Customer Reviews

Moon Flash

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Firebird Books has put out some excellent reprints, such as Midori Snyder's Oran Trilogy and the wonderful Redwall books. But they have outdone themselves with Patricia McKillip's "Moon-Flash" duology. It's bittersweet, beautifully written, and serves as an unusual coming-of-age story.

In the first book "Moon-Flash," Kyreol is a young woman living in the jungle valley of Riverworld, which the inhabitants believe is the entire universe. But while unhappily living with her betrothed's family, Kyreol encounters the strange Hunter, and realizes that he is from somewhere else. And wherever he came from, Kyreol knows that her long-lost mother went there.

So she and her childhood friend Terje escape down the River. When they finally make their way to the Hunter and his people, Kyreol and Terje are taken to a lunar Dome far above their home. Together, they will find that the universe is more complex than they ever knew -- and that nothing in Riverworld, even the sacred Moon-Flash, is what they think it is.

"The Moon and the Face" picks up four years later. Terje and Kyreol have been trained by the Agency, and are now ready for their first assignments. Terje will be accompanying Regny back to Riverworld, to observe its inhabitants, and Kyreol will be going to a nearby planet to observe the lightless Burrowers.

Except neither mission turns out right: Kyreol's spaceship crashes on a desert planet, stranding her in an abandoned city with an unknown alien. To make matters worse, she is plagued by dreams of death. And Terje returns to his old village, only to find that the Healer (Kyreol's father) is dying.

Patricia McKillip began writing the "Moon-Flash" story while she was in the middle of another science fiction book. And like her other sci-fi stories, "Moon-Flash" is light-years away from typical space operas.

McKillip's dreamy, detailed writing is still in full force here, whether she's writing about a lunar base, a rainforest, a graveyard, or a colorless city on an alien moon. Even her aliens are unusual -- some are made of water or air, while others are furry three-eyed creatures who communicate entirely in wordless song.

She also explores the idea of primitive people being exposed to futuristic technology, and the way it would change them -- they would gain knowledge, but lose innocence. The most bittersweet subplot is that of Kyreol's parents, whose love was sacrificed so that her mother could preserve Riverworld. And while Kyreol and Terje seem to learn everything a bit too quickly, McKillip makes their slow education absolutely thrilling.

The first book's main focus is on Kyreol, exploring her doubts, her curiosity, and her longing to know everything. But the second is more about Terje, who struggles with his love for Riverworld and his love for his new life. They grow from naive children to independent leaders and explorers, and in McKillip's hands, it seems entirely plausible.

The "Moon-Flash" duology is a beautiful, spellbinding piece of science fiction, and it's a good thing that this story has finally come back into print. Absolutely entrancing.

I do like Patricia McKillup's writing. This is quite interesting and surprising. At least, I didn't see what was coming.

If you are selecting this book for a child, it is entirely appropriate to be read aloud and discussed with mature pre-teens. It is a great topic for early teens to read alone if they have a strong vocabulary. IF you read on and the book is for you, be warned plot points are spoken of.

Moon Flash by Patricia McKillip is an engaging story of a 13 year old girl in a primitive tribal jungle setting. When she discovers a man dressed in camoflage gear speaking into a communicator, she realizes her world is not what it seems. Seeing the man and having had her mother disappear 10 years before motivates her departure. She is also avoiding a betrothal. She and her best friend, a boy her age, take a canoe over the giant falls leaving their village and the life they've known behind. They encounter numerous scenarios on their journey down the river, some dangerous and toward the end of the book, come to a city in the modern world. The whys and whereabouts of her mother's disappearance are sought and the reason their tribe has lived untouched by the modern world is discovered. This book is beautifully written as are all of McKillip's stories. I highly recommend it. While there are some scary parts as the young travelers escape a head hunter tribe there are no sexual scenes that would make it inappropriate for pre-teens. Life is spoken of very forthrightly however. It is a lovely book that would likely appeal to girls and some boys, if they are big fans of reading and have a broad range of interests. I would not call this a fantasy in that most of it is true to real life. Perhaps only the ending is fantasical in that the city that the young explorers find is more advanced technologically than we are today in modes of travel. The sequel to this book is a full blown space travel fantasy.

Life for Kyreol has always been simple and easy on the River, which begins at the Face and ends in the rainbows of Fourteen Falls. Her people lead a simple harmonious life of fishing and swimming. Kyreol, with her inquisitive nature and her missing mother, is thought very eccentric by her tribe.

During the annual Moon-Flash ceremony which marks Kyreol's betrothal, she sees a stranger in the crowd. Insatiable curiosity and feelings of being trapped by her future husband's family lead Kyreol to steal away in a boat with her childhood friend Terje to find out what, if anything, lies beyond Fourteen Falls.

McKillip's writing is as excellent as ever, and while this is a fine coming of age tale, I found it more than a bit predictable and felt unsatisfied when I turned the last page. Perhaps reading the sequel would help.

When I first saw this book in the bookstore, I debated about getting it for about a month. The moment I bought, I regretted it. This book was so fanastic, you shouldn't hesitate! The back cover makes the book sound stupid, and the front cover art is slightly freaky, but the book itself was actually really, really good. Masterful writing combined with poetic development of characters and setting makes the novel flow. The transtitions and changes that the main characters have to go through, the challenges they face, and the triumphs and discoveries that they encounter will have you devouring the book in a day or less. Honeslty, don't hesitate when thinking about buying this book. It will become a treasured piece of your collection.

It's a wonderful and compelling journey story. A treasure not to be missed. I look forward to sharing it with my children Also has one of the most beautiful prose poems I have ever read.

Patricia McKillip has for a long time been one of my favorite authors, and she really outdid herself on this story. The characterization is wonderful, sucking the reader right into the background landscape. It was a novel I couldn't put down. The main character was strong in spite of the male dominated society she lived in.

The modern society watching over Riverworld and protecting it was a wonderful facet to the story, and how a powerful message therein.

I loved this story and hope to see more like this from her in the future.