Reviews

Moonshine by Jasmine Gower

kitnotmarlowe's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-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? No

4.0

This book surprised me. First, while I don't let other people's reviews influence my reading, the 3.45* rating is significantly lower than I would gravitate toward. Moonshine is far better than its low rating suggests. Secondly, it's urban fantasy, a genre I find inherently silly (a personal issue), particularly when it's historical or historically inspired and especially when magic and fairies are involved. And yet, not only did I enjoy Moonshine, but it's the rare standalone novel I wish was part of a series. I think that a lot of this is due to the setting.

If the copy didn't specify that Soot City is fantasy Chicago, I don't think I would've guessed. Then again, I have never been to Chicago and cannot easily recognize its landscape. One of the reasons I avoid historical fantasy is that the history is either left unchanged, aside from a few gimmicks or is treated as nothing more than set dressing. Gower does something fascinating in Moonshine by creating a world that, while analogous to America, bears little resemblance to it. Ashland is a land of volcanoes that has only recently become habitable, a new country covered in ashfall rather than rain. Not only is this idea fun, but it also takes an interesting approach to the melting pot mythology of American culture without the genocide upon which the country was founded. (For the record, it appears that all bigotry in this universe is based on magic.)

While Ashland may be recognizable as the good ol' US of A, 

Gower avoids another of historical fantasy's laziest tropes: making every fantasy country a perfect analogue to the real world. This is fantasy America, this is fantasy Japan, and this is fantasy France, etc. Here, you can intuit things based on character appearances, but otherwise, the countries are geographically and culturally unrecognizable from our own.

 

Moving on from the worldbuilding, I felt that the pacing was perfect for the page count, the conflict was resolved in a way that I honestly did not see coming, and at one point, I laughed so hard that I worried my downstairs neighbours heard me through the vents. The character work is a little thin (especially with the men, who I had trouble differentiating between despite there only being about 3 total), but honestly, it's not a major complaint in the grand scheme of things. 

itsneilcochrane's review against another edition

4.0

This was an extremely fun alternate history, fast-paced but threaded with wonderfully nuanced moments between different characters that provided good beats of thoughtfulness and connection in an otherwise externally-driven plot.

indydc's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

frahhn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

hi_im_llary's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I thought this book would tick a lot of boxes for me - fairies, magic, a cool city setting. It fell flat in many of those aspects, though. The magic wasn’t that interesting, the city and the greater world beyond didn’t feel fully fleshed out, and the fact that the fairies didn’t communicate or really do anything interesting at all was disappointing. There’s something to be said about fairies having a different language, but it seems silly in a world full of magic that there was no way to fix that. Cyan was just set dressing and a bone for Andre. I also felt like a lot of the characters were 2D and just plain uninteresting. Again, in a world of ogres and humans and fairies, everything felt one-note. 

Overall, this wasn’t for me, even though I lovedddd the cover and description and was so excited for it.

typewriter's review against another edition

The author and main character are waaay too focused on explaining that Daisy is a Modern Girl for this to be readable.

chenoadallen's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted to love this one - so much queer and disabled representation, and the main character is POC, and the plot doesn't revolve around those identities. But in the end, I was bored. The plot moved slowly, and the characters were pretty flat - I never really cared about any of them. I didn't hate it, but I probably wouldn't bother reading any sequels.

kirkw1972's review against another edition

2.0

There is a lot going on here in a re imagined version of 1920's Chicago where magic is outlawed just as much as liqueur and the illegal selling of a brand of magic called 'mana' is rife. I couldn't really take to this one. Normally I like fantasy  but I just felt the whole thing was messy. I lost track of a lot of who the characters were as Daisy meets a lot of people in her line of work. There's also not a lot of plot or character development either for me.

On the plus side for anyone who prefers the genre there are a lot of characters that fall under LGBTQ. It's very representative. I think overall it had  a great premise (and promise) but ended up just not being a book for me. 

madelyn91's review against another edition

5.0

D-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y

This book checked so many boxes for me. Reading Moonshine was like a breath of fresh air.

✔ Own Voices
✔ Queer rep
✔ Polyamorous characters
✔ Genderfluid characters
✔ 1920's Chicago
✔ Magic
✔ Fantastical creatures (Orgres & Fairies)
✔ Outlaws & Bounty Hunters
✔ Unlikeable characters

Disclaimer: I was sent this book for review, which in no way effects my honest opinion.

Daisy Dell, the protagonist is a modern girl of the time. She takes a job in an office doing the usual secretarial job women would be allowed to do in the 1920's, she quickly learns not everything is as it seems.

The plot begins to unfold after Daisy and her friends find themselves in trouble and she learns some serious truth and comes face to face with danger.

The whole city is filled with magic, danger, secrets all on the brink of a collision. Moonshine is an incredibly diverse, magical and flawed read. The characters are everything I have wanted in fantasy & much more. I hope this the future of fantasy!

what_is_emma_reading's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0