Customer Reviews

The White Shadow Saga: The Stolen Moon of Londor

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't read a great deal of fantasy/sci-fi books. It's not that I don't enjoy them, but I am more into character development than escapism. I have to say, though, that THE STOLEN MOON OF LONDOR by A. P. Stephens accomplishes something that made me smile: It gave me both.

What would you do to protect the life and freedoms that you hold dear? How far would you travel in order to make sure the world as you know it remains intact? These questions are part of the storyline that manages to take you up and out of yourself into a new place and puts you at ease along the journey.

I enjoyed THE STOLEN MOON OF LONDOR, and if you are looking for a book that is well-written and provides the escape that so many books try to achieve and don't, then you will as well.

Silly, melodramatic, and almost satirically bad, this story obviously didn't do it for me. I got it free and I got what I paid for. If you can't get it free, definitely get the sample first!

When A. P. Stephens first contacted me regarding his book, I was very interested in checking out his first book in The White Shadow Saga, The Stolen Moon of Londor. I am very much a fantasy reader and lover and this book sounded intriguing. Is it ever! I enjoyed listening to it from start to finish and can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the paperback to read through it again.

In my opinion, The Stolen Moon of Londor ranks right up there with some of my other favorite fantasy reads: Terry Brooks, Tolkien, Terry Goodkind... Stephens is great at giving a lot of vivid detail without becoming so involved that you lose sight of the story. As any good quest would have, there are many different characters, with varying personalities and talents, involved in this adventure to recover the stolen moon. Oh, and how about that for a fresh, new idea in fantasy? I am still anxious to find out where this story is going after the first book--how does one steal a moon, after all, even in a fantasy novel? But back to the characters--obviously they are not yet fully developed as this is only the first book in the saga, but already I can see that there will likely be some surprises along the way with this group. I can't even say that I have a favorite character yet, though I expect that to change as I continue reading the saga.

As far as audiobooks go, I have to admit I have never been too keen on listening to involved stories, because I worry that I will miss something. I was surprised at how easily I was able to follow and keep up with the events that were transpiring. I think it helps that Stephens does not get too involved in various events--the battle scenes are descriptive without becoming too bogged down, the world and events are presented in great detail without being wordy... In short, this book is well-written and to the point; there's not a lot of fluff here. The only thing I thought was missing was a more detailed account of the world of Londor itself. I didn't always find that I could picture it in my head, and perhaps that is something that will change when I reread the book as opposed to listening to it, I can't be sure.

I am most definitely looking forward to continuing The White Shadow Saga and anxiously await the publication of the second book. I would think that any reader who shares my affinity to fantasy works would enjoy Stephens' book and I urge you to check it out!

(Rated 4-1/2 stars out of 5 at my site, I round for sites like Amazon.)

The Stolen Moon of Londor is the start of your typical epic fantasy story, yet with the potential to be more. To summarize with a broad stroke: A band of heroes gather, by choice or just swept up by the flow, and set out to find the stolen moon before their magical powers, and the world, comes to an end. Along the way they discover that the task before them is greater than simply finding a thief and reclaiming the moon.

The characters themselves are set in their ways, and at this point, leaves little room for true growth. Would have been nice to see some take more of a role in the story, but this is only book 1 and there is hope this will change within the next books. The story is fast paced and bounces from action scene to another. A lot has already happened in the first book, though if there are still 2 books left, it seems that a whole lot more is going to happen.

This is not a bad book by any regards, but not a great one either. It reads easy, thought it is easy to get distracted. Some of the wording seemed forced, but it doesn't detract from the story. It's only the beginning of a story, and it made me curious to know more, and that's always a good sign.

Update: I read the second book in the saga, and I must say that it is a great improvement from the first, and actually quite enjoyable. As such, I do encourage people to pick up this series and watch how the story unfolds! Grab it, save it for a rainy day and enjoy

I have read this entire book and at times could not put it down. I love the different battle scenes. Descriptions make you feel like you are there. A.P. Stephens is an excellent author and I hope that his next book will come out quickly.

Not having read a sci-fi novel and only watching the various movies from Hollywood, I was thrilled to have had a chance to read The Stolen Moon of Londor and could not wait to move on to the next book. It was exciting to get to know each character that uniquely evolved into this team on a mission. A group you would never expect, gel towards a common goal. The adventure kept your imagination working and the author did an excellent job of keeping it all together. I would love to see the theatrical version some day to see if it would be the same as the way I pictured it while reading the story. The special effects would be amazing. I read some of the other reviews, and it is astonishing how the few negative reviews lost sight of what this book was wanting to accomplish. It is meant to take you away from reality to another place of wonder and to keep you entertained. This book succeeds. I am half way through the 2nd installment and am on the edge of my seat once again. Highly recommend this book.

The main characters were either sniveling wieners or arrogant jerks. I found myself not liking any of them, which makes it hard to care about a book. Oh...the wizard was OK. And the main mercenary *could* have been OK...had he not vanished into the woodwork after a while. But the rest were simply unlikable twits.

And stupid? I swear, everyone in this book is dumb as dirt. Constantly occurring situations where they *could* beat a monster/bad guy...indeed regularly proclaim "we've got him now"...only to stop and have conversations, letting the various monsters/bad guys go. And when they *should* ask questions? Nah.

And talk about the overuse of deus ex machina. It's as thought the author couldn't think of a clever way to resolve any situations of his own creation...or of introducing new characters...without resorting to silliness. This often lead to more dumb as dirt phases where no one seems to be interested in questioning anything or anyone. Oh, they might ask one question. But, when the answer literally screams for a followup question? Which happens often. Nah. Can't be bothered.

I can't think of the last time I've been so annoyed by a work of fiction. I usually ignore minor irritants...but I can't when a book is totally full of them The thing is, this book has a decent overall plot. But this author needs an editor...a GOOD editor...to help him turn his good plots into well-written books.

I found this book enjoyable, yet a little disjointed and confusing in parts. I would often get some of the characters confused in some of the scenes as I couldn't keep them straight because there were a few too many all mashed together with only a little development.

This story could do with some further development of the characters and perhaps some more introduction to each of the characters individually so we can better distinguish them apart.

It didn't detract from the story too much, though, as I still plan on reading the second installment.

Thanks A.P Stephens for the tale.

The Setup

The land of Londor is populated by dwarfs, elves and humans. There are wizards and mercenaries. The magic is directly related to the two moons of Londor called Cadmor and Beldas. One night Beldas disappears and cause a lot of problems. Magic starts to fail and the kingdoms get belligerent. There is no way out. The disappearance of Beldas must be reversed. A small group is hired to solve the riddle.
The group consist of a mysterious masked man named Malander, the human Seth and his friend the dwarf Lorn, the famous elf-mercenary Gildan and three northern help. The group is supported by the wizard Randor. Later on another person joins the group. The Stolen Moon of Londor is the first part of their quest......


My Take in Brief

Now you may say just one more fantasy quest novel. My answer is yes and no. Yes, it is one more quest novel but it differs from other quest novels. I never read about a stolen moon before.
Each member of the party has own secrets and they do not really like each other. But they are united in their quest. I thought that it would be easy to connect with minimum one of the nine characters but that was a fallacy. I felt like an observer. But for me it is important to have a connection to minimum one character. It doesn't matter whether with the good or the bad guys. I think I needs more time to build up nine different characters including background stories.

The story contains enough twists and turns to keep you interested. And yes, there are enough obstacles including werewolves and mysterious monks during this first part of the quest. Unfortunately I felt sometimes lost. And I'm not sure I put together all the pieces of the history of Londor..

The Stolen Moon of Londor is the debut novel and the first book in The White Shadow Saga trilogy. There are two things why I want to read the sequel: I really want to know who stole the moon and how it was done. And will there be a development of the characters.

If you like travel quests with original ideas and manageable length you should give The Stolen Moon of Londor a try.
I really hesitated to compare the book with a famous trilogy but there are so many similarities. Fortunately Randor is totally different compared to Gandalf and Lorn has nothing in common with Gimli and and and and........
This may show you that The Stolen Moon of Londor is a familiar but unique work.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book. It was completely out of my comfort zone of classic British Lit. However, it is a good read and a sound first book for the author. You can see the author begin to get into a "zone" toward the middle and the writing really take off at the end. I am now hooked on The White Shadow Saga and just ordered book 2. I will also order copies of this series for my nieces for Christmas... They love a good fantasy book! Cheers to you, AP!