Blood Moon by Geoffrey HuntingtonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Blood Moon is the third book in the Ravenscliff Series, a saga about a teenage sorcerer who has been orphaned and shipped off to live in a spooky cliff-side mansion. What I love most about these books is the main character himself, Devon. He’s a nice guy. He’s not annoying; he’s intelligent, kind, charismatic and never whines. He’s the sort of teenage son I’m sure many parents long for and will never get. It’s the adults I find irritating. They complicate things, they lie, they hide things and they’re spiteful – just like real life. I feel Devon’s frustration with them. It’s clear at this point that he’s determined to discover his heritage no matter what the danger, so why don’t they help him out? It’s every child’s right to know where they came from. No one would blame him if he used his powers to bang a few heads together.
I love the purity of the Ravenscliff Series. It’s good old fashioned story-telling that doesn’t rely heavily on romance to attract its readers. While Blood Moon does have some elements of the ol’ love triangle trappings, it’s insignificant when compared with the rest of the story, and what a huge story it is. My advice to anyone thinking of reading this series is PAY ATTENTION. There are lots of characters spread over several different time periods and it gets complicated. I’ve scratched a bald patch trying to figure out how everyone fits into Ravenscliff’s mysteries.
My only real complaint is that I don’t feel the reader gets enough of a payoff at the end of the book. Yes, we find out some important things, but there is a lot left hanging, a lot of questions left unanswered and situations left unresolved. I was left hollering a dramatic slow-motion ‘NOOOOOOOOOO!’ at the end of the last chapter. Kudos for one heck of a cliffhanger, but I was disappointed that so much hadn’t been resolved.
On the whole, Blood Moon is well-written. There are a few clichéd sections of dialogue, a few too many exclamation marks, and a very confusing moment when the infamous East Wing turned into the West Wing, but aside from that, the writing flowed smooth and easy, and was an absolute pleasure to read. I can’t express enough how much I wish there were more books like this in our book shops. The adventure and the story are central. There’s no fancy showing off with weird metaphors and page after page of the main character brooding over his terrible predicaments. Ravenscliff is pure story, pure magic, mystery and adventure. I love it because it can be read without getting an ulcer.
I can’t wait for the next book. There’s so much I need to know and I’m hoping there’s some big answers coming. I don’t know how many books are planned in this series, but I feel the Nightwing concept could allow more adventures for Devon even after his own personal mystery is wrapped up. I can’t even fathom what’s coming next, but I did hear a rumour about vampires…
I received a free copy of the ebook from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not alter my opinion in any way.
Buy at Amazon UK
Buy at Amazon US
More reviews at http://sjhollis.blogspot.fr/
View all my reviews at Goodreads
1 comment:
The author has planned 10 books for the whole series.
Post a Comment