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samuelson_obi's review
3.0
Brian Lee Durfee’s “The Forgetting Moon”is classic fantasy with a hard edge. The moment you think you are on familiar ground, it tilts, catching you wrong footed. Tim Gerard Reynolds's superb narration channeled the tone, the world and characters as I listened through into the early hours.
I liked it.
And if you enjoyed the "Memory Sorrow and Thorn" series, "The song of ice and fire”, or “The faithful and the fallen” series by John Gwynne, you might enjoy this too.
I liked it.
And if you enjoyed the "Memory Sorrow and Thorn" series, "The song of ice and fire”, or “The faithful and the fallen” series by John Gwynne, you might enjoy this too.
mythical_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I dropped the rating from 4.25/5 simply because there is a character who scratches his ass over ever my single page that he is apart of. He either needs to stop to wash his ass, or needs a free hand to scratch his ass to the literal detriment of the story progression. I wanted him to be trampled by a horse. I really enjoyed the rest of the books and all other aspects though.
joryjohn's review
4.0
I enjoyed the intrigue with the religions and their combating histories. There are many parts of this book I like or even love and parts that leave me unsure if I like the grimdark genre. I like dark stories but not when the gore or depravity isn't 'earned' or perhaps excessive. I am unsure exactly myself. Gore for gores sake disturbs me. Some scenes in this book seem to be for gores sake, other don't. One that comes to mind is the scene were a man is disemboweled, to show he isn't invincible, which is for a reason. As the scene continues however he flops around in the background screaming and guts falling out of him. Something about the length of it, its presentation and all the other fucked up stuff around it made me disturbed with the author. Also off putting are some horny comments that just made me feel gross. I do not have the direct quote, but one goes along the lines of 'the men just want to fuck elf girls because they cant get them pregnant.' Which on its face sounds kinda funny, it did not land that way however. It read like some mentally ill hentai plot. Also I hate the edgy assassin sect archetype, it is the worst. Anyway 4 stars good book idk if its for me.
scottneumann's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ripxw's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Sexual violence
Moderate: Rape and Pedophilia
eden__reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
andrew_f's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
For a debut novel, The Forgetting Moon is competently written with pretty good world building. However, the cast of characters are difficult to root for because they are immensely unlikeable or completely idiotic. I believe this book will only appeal to people that like dark fantasy, that revels in brutality with little hope or triumph. As I learn more and more about my own reading taste, these types of books will not appeal to me. I don't need my protagonists to be perfect, but I need them to be a little bit competent. I also need some mix of triumph and defeat, and this book was all about misery.
In this book we're following a group of characters that live in the last kingdom yet to be conquered by an invading army. One part of the story follows a group a young villagers with the main character of that arc being Nail (terrible name for a character), who is an orphan and trains under a mysterious and stern man. Nail is one of the worst fantasy protagonists I have ever read from. He does basically nothing and the few decisions he makes is stupid or downright evil (if you read the book you know the scene). He is the primary reason I will not be continuing the series.
The other part of the story follows members of the royal family. The elder brother is now king at a young age after both his parents are killed. He is swayed by the leader of the religious sect the kingdom adheres too. This puts him at odds frequently with his eldest sister, Jondralyn who is a member of a secret order that has secret knowledge of the true beginnings of the church. The youngest sister. Tala is forced to play a deadly game by an unknown assassin.
I enjoyed the political court storyline far more than Nail's storyline. However, I felt that Jondralyn became insufferable toward the end of the novel. I was compelled by her story at the beginning but then she turned into a blind idiot. I get these characters are pretty young, but the decisions she makes are completely unbelievable.
Most of the worldbuilding is centered around competing versions of the religion. The invading kingdom has their beliefs and the defending kingdom has their version, and then there is the true secret history that is known only to a select few. Each side is trying to fulfil a prophecy 1000 years in the making and the main plotline is centered around finding the ancient artifacts of The Five Warrior Angels. The religion is far too close to Christianity for my taste. I prefer fantasy religions to differ more from real world religions, but that aside, I think the author did a good job setting up the religious conflict and did a very good job with the lore.
If I didn't hate Nail so much, I might have continued with the series. However, the mysteries aren't compelling enough to read through a couple more 900 page books to find out the answers and there are other authors that do this much better. And the book is incredibly violent. I can tolerate some brutality, but this book is over the top disgusting at some points. If it was balanced by some more hopeful scenes, it would be more palatable. Joe Abercrombie is about as grim dark as I want to get. This goes many steps further and I little entertainment in these types of stories.
In this book we're following a group of characters that live in the last kingdom yet to be conquered by an invading army. One part of the story follows a group a young villagers with the main character of that arc being Nail (terrible name for a character), who is an orphan and trains under a mysterious and stern man. Nail is one of the worst fantasy protagonists I have ever read from. He does basically nothing and the few decisions he makes is stupid or downright evil (if you read the book you know the scene). He is the primary reason I will not be continuing the series.
The other part of the story follows members of the royal family. The elder brother is now king at a young age after both his parents are killed. He is swayed by the leader of the religious sect the kingdom adheres too. This puts him at odds frequently with his eldest sister, Jondralyn who is a member of a secret order that has secret knowledge of the true beginnings of the church. The youngest sister. Tala is forced to play a deadly game by an unknown assassin.
I enjoyed the political court storyline far more than Nail's storyline. However, I felt that Jondralyn became insufferable toward the end of the novel. I was compelled by her story at the beginning but then she turned into a blind idiot. I get these characters are pretty young, but the decisions she makes are completely unbelievable.
Most of the worldbuilding is centered around competing versions of the religion. The invading kingdom has their beliefs and the defending kingdom has their version, and then there is the true secret history that is known only to a select few. Each side is trying to fulfil a prophecy 1000 years in the making and the main plotline is centered around finding the ancient artifacts of The Five Warrior Angels. The religion is far too close to Christianity for my taste. I prefer fantasy religions to differ more from real world religions, but that aside, I think the author did a good job setting up the religious conflict and did a very good job with the lore.
If I didn't hate Nail so much, I might have continued with the series. However, the mysteries aren't compelling enough to read through a couple more 900 page books to find out the answers and there are other authors that do this much better. And the book is incredibly violent. I can tolerate some brutality, but this book is over the top disgusting at some points. If it was balanced by some more hopeful scenes, it would be more palatable. Joe Abercrombie is about as grim dark as I want to get. This goes many steps further and I little entertainment in these types of stories.