Red Moon and Black Mountain [Hardcover]

Joy Chant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1976

Three children are drawn into another world where a fierce conflict for power is waging.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: E. P. Dutton; 1st edition (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525381937
• ISBN-13: 978-0525381938
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,363,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest works of fantasy of this century., October 17, 2004

By 

Ariel (Lock Haven, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Moon and Black Mountain (Hardcover)

Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain was probably my favorite book as a young adult. Though obscure and woefully under acknowledged, this 'modern day people drop into alien world' saga is the absolute BEST of it's ilk. It combines both mysticism and fantasy, battle and intrigue into an absolutely spellbinding story. I truly think this marvellous work is dismissed by many as being another 'Tolkien lite' but the story is so much, MUCH more. Like Tolkien, Ms. Chant is able to define several rich and varied cultures and do so skillfully in the same book - but that is where the similarity ends! The Hurnei bear very little resemblance to Tolkien's horse peoples - and their culture is, in fact, much more richly detailed (in The Grey Mane of Morning - another of Ms. Chant's books in this universe) than Tolkien's Rohirrim.

There are images and names in this book that I have kept in my heart for more than 30 years. That of Vir'vachal riding her earth colored pony through the earth, of the flame and gold of Dur'chai's coat, the sweet terror Li'vanh Tuvoi feels when he jumps to his death, the beautiful but terrible face of the fallen Prince of Heaven as he sees the little being who has defeated him. The Dancer at his Fountain... The child 'death-eyed'... I have not laid eyes on this book for more than 20 years and STILL I remember these details! This was a story that sang to me, that made me ache and filled me with joy at the same time. Perhaps I am the only person on the planet for whom this book spoke such volumes, but if I can convince another of its worth, another who would hear this story, these peoples, sing as I have, then it is worth the time I take to write this review.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you crossed C.S. Lewis with J.R.R. Tolkien..., August 17, 2002

By 

Kirsten A. Edwards "kannealmstedt" (Duvall, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red moon and black mountain: The end of the House of Kendreth (Hardcover)

...you might well produce Joy Chant's RED MOON,
BLACK MOUNTAIN. Oliver, Penelope and Nicholas are
three English children drawn by magical power into
another universe, where they have a role to play
in an upcoming war. I very much enjoyed the
quasi-Celtic culture of the Horse People and
Chant's honest picture of the tribalism. Although
the plot slows in places the sweet, strong language
and beautifully realized world she has invented
easily distracted me from this (minor)flaw.
I read this book first as a teen, then returned to
it after nearly twenty years to find my positive
memories of it justified: Recommended to any
intelligent young person or adult.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children's fantasy for all ages, October 18, 2005

By 

J. K. Riviere (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Moon and Black Mountain (Hardcover)

I read this book years ago and loved it. A similar start to the Narnia series with children transported to another world, but much more complex and richly drawn. Not only are multiple complex societies presented, she also presents different understandings of what it means to be good and evil. A very satisfying ending, more to it than just the kids come home after saving the day and all is well. I reread it aloud to my young daughter several years after my first reading. She loved it, but it was difficult to read some passages without choking up. Truly a marvelous and under-appreciated classic of fantasy. I am a big fantasy fan. This doesn't have the scope of the current mega-series books by Jordan, Martin, Elliott, etc. but I prefer it to the Narnia books for depth of character, believability, and more nuanced plot, though it does not have Lewis' alagorical foundation. This is one of my primary recommendations to friends considering fantasy or children's fantasy, though it is not always easy to find.