korl, and has the royals after her. Mahri curses her luck...but what she doesn't know is that the natives of Sea Forest have brought Korl and Mahri together, because she is his soul's other half.

The arrogant Prince falls in love with Mahri instantly, even though she is just a water-rat, as he is constantly reminding her. But stubborn Mahri will not give in to her feelings for Korl, and only admits to a physical attraction.

Korl and Mahri have many adventures in the beautiful and mysterious swamps, and when they reach Mahri's village and find her niece deathly ill, the two agree to Bond, which is the only way to heal the little girl. No one has Bonded in years because the Bond links two minds together for life, and once one of them dies, so will the other.

Still, Mahri resists Korl, and Korl is angered because usually he gets anything he wants, and he vows that he will make Mahri love him.

I won't give anything else away, but this is a VERY good fantasy/science fiction that I recommend to anyone who likes romances, because this is first and foremost a romance, with some sexual scenes interspersed throughout the story. This story, ESPECIALLY the setting, is absolutely breathtaking and unforgettable, and you won't want to miss it. I really hope that this author will write another book like this one soon.

Beneath the Thirteen Moons is a unique and magical fantasy world created by Kathryne Kennedy. The world they live in is called The Sea Forest and it is a world covered in water in which people live in trees growing out of the ocean floor. Your imagination just runs wild at all the descriptions of the land, flowers, and sea creatures.

Mahri Zin is water rat; she is the low of the low making a living by smuggling zabba root. Zabba root is extremely powerful and can kill people but luckily Mahri has an affinity for it and for her it gives her increased powers. She is widowed having lost her lifemate and child to the plague. Now the plague is again threatening her village and trying to take the only family she has left.

Mahri's solution is to kidnap a healer since asking for one has gotten her nowhere. The bad thing about this plan is that she manages to kidnap none other than the Prince of the Sea Forest who is very powerful. So the battle for power between the two begins not to mention the sparks of lust. After spending some time in her village they head back to the Prince's castle and once there he kidnaps her right back.

However Mahri isn't one to be caged up and held prisoner. She needs to be free. Will Korl realize this and let her be free? Or will he keep her because he wants her for himself? Will Mahri ever bend even just a little bit for Korl or keep being stubborn and shielding herself from him?

While I really loved the magical world that Kathryne Kennedy built, I was less impressed with the romance side of this book. Now I'm not one for a lot of romance in a book but I would have liked to see the relationship between Mahri and Korl build up instead of jump right in. I'm also not one to mind a little sex in a book but I found this one just had a bit much for my tastes.

Still if you're in the mood for a journey into a different kind of book - I've not seen a world such as the one in Beneath the Thirteen Moons- then you're in for a treat with this book. I liked the characters, especially Mahri's pet monk-fish Jaja. I absolutely loved the vivid descriptions of the scenery and the world that they traveled through. It could have been lighter on the graphic sex for me but all in all I still enjoyed delving into the watery world of The Sea Forest for a while.