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metromesa's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A good first novel. Not sure if it's intended to be standalone, but fun nonetheless.
writingwwolves's review against another edition
5.0
Fast paced, a fantasy twist on Chicago in the 1920s, an unpredictable plot, with darling characters & fabulous writing - what more could a reader want?! Seriously, I absolutely loved this read; world-building is so important to me & the world-building in Moonshine was phenomenal - I'm totally obsessed with the world that Jasmine has created & I want MORE of it. The characters were incredible as well & the plot was super original too, so basically this book is near on perfect.
Disclaimer: I was sent an advanced copy of this book by the publisher in return for an honest review.
Extended Review: https://wp.me/p8MbIo-2rL
Disclaimer: I was sent an advanced copy of this book by the publisher in return for an honest review.
Extended Review: https://wp.me/p8MbIo-2rL
jay_t's review against another edition
5.0
Moonshine is the debut novel from Jasmine Gower, and what a debut it is. I must start by confessing to an innate love of magic- give me a solid magic system, and I’m ten times more likely to pick up your book. Gower delivered in spades.
Her world of magic has two main schools- methodical magic, and ritual magic. Methodical magic is used in the majority, with ritual magic on the outskirts of society. However, all magic is looked down upon by society, with many politicians looking to blame wizards for all the world’s evils.
Our protagonist is Daisy Dell, a Modern Girl. From the moment I met her, I was enraptured. Gower’s prose brought her characters to life in a way that I found myself feeling as though I had met these people on the streets- they were that real. Her being “educated” is also clear on the page, as seen in this encounter with her new boss:
Magazines aren’t for breaking news, no, but they provide social commentary on the current cultural climate. Essays and interviews… even advertisements can be a valuable lens into the values of a society.
Every word brought these characters more to life. While Daisy starts as the main character, and the character through which we are introduced to this world, we also spend some time seeing things through the eyes of Mr Swarz, Daisy’s new boss, and Ming Wei, a woman who was
...small, plain, and tomboyish. She didn’t dress or conduct herself as women were expected to, which gave everyone around her the sense that they were right to ignore her existence as a fellow human. Insulting, but it was to her benefit when she needed to drive a blade or a bullet into someone.
On that note- Moonshine has a level of diversity which I have yet to seen in another story. Gower has not shied away from filling her world with a variety of characters, few of whom stick to your stereotypical mould. Daisy is a woman of colour; her boss is a disabled, queer man (possibly aromantic); two of her female work colleagues are in a relationship; another colleague is genderqueer, presenting as both male and female within the story. All of this helps to create a world that, while being a fantasy, is believable in it’s own right.
Setting her story in the Prohibition Era, but not this Earth’s Prohibition Era, allowed Gower to showcase a brilliant story that doesn’t shy away from asking the tough questions- several characters make choices that are morally grey, but their reasons are relatable;
Daisy wasn’t the rich, though, and she had her own needs, and as long as she could justify the partying aspect of her persona and increasing social networks with coworkers as a “need”, she was able to choke down the guilt and disgust.
Who hasn’t had to weigh up public appearances vs inner values?
As the story reveals more about Daisy’s exact brand of magic, and how that influences her life, you really begin to emphasise with Daisy, and want her to win, so to speak.
Her world of magic has two main schools- methodical magic, and ritual magic. Methodical magic is used in the majority, with ritual magic on the outskirts of society. However, all magic is looked down upon by society, with many politicians looking to blame wizards for all the world’s evils.
Our protagonist is Daisy Dell, a Modern Girl. From the moment I met her, I was enraptured. Gower’s prose brought her characters to life in a way that I found myself feeling as though I had met these people on the streets- they were that real. Her being “educated” is also clear on the page, as seen in this encounter with her new boss:
Magazines aren’t for breaking news, no, but they provide social commentary on the current cultural climate. Essays and interviews… even advertisements can be a valuable lens into the values of a society.
Every word brought these characters more to life. While Daisy starts as the main character, and the character through which we are introduced to this world, we also spend some time seeing things through the eyes of Mr Swarz, Daisy’s new boss, and Ming Wei, a woman who was
...small, plain, and tomboyish. She didn’t dress or conduct herself as women were expected to, which gave everyone around her the sense that they were right to ignore her existence as a fellow human. Insulting, but it was to her benefit when she needed to drive a blade or a bullet into someone.
On that note- Moonshine has a level of diversity which I have yet to seen in another story. Gower has not shied away from filling her world with a variety of characters, few of whom stick to your stereotypical mould. Daisy is a woman of colour; her boss is a disabled, queer man (possibly aromantic); two of her female work colleagues are in a relationship; another colleague is genderqueer, presenting as both male and female within the story. All of this helps to create a world that, while being a fantasy, is believable in it’s own right.
Setting her story in the Prohibition Era, but not this Earth’s Prohibition Era, allowed Gower to showcase a brilliant story that doesn’t shy away from asking the tough questions- several characters make choices that are morally grey, but their reasons are relatable;
Daisy wasn’t the rich, though, and she had her own needs, and as long as she could justify the partying aspect of her persona and increasing social networks with coworkers as a “need”, she was able to choke down the guilt and disgust.
Who hasn’t had to weigh up public appearances vs inner values?
As the story reveals more about Daisy’s exact brand of magic, and how that influences her life, you really begin to emphasise with Daisy, and want her to win, so to speak.
bookrobin's review against another edition
2.0
Some books you bought a long time ago are really not worth returning to.
Moonshine is an odd one. Great premise, great aesthetic and a diverse cast of lgbt characters. All the ingredients that you'd expect to go somewhere but they just don't. The entire book feels underdeveloped. I was at page 200 when I realised this was in fact a stand alone novel, and I had far more questions than answers.
This book need a lot more scope for what it may have been trying to convey, and didn't seem to grapple with the gravity of any of the subjects it touched upon. Though I don't think it was the author's intention, the end result feels incredibly superficial even the issues of class and wealth disparity, which where the most touched upon, felt like they were just brushed aside by the end.
Let's not even get into the unexplained geography or magic systems, languages being mentioned once and never linked back to, the lack of any real character motivations or development.
Not to mention the strange choices made in the production of this book. I know I bought this in a book store but it feels self published/ Print on Demand. Not enough space was left for the inner margin making it half the size of the outer, meaning the entire text feels pushed towards the centre. The font size is on the larger size as well. It feels like they struggled to get this to 300 pages and I can't help but feel another 200 of story were sadly needed.
Moonshine is an odd one. Great premise, great aesthetic and a diverse cast of lgbt characters. All the ingredients that you'd expect to go somewhere but they just don't. The entire book feels underdeveloped. I was at page 200 when I realised this was in fact a stand alone novel, and I had far more questions than answers.
This book need a lot more scope for what it may have been trying to convey, and didn't seem to grapple with the gravity of any of the subjects it touched upon. Though I don't think it was the author's intention, the end result feels incredibly superficial even the issues of class and wealth disparity, which where the most touched upon, felt like they were just brushed aside by the end.
Let's not even get into the unexplained geography or magic systems, languages being mentioned once and never linked back to, the lack of any real character motivations or development.
Not to mention the strange choices made in the production of this book. I know I bought this in a book store but it feels self published/ Print on Demand. Not enough space was left for the inner margin making it half the size of the outer, meaning the entire text feels pushed towards the centre. The font size is on the larger size as well. It feels like they struggled to get this to 300 pages and I can't help but feel another 200 of story were sadly needed.
jessmcglynn's review against another edition
3.0
I was excited to pick up this fantastical take on the era of Prohibition; replacing alcohol with magic, the glamour and the flapper dress era intrigue me...but it sadly didn’t quite hit the mark. There was so much potential in the storyline, the characters, the world...but it felt like it just didn’t meld together properly. Although this was a diverse book I lost track of who was who on countless occasions as there wasn’t enough of a difference between characters, I felt like the author hinted at plenty of history to her world but didn’t elaborate on it, and persistently used phrasing and word choices which just somehow didn’t quite fit. It made the story feel messy and disjointed, and like it could maybe have done with some re-editing. A clear example is that our protagonist, Daisy, refers constantly to wanting to be seen as a Modern Girl but this is never expanded upon. What is a Modern Girl? Where did the concept come from? How does it fit with this era in history? There were lots of concepts like this scattered throughout and I just kept waiting for it to develop and be explained.
I’d be interested to see what the author does next and this is definitely a quaint and fun read. But I had hoped for more.
I’d be interested to see what the author does next and this is definitely a quaint and fun read. But I had hoped for more.
endlessmidnight's review against another edition
2.0
Originally I thought this was a story about Daisy, and from the beginning she seemed like an interesting character and the story seemed to be going somewhere.
Until it didn’t. I don’t understand what Daisy was doing to say the least, and neither did I know what she was doing there. She just didn’t feel complex or developed enough as a character making it hard for me to relate to her and understand her.
The plot was not prominent nor did I feel invested enough to really try and see it. It doesn’t grip me with the characters, and neither does it entertain.
Although there was another character there, but it was in a way that didn’t really grab my attention either. Just so little things happened, and nothing really caught my attention at all.
Which is the main deal when I read since I want to be entertained, not having to keep on anticipating something that I’m not even certain will happen.
But after a while, it just seemed to lose focus and I was just bored out of my mind. And this is why I just dropped it at the end of the day.
Until it didn’t. I don’t understand what Daisy was doing to say the least, and neither did I know what she was doing there. She just didn’t feel complex or developed enough as a character making it hard for me to relate to her and understand her.
The plot was not prominent nor did I feel invested enough to really try and see it. It doesn’t grip me with the characters, and neither does it entertain.
Although there was another character there, but it was in a way that didn’t really grab my attention either. Just so little things happened, and nothing really caught my attention at all.
Which is the main deal when I read since I want to be entertained, not having to keep on anticipating something that I’m not even certain will happen.
But after a while, it just seemed to lose focus and I was just bored out of my mind. And this is why I just dropped it at the end of the day.
starlight_by_nightfall's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
4.75
Would like to read again
coolcurrybooks's review against another edition
2.0
Moonshine is a debut fantasy novel inspired by the roaring twenties.
Daisy wants to be the perfect embodiment of the Modern Girl, stylish and independent. However, she also uses arcana — and magic is outlawed in Soot City. When mercenaries start targeting magicians, Daisy will find herself right in the middle of the bull’s eye.
Moonshine‘s biggest failing is plot. It’s just not compelling, and I think this is due to a number of reasons. For one, Daisy isn’t driving the plot, she’s reacting to it. This partly falls under characterization, but Daisy does not have strong motivation. She wants to be a Modern Girl, but it’s not like there’s a whole lot of conflict inherent in her desire to be stylish and independent. She wants to keep using the arcana her grandmother gave her… but it’s never clear why she’s so determined to hang on to it. For the most part, the artifacts her grandmother left her with seem to be no more than conveniences that make her life a little bit easier. They keep the soot off her clothes, help her water plants, and catch things she accidentally drops. Is using them really worth the risk of discovery that she’s supposedly so worried about?
Also, the plot (the mercenary after Daisy) felt contrived and more like an events happening in a roughly sequential order instead of events following naturally from each other. It feels like the author created the world and characters and then remembered that she needed to have some sort of plot and threw this in at the last minute. And it takes forever to get rolling! There’s a lot of time spent twiddling thumbs and setting things up, and it ended up feeling undeniably boring. If I wasn’t reading this for review, I would have DNF’ed.
Onto characters! I think the biggest issue with them was lack of motivation, which I’ve already talked about. I also found them to be fairly static. Daisy might learn more about the co-workers at her new job, but I didn’t see her changing or growing through the story. All in all, I would have liked more character development.
Actually, “more development” could be applied to most aspects of Moonshine, including the world building. One of the draws is the setting based on 1920’s Chicago. The influence is clear, but Moonshine doesn’t delve much beyond the aesthetics. There’s a number of fantasy books inspired by the 20’s that have magic be outlawed instead of alcohol. Moonshine doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the pack.
However, there is one big positive when it comes to Moonshine: it’s got a ton of queer rep. Daisy read to me as bi or pan, and there’s also a gender fluid character and an aromantic character. In fact, Moonshine is actually an #ownvoices aro book. I’d heard that Moonshine dealt with gender and sexuality, and that was one of the key reasons I requested an ARC. Happily, I didn’t find this aspect disappointing.
On the whole Moonshine had a lot of promise, but it is plagued by inherent structural issues. It’s not a book I’m planning to recommend, but that said, there may be other readers who enjoy it more than me.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
Daisy wants to be the perfect embodiment of the Modern Girl, stylish and independent. However, she also uses arcana — and magic is outlawed in Soot City. When mercenaries start targeting magicians, Daisy will find herself right in the middle of the bull’s eye.
Moonshine‘s biggest failing is plot. It’s just not compelling, and I think this is due to a number of reasons. For one, Daisy isn’t driving the plot, she’s reacting to it. This partly falls under characterization, but Daisy does not have strong motivation. She wants to be a Modern Girl, but it’s not like there’s a whole lot of conflict inherent in her desire to be stylish and independent. She wants to keep using the arcana her grandmother gave her… but it’s never clear why she’s so determined to hang on to it. For the most part, the artifacts her grandmother left her with seem to be no more than conveniences that make her life a little bit easier. They keep the soot off her clothes, help her water plants, and catch things she accidentally drops. Is using them really worth the risk of discovery that she’s supposedly so worried about?
Also, the plot (the mercenary after Daisy) felt contrived and more like an events happening in a roughly sequential order instead of events following naturally from each other. It feels like the author created the world and characters and then remembered that she needed to have some sort of plot and threw this in at the last minute. And it takes forever to get rolling! There’s a lot of time spent twiddling thumbs and setting things up, and it ended up feeling undeniably boring. If I wasn’t reading this for review, I would have DNF’ed.
Onto characters! I think the biggest issue with them was lack of motivation, which I’ve already talked about. I also found them to be fairly static. Daisy might learn more about the co-workers at her new job, but I didn’t see her changing or growing through the story. All in all, I would have liked more character development.
Actually, “more development” could be applied to most aspects of Moonshine, including the world building. One of the draws is the setting based on 1920’s Chicago. The influence is clear, but Moonshine doesn’t delve much beyond the aesthetics. There’s a number of fantasy books inspired by the 20’s that have magic be outlawed instead of alcohol. Moonshine doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the pack.
However, there is one big positive when it comes to Moonshine: it’s got a ton of queer rep. Daisy read to me as bi or pan, and there’s also a gender fluid character and an aromantic character. In fact, Moonshine is actually an #ownvoices aro book. I’d heard that Moonshine dealt with gender and sexuality, and that was one of the key reasons I requested an ARC. Happily, I didn’t find this aspect disappointing.
On the whole Moonshine had a lot of promise, but it is plagued by inherent structural issues. It’s not a book I’m planning to recommend, but that said, there may be other readers who enjoy it more than me.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
krisrid's review against another edition
2.0
This was an interesting premise and a unique kind of world-building, but it was just not a fit for my reading interests, and I did not finish it.
I felt like this was a very issues-based story. There are gender issues, class issues, race issues [the magic people versus the "normal" people in this case] and just a lot of discussion of the right and wrong of all of it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact it's very laudable, and clever to fold all those discussions into a novel format. It's just not what I'm after when I'm reading for pleasure.
There is so much contention and drama and depressing things happening in the real world right now. I am just not looking for more of that in my pleasure reading. That may make me shallow, but I really just want to dive into a fun, entertaining world when I am reading for fun. This book felt like work to me and it just wasn't what I was looking for at the moment.
That said, it was well written [at least the one-third I read] with well-constructed world-building, interesting likable characters and plenty of drama. It just wasn't the right fit for this reader at this moment.
I felt like this was a very issues-based story. There are gender issues, class issues, race issues [the magic people versus the "normal" people in this case] and just a lot of discussion of the right and wrong of all of it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact it's very laudable, and clever to fold all those discussions into a novel format. It's just not what I'm after when I'm reading for pleasure.
There is so much contention and drama and depressing things happening in the real world right now. I am just not looking for more of that in my pleasure reading. That may make me shallow, but I really just want to dive into a fun, entertaining world when I am reading for fun. This book felt like work to me and it just wasn't what I was looking for at the moment.
That said, it was well written [at least the one-third I read] with well-constructed world-building, interesting likable characters and plenty of drama. It just wasn't the right fit for this reader at this moment.
thesameoldantics's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0