Customer Reviews

Winter Moon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this anthology up due to the inclusion of C.E. Murphy- and I was not disappointed! Murphy's tale, "Banshee Cries", continues the saga of Joanne Walker, the central figure in "Urban Shaman". In "Urban Shaman", Joanne was a police mechanic for the Seattle Police Department until the department replaced her while she was in Ireland with her dying mother. Consequently, she became an unwilling police officer who also has a spirit guide, Coyote. In this story, Joanne communicates with her dead mother, Sheila MacNamarra, to thwart a serial killer who had also tried to kill her mother. "Moontide" by Mercedes Lackey was an unexpected surprise for me. Moira na Ferson has been trained to be one of the Grey ladies- able to appropriately interact at court and yet have the skills of an assassin. Her father sent her away many years ago and has shown no interest in her until he mysteriously demands she return home. Once home at the Highclere Sea-Keep, she discovers her father, Lord Ferson, has befriended the pirate, Massid, Prince of Jendara. I won't spoil this intriguing story by revealing the nefarious plot Moira and Kedric the Fool uncover and ultimately thwart. "The Heart of the Moon" by Tanith Lee was the weakest of the three stories and a disappointment to me as I had previously read and enjoyed some of Lee's work. Clirando, a warrior for the goddess Parna, discovers her lover, Thestus, and her sister-friend, Araitha, have betrayed her by having sex. She challenges and beats both in duels and both are banished. Before Araitha leaves for her banishment, she curses Clirando. Clirando then receives word that Araitha died in a shipwreck, thus cementing the power of the curse. Clirando and a band of her warriors are then sent to the Moon Isle, a mysterious Isle where selected individuals were sent for the Seven Nights. From there, the story is a series of hallucinations/dreams where Clirando meets her true love, Zemetrios, and both earn their redemption. Perhaps others will enjoy the underlying meaning behind the story (such as the pigs representing Clirando's evil faces) but I felt it was too confusing. Overall, I recommend this anthology based on the strength of the stories by Murphy and Lackey.

I'd been trying to get a hold of this anthology for a while, so I was pleasantly surprised when Luna included it as the "free" book I received for trying their services. The three novellas in this volume, I believe, epitomize the blend of rich fantasy, strong female characters, and romantic elements offered by the books in the Luna line. Being a bit of a romantic myself, I prefer a solid "happily ever after" type ending, or at least a strong "happy for now" one. So, the first two novellas in this collection did deliver more solidly on that promise than did the last, but that in no way diminished my enjoyment of this collection, and each story within it.

Moontide by Mercedes Lackey starts off this anthology. In this story, the author takes us back to her Five Hundred kingdoms, only this time, it tells the tale of the daughter of the lord of a Sea-Keep sent off to fosterling. Her father wants her back, and she's certain it's for a marriage proposal. However, the proposal doesn't exactly materialize, and what she discovers means treason against the crown. She has only the skills she learned as one of the Countessess' "Grey Ladies" and a Fool, on which she can rely. Will it be enough to stop a threat to not only the King's person, but his very kingdom?

Having been disappointed with the author's work of late, I'm very pleased to have found a story which drew me in and kept me turning pages. Our heroine is a strongly drawn character, with a strength of will and a keen mind, which makes her the perfect foil for her father's plans. With the Fool, a man who is never quite completely drawn, we're shown that in him, she has a partner to help save the king. While the romance is understated, it is there, and is satisfactorily wrapped up in the story. I certainly hope we see more of the Grey Ladies in future stories.

The Heart of the Moon by Tanith Lee is the middle story. A warrior, wounded by the betrayal of a man she called lover and a woman she called friend, finds herself cursed. When she's sent to the Isle of the Moon she finds herself on a spiritual journey and meets a man similarly betrayed. As they work through their issues, they discover a love for each other. Except once their time of the isle is over, they're torn apart, and have to find their way to each other.

I'll be honest, I hadn't been impressed with Tanith Lee's contributions to romance anthologies in the past, and I didn't expect much this time around. However, this story with is poignant characterization and the emotional trails of the characters, created a compelling read, and once that impressed this reader. The Heart of the Moon is a journey of the heart.

Banshee Cries by C.E. Murphy, ended the anthology. An author whose work I wanted to read, I found myself eagerly looking forward to this story. A reluctant beat cop has to come to grips with her shamanic power, her dead mother, and her position within the police department.

I found the characterization and sense of place in this story; however, I kept looking for romantic content and found it lacking. This was mentioned as being book 1.5 of the series, so perhaps reading the first book would help ground the reader in the world and the sense of place. However, as an urban fantasy story, this tale does its job in creating an otherworldly sense to our day-to-day lives, and the narrator's unique and strong voice makes it a page-turning read.

It's hard to really 'rate' a grouping like this, where I had divergent reactions to the three works.

The Lackey novella I found to be boring and obvious. Yet another plucky young girl who, through the power of feminism, can walk circles around the rest of her society, solving a barely transparent plot against the kingdom. I suppose fans of hers will like it well enough, as it's fairly typical of her work.

I'd been meaning to read some Tannith Lee for some time, and I can see the appeal. I liked her writing style, and the character-centric story. It was okay, even enjoyable, but fairly forgettable.

But I loved the C.E. Murphy story. She's got such a strong and clear voice. This ties directly into last year's "Urban Shaman" novel, and is a nice continuation of the story. I'd recommend reading that instead, but if you do and you want more, this is a large enough chunk to make it worth the trouble. Ultimately, I hope that this causes fans of the more popular Lee and Lackey to discover this exciting new author.

"Moontide" by Mercedes Lackey. At Sea Keep Moira na Ferson must choose between what her father wants of her and what her king demands of her, but she has always been independent and strong. Whichever sire she obeys will cause harm especially to her so being independent and strong and strictly adhering to the laws of marriage as they pertain to her, Moira heeds the advice of the Fool.

"Heart of the Moon" by Tanith Lee. Warrior priestess Clirando once sought love, but instead received pain and a curse. She wears a mask to hide her inner hurt until she meets Zemetrios. As she begins to feel love again, she expects him to betray her as the curse will surely intercede unless he can get her to join him in questioning what they hold to be true, the greater truth of love.

"Banshee's Cry" by. C E Murphy. Joanne Walker has vowed to never use her powers as a shaman, but soon has no choice but to rely on her "gift" for the good of her people. She must solve ritual homicides that have occurred under the full moon and can only do so by using that which she detests employing.

These three romantic fantasies are well written tales of love between strong protagonists with the powerful females having the more obvious flaws; in fact the men seem underdeveloped in comparison. Still sub-genre fans will enjoy each novella that has a different spin making for a fine anthology.

Harriet Klausner

Not the first time I've read an anthology with stories by authors I love - for their full-length novels. Not the first time I've been sorry about it. It's a real challenge to write a stand-alone story about a character with 3 novels out there - and a novella has very different pacing demands from a full-length. Anyway, if you've read the Walker papers, you'll find Banshee Cries duplicates an awful lot of explanations (with the identical same phrases, which really gets my goat, did she just use generic fill material?) Oh well, I'll stick to the novels (which are really, really excellent and you should go and buy any full length by C.E Murphy right now; you'll thank me.)

In this book,the authers took old ideas and made them fresh and new again. It was a fast, fun to read. Just right for a cup of tea and a warm spot on a cold rainy day. I will keep this one and read it again.

But then being a spiritual person I'm bias. C.S. Murphy does a good job continuing her Walker papers. I did enjoy her dedication to her mother who wanted to know about Jo's mother. Considering how Jo's mother treated her in Urban Shaman you could almost hear C.S.' mother saying "are you trying to tell me something?". Her novella does continue Jo's growth as a shaman and does get her mother off the hook so to speak. (I always invision Jo as Angelina Jolie--if they ever made Urban Shaman into a movie she'd get my vote for the part) Anyway the story was well done but didn't quite seem to make it to the same level as Urban Shaman. Perhaps when her novel comes out next May it will be back up there.

I enjoyed Tanith Lee's story as well. It was well done with a suprise ending about what the journey on the Island she was sent to was all about.

Mercedes Lackey's story was OK but more of a romance than the other two with no particular spiritual depth to it. But if you like supense it is well worth reading.

The first story by Mercedes Lackey is meant to take place in her world of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, minus the power of The Tradition to force things a certain way. The only clue the I found that could indicate that this story would fit in the Five Hundred Kingdoms is the presence of the Fool. Other than that, it simply read as a good fantasy plotline, with equal parts romance, intrigue, and adventure. The story wrapped up nicely, with no loose ends, but I would love to read a full novel about the Grey Ladies - not much information is given on this group of women and they certainly have much potential for a good full-length story.

The second story is by Tanith Lee, whom I have never read before now. I rather enjoyed the world development, despite the length she had to work in, and the imagery was both mysterious and beautiful. After I read the story, I went looking online to see if this world fit into any other novels, but I could not find any information on this. Still, I plan to check out more of her work now.

The third story by C. E. Murphy takes place in her Walker Papers series, specifically between the first and second book. Since I have only read the first two books in the series, I thoroughly appreciated how this story filled in a few blanks for me about what is happening in the series. In this story, Joanne learns about her deceased mother, who turns out to be quite a fascinating character. I think I may even prefer her to Joanne. It can't be easy for the author to translate a thick Scottish accent onto paper, either. Now I am anxious to read more of the Walker Papers series.

Mercedes Lackey has such a way with creating atmosphere -- I would really like to see "Moontide" expanded to novel-format. "The Heart of the Moon" by Tanith Lee was charming. As far as "Banshee Cries"? Ick Ick Ick -- I stapled that story shut when I passed the book on to my daughter.

This author has a very creative mind, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.