Name: Moon Chosen
ISBN: 9781432843250

P. C. Cast

From the bestselling author of the House of Night series comes a new epic fantasy set in a world where humans, their animal allies, and the Earth itself have been drastically changed -- a world filled with beauty and danger and cruelty. Mari, an Earth Walker, has cast the duties of her Clan aside -- until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. ( Reading Level: Grades 3-4, Ages 8-9).

Moon Chosen

P.C. Cast

Die Nr. 1- Bestseller-Autorin der »House of Night«-Serie P.C. Cast, hat mit »Moon Chosen« eine großartige Welt von archaischer Kraft geschaffen. Eine neue Welt, in der die Menschen, ihre tierischen Gefährten und die Erde selbst sich drastisch verändert haben – eine Welt voller Schönheit, Liebe, verbotener Geheimnisse und dunkler Mächte. Mari gehört zum Stamm der Erdwanderer und ist die Tochter der Mondfrau ihres Clans, Erbin der einzigartigen Heilkräfte ihrer Mutter. Es ihre Bestimmung, einmal ihren Platz einzunehmen und die Frauen und Männer des Weberclans regelmäßig vom Nachtfieber zu reinigen. Doch sie birgt ein Geheimnis in der im Wald versteckten Höhle, in der sie lebt. Und sie fühlt sich noch nicht bereit, ihrem Schicksal zu folgen. Doch als ein todbringender Angriff ihre Welt aus den Angeln reißt, enthüllt Mari die Stärke ihrer Fähigkeiten und entschließt sich, sich selbst und ihr Volk zu retten. Ihr läuft ein Hund zu, der ihr nicht mehr von der Seite weicht. Ihr neuer Begleiter wird allerdings schon gesucht – von ihren Feinden. Als Mari dem Sohn des Anführers, Nik, begegnet, verspürt sie ein zuvor nie gekanntes Gefühl. Sie bricht die Gesetze des Clans und verbündet sich mit ihm, um die Kräfte zu besiegen, die sie alle zu zerstören drohen.

Gefährten einer neuen Welt. Roman

Shay Henrion

I received this book from Griffin Teens (via a Goodreads giveaway) for review. 

I really, REALLY wanted to like this book. It had a really interesting concept and interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic YA trope. However the writing just wasn't there for me. I haven't read any of Cast's other books, so I can't speak to if this book was written in the style, but it just fell into the typical YA hole for me. The writing was stilted and juvenile (I get it, it's a YA novel), and the characters just didn't feel very well-developed for me. Of course, this could change as I believe there are additional novels planned, but in a book that is over 600 pages, you should have at least a little character development or backstory. 

Another thing that really bothered me about this book (and again, this has to do with the writing) is that the ideas that Cast had for these 3 separate societies were SO good, but so underdeveloped. Again, this might be fleshed out in later books. But the entire time, all I wanted to know was (view spoiler)[ what happened to the sun and how did people survive what was probably a catastrophic solar flare (i think?)? How did these people get magical powers? Are the skin stealers affected by radiation? (hide spoiler)] I NEED SOME ANSWERS. Again, I might get these answers in later books, but I don't think I can sit through more stilted writing and juvenile dialogue to find out. 

I had really high hopes for this book, especially once I realized it wasn't about werewolves, which was my assumption based on the title and book cover. Alas.

#1 New York Times bestselling author, P.C. Cast, brings us a new epic fantasy set in a world where humans, their animal allies, and the earth itself has been drastically changed. A world filled with beauty and danger and cruelty... Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan; but she has cast her duties aside, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating clan strays across her path, that Mari experiences something she has never felt before... Now, darkness is coming, and with it, a force, more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By forming a tumultuous alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik. Ready to embrace her true destiny...and obliterate the forces that threaten to destroy them all.

Tales of a New World

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

I will not be finishing this book. I read the Night House series, also by P.C. Cast, when I was in middle school. I grew out of them, and for some reason I thought the writing in this book would be better. It isn’t.

If you are not in middle school, I do not recommend this book.

Another book set in the future after the world has reverted to a more primitive time and is one with nature. Not to my taste, and I am not a fan of animals picking what you are meant to do.

I just wasn’t interesting in anything in this book. Not worth the time if you are over the age of 18.

Also, who ever came up with the name of this book wasn’t very original, as her first book in the Night House series was called Chosen.

The first book in an epic series. Five months on the bestseller list. Read the book that started the blockbuster bestselling series by #1 New York Times bestselling author P.C. Cast. #1 New York Times bestselling author P.C. Cast brings us Moon Chosen, a new epic fantasy set in a world where humans, their animal allies, and the earth itself has been drastically changed. A world filled with beauty and danger and cruelty... Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan; but she has cast her duties aside, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating clan strays across her path, that Mari experiences something she has never felt before... Now, darkness is coming, and with it, a force, more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By forming a tumultuous alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik. Ready to embrace her true destiny...and obliterate the forces that threaten to destroy them all.

** spoiler alert **
           I will not be finishing this book. I read the Night House series, also by P.C. Cast, when I was in middle school. I grew out of them, and for some reason I thought the writing in this book would be better. It isn’t.

If you are not in middle school, I do not recommend this book.

Another book set in the future after the world has reverted to a more primitive time and is one with nature. Not to my taste, and I am not a fan of animals picking what you are meant to do.

I just wasn’t interesting in anything in this book. Not worth the time if you are over the age of 18.

Also, who ever came up with the name of this book wasn’t very original, as her first book in the Night House series was called Chosen.

Jolie

Going to start off by warning you that this book is long, 608 pages. Probably one of the longest I have read to date. But the character and world building in it is beyond anything that I have read before.

We meet Mari as she is drawing a sketch of the myth, Narcissus and Echo. It is a game that her mother and herself play to amuse themselves. Mari and Leda are Earth Walkers and Leda is a Moon Woman. A Moon Woman brings down the moon to Wash her Clan, males of anger and Night Fever and females of sorrow. This has to be done every 3 days or the males go, for a lack of a better words, batshit crazy.

We also find out that Mari is a half-breed. She is half Earth Walker and half Companion. Companions are a race of people who live in the trees and have Shepherds or Terriers that are connected to them and they can read each other’s thoughts. The Earth Walkers live in fear of the Companions because whenever they appear, the males are killed and the woman are taken and never seen again. So it was amazing that a Companion and an Earth Walker fell in love and had a child. Mari was an infant when her father was killed. He was killed for committing what amounts to treason in the Companion society. He took fronds from a Mother Plant (something that I can’t really explain….you need to read the book) and refused to tell where he was bringing them.

The book then shifts to Dead Eye, a young man chosen to be a Harvester of his People, the Skin Stealers, a cannibalistic tribe that lives in what used to be cities. Dead Eye has had an epiphany of sorts. He has realized that The Reaper, a Goddess that his people worship, does not speaker through the Watchers and that she hasn’t spoken in years, perhaps decades. He realizes that eating the flesh of The Others (the Earth Walker and Companions) is killing his people. While on a hunt outside his cities limits, he injures a stag and strips some of its body of its flesh…which he packs around his own cracked skin. It miraculously heals him and he takes it as a sign that he is the Champion. After pronouncing The Reaper basically dead (well that’s what I got from it), he kills the Watchers, elderly woman, who speak to her. That’s when he meets Dove, an eyeless brunette beauty who calls herself an Oracle of the God. She becomes Dead Eye’s mate.

We also meet Nik, a Companion who lives in the trees. Nik is upset because he hasn’t been chosen by a Guardian (the Shepherds and Terriers) yet and is hoping that the newest litter will have a pup choose him. What ends up happening, instead, is that the last pup of that litter disappears while Nik has taken him down to the ground to use the bathroom. This leads to some pretty major events in the book that include Mari.

The author does explain what happens to divide a civilization. There were several intense solar flares from the sun that decimated Earth’s population and drove people either to the forests (The Earth Walkers), to the trees (The Companions) or they stayed in the cities (The Skin Stealers). Beyond killing all technology, the solar flare mutated both animals and insects. Spiders and roaches are mentioned, a lot, and I got so skeeved out reading about them. The animals are able to communicate with their chosen Companions telepathically. After a time, the remaining people formed into the Earth Walkers, Skin Stealers and Companions (and they were mutated in ways too).

I am not going to go into the book much more after this because this post would take forever. Lets just say that friendships are formed, people are saved, people die and new alliances are formed. I honestly can’t wait for book 2 to come out because I want to see what happens.

How many stars will I give Moon Chosen? 5

Why? A well written dystopian/fantasy. The world building and character building in this book, like I said above, is beyond anything that I have ever seen and I think has spoiled me for other books in the future.

Will I reread? Yes!!!

Will I recommend to family and friends? Yes

Age range? Adult

Why? Violence, a scene of the after effects of rape and a scene of attempted rape.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance copy**