Sign of the Crescent [Paperback]

Debbie Federici (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 2005

Teenagers are mysteriously disappearing in Tucson, Arizona, and other cities. One night, seventeen-year-old Taryn nearly becomes one of them when a revolting, unearthly creature attacks her. The touch of a Zumar warrior should render her unconscious, but Taryn has the strength to fight until a young man with a sword comes to her rescue.

This is how Taryn, an orphan with Ménière's disease, meets Erick, a Haro Knight from another world. His job is fighting the Zumar who are kidnapping and enslaving oldworlders (Earth people). It is forbidden for Erick to socialize with oldworlders, but he can't ignore the strong attraction between them . . . and Taryn seems different from other Earth people. When she's abducted by the Zumar and taken to their evil sorcerer leader, Taryn is confronted with shocking truths that explain her strange dreams and special powers.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–Teens from Tucson are disappearing at an alarming rate so Taryn, a high school senior, and her friend Jen rally at City Hall, hoping to get more of the community involved in solving the mystery. In a parallel world, Zanea, also called Newold, the Knights of Haro know that denizens of Zumar (yet another parallel world) are responsible for traveling through portals to Oldworld (Earth) and kidnapping locals to serve the evil Lord Synomea. Every evening Erick and the other Haro knights enter Oldworld to fight the Zumarians, but it's a losing battle, as the number of kidnappings is increasing. When Erick and Taryn meet, it's love at first sight even though the Newoldian rules are very clear about fraternizing with Oldworlders. When she is kidnapped and learns the truth of her parentage and her ties to Zumar, a happy ending seems unlikely. Overwrought, overwritten, and melodramatic, this book is predictable and shallow. Characterization is nonexistent. Erick and Taryn's romance is rushed and unbelievable, and their various friends are nothing more than names on the page. The different worlds are simply a mishmash of fantasy clichés and the few magic principles included make little sense.–Sarah Couri, New York Public Library
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Review

"This is a story that should satisfy both fantasy and adventure seekers."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (October 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738708089
• ISBN-13: 978-0738708089
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Debbie Federici has a love of contemporary fantasy with unexpected twists and turns in her novels for teens. Her first book, L.O.S.T., co-authored by Susan Vaught, hit the stores in November 2004 was nominated by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association for Teen's Top Ten Books. The sequel to L.O.S.T., titled SHADOWQUEEN, was released in September 2005. Debbie's third young adult book, SIGN OF THE CRESCENT, came out in October, 2005. The third book in the L.O.S.T. series, WITCH CIRCLE, will be released in Spring 2006.

Debbie has three sons and is married to her college sweetheart. They share their home with a golden retriever named Honey, and a cocker spaniel named September, who both love lots of hugs and kisses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is about choosing, January 1, 2006

By 

Gary H. Cassel "Flamingnet Teen Book Reviews" (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sign of the Crescent (Paperback)

This book starts out with an introduction to Taryn. Taryn has just lost her grandmother, and is suffering heart break because of the lost. Mean while teenagers are getting snatched by some unknown source, and going out at night for teens is getting riskier. There are people from the world, Neworld, whose job is to protect the teens from earth, Oldworld. Erick is one of those people. One night, when Erick is out trying to stop the kidnappings, he comes across Taryn. Erick is dispatched far away from Taryn, and her rescue seems impossible. When the Zumarian warrior, working for the bad guy, comes to take Taryn he grabs her. Whenever a Zummarian warrior grabs a person of the Oldworld they immediatly freeze, but Tary doesn't freeze when grabbed, Taryn fights back. Erick, who witnesses this, knows there is something different with Taryn, and goes to meet her. Erick and Taryn build a relationship over time, but one night Taryn is taken, and Erick decides it is time to attack the bad guy. Taryn is confronted with the bad guy and learns that he is her father. Taryn is presented with a choice that will decide the future for everyone. Taryn is left with the choice to choose love or power, and whichever way she chooses she betrays someone.

This book is about choosing. Throughout the book the characters are met with choices. Taryn faces the choice between love and power, while Erick faces the choice between following the rules and following the heart. The choices the characters choose are pretty alike, but one does the right thing while the other does the thing that goes against what is considered right. I thought the book was interesting because it showed how heavily the choices weighed upon each character. It showed how the characters ended up at least trying to do the right thing, but how their choice always seemed to out weigh the other choice. The characters were interesting together because one character knew what was going on while the other was learning. The characters were also interesting because they were different. One of the characters was a warrior, in perfect health, while the other was more of a thinker, who had to fight hearing loss and was battling a disease. Their differences extended deeper than that since one of the characters was born into a good family while the other was born into an evil family.The story itself was pretty good. The author did a very good job in describing the scenes in detail, and the thought processes that the author wrote for the characters were also detailed, and because of that the reader could get more of an insight into who the characters were. This book was a good book that could hold the readers interest easily and had main characters that you could easily like and antagonists that you hated but pitied.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, adn young adult book reviews and recommendations

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very good, January 30, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sign of the Crescent (Paperback)

this book was pretty good. it's about this girl who gets cought up in whole other world that includes a weak dark sorcerer, her "heart's mate", and Haro knights. i suggest you read it.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Written without Passion or Effort, April 21, 2009

By 

StarSwitch - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sign of the Crescent (Paperback)

Heed the School Library Journal Review. It said everything that I would have. I am amazed that this book was even published, much less picked up by an editor.... And it makes me wonder what kind of editor would say that this "book" passed muster. I have read many books, all far more deserving of a read than this one, so I feel that I can say with utmost certainty that the writing quality is poor, the characters are all stock, the "drama" and "secrecy" is laughable at best, you can smell all the plot "twists" coming from a gazillion light-years away, and you have to marvel at the main character's slowness at "interpreting" the "symbols" in her very transparent dreams and the "meaningful coincidences" that occur throughout the frayed plot. When I picked this book up, I was looking for a good fantasy\adventure read with some romance tossed in. What I got was a bunch of words thrown together that even a first-grader could read through easily--but I wouldn't dare insult one by giving him\her this book to read at all. I'm even hesitant to give it away or sell it second-hand because I don't want anyone else to waste their time reading it. I realize that my review sounds hostile and cruelly blunt, but while it may be that, it is also honest.