Customer Reviews

Moon Child

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With its oft-changing scenery, conglomeration of different cultural ways of life, and links to both the infinite and the abstract, Moon Child sweeps the reader along on an intriguing journey full of surprise, betrayal, discovery, misery, accomplishment, and all manner of unforeseen events. Simoney Maroney has created a world as fascinating as it is ever-changing. Prophecy has its hands all over young Hannah, a most unusual young lady born for a difficult but culturally critical life in the world of the author's rich imagination. Hannah is the daughter of a Priest and Priestess, a girl trained in the arts and knowledge of both, for prophecy says she must preserve and keep alive the Memories of her people after the coming devastation of a great flood (and the destruction of the priestly order).

Hannah grows up in a monastery with her father, where she learns the ways of the priests - which is forbidden. So it is that she and her father are banished and go to seek a new life elsewhere. They are quickly separated, however, as Hannah is kidnapped by what turns out to be family. As the book progresses, Hannah is handed off among a number of different parties. When she is first taken from her father, she is transported to a village and established as a Reader - with the local Mother dying, a Reader is required in order to oversee the succession. The new Mother, who turns out to be Hannah's half-sister, is quite young and impetuous. In the village, Hannah also encounters an old woman with the blood of the ancients in her veins and finds herself compelled to perform a proper ceremony for her funeral. She learns much about her gifts from this experience, but she soon parts with the new Mother to retreat from the rising floods. Suddenly, she's taken by an old woman who turns out to be something less than a stranger, and they forge a torturous trail through jungle and across desert - until fate steps in to change Hannah's life once more. She is eventually reunited with her father in a new village, one seemingly free of the Renunciate forces that would deprive their fellow man of all knowledge and progress. She takes on an integral role in this new community, yet her present and future are still far from secure. Moon Child is not the end of Hannah's story, and the author has paved the way for a much-anticipated sequel quite well.

Moon Child is a wonderfully imaginative work of fantasy, full of surprises and suspense. Betrayal, tragedy, and that whole prophecy thing make Hannah's life exceedingly difficult and complicated. She struggles to understand the Gift she was born with, even as she's kidnapped, tricked, and shanghaied on a regular basis. The important people in her life are mysteries in and of themselves - including (maybe even especially) her father. Many of those she comes in contact with are something quite different from what they initially claim, her protectors often seem to come and go on their own terms, and the individuals capable of teaching Hannah how to use her Gift cannot be trusted implicitly. All of this makes Hannah a most sympathetic character indeed. Warm of heart, remarkably resilient, and perpetually buffeted with doubts and fears, her humanity proves to be a gift almost as special as the unique gifts bestowed upon her by the Goddess.

The sociological and cultural aspects of the novel are intriguing. Much influence lies on the female side of things, as the local Mother (a sort of shaman) of each Goddess-worshiping community speaks with the authority of the Great Mother. Hannah did receive some training from the Great Mother in one of her human guises, but not enough to truly understand her Gift. Her access to the Memories is strong, but she has to figure out how to use this great source of knowledge to take on the tasks of Healer and Reader. She also has to make sure she takes the appropriate steps to preserve the Memories for future generations - and, as her difficult quest takes all kinds of twists and turns, the mere act of surviving is a constant challenge for her.

I was quite impressed by Moon Child. The novel features a surprising amount of action, a robust plot, wonderfully complex characters, a challenging interaction between spiritual and worldly matters, and a definite aura of originality. As a reader, I was never sure what would happen next - I just knew I wanted to be there when it happened.