Reviews

The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim

hm0ng's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

mattisonsbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

3.5

kimmarieb's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

yoshiluvstoread's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? N/A

5.0

bookswithgin's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted tense 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? Yes

3.75

johnboscoreads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

kaitsbooked's review against another edition

4.0

4.5

clumsyqueenie's review

5.0

“Looking up at the sky used to make me feel sad. But today, the big, wide expanse makes me feel a strange sense of calmness instead. Almost like I’ve been reunited with an old, well-loved blankie that has been through the wash and smells a little bit different, but still feels just as comforting.”

Rating: 5/5
★★★★★

read the full review on my blog, and also check out my interview with the author!

Sequel to The Last Fallen Star, The Last Fallen Moon is a wonderfully complex tale about change and family all the while with a captivating story of its own. I thought I wouldn't like it as much as the first book but no?? Rest assured I will be reading anything Graci Kim puts out in the following years!!

It’s been a couple days since I finished The Last Fallen Moon and I must say that this novel has all the family feels and I’m not even sugarcoating it! There were albeit a couple ( more!) times I teared up while reading because the relationship and portrayal of love was just so close to home. Going into the book, I definitely had high hopes for this since The Last Fallen Star was one of my favourite reads last year, and though the book starts off paler in comparison to the rest of the story, the plot picked up soon after and I wasn’t able to put the book down!

This year has really been such a great year for middle grade novels and I will not stop saying so! One of my main reasons for growing out of middle grade fantasy (other than actually growing up, of course) is because after a certain point, I felt like all the books just blurred into one single story recycled repeatedly. The Last Fallen Moon does not fall into that, thankfully! A perfect blend of exploring emotional relations and Korean mythology, Graci Kim creates a truly magical world for readers to get sucked into.

This novel follows our protagonist Riley Oh after finding out that she’s the Godrealm’s last fallen star. It picks up about a couple months after book one. Riley’s loved ones now have no recollections of her and Riley is a shell of the person she initially used to be. Things get worse when she recieves threats from unknown witches, leading her into the Spiritrealm, in hopes of restoring peace to the Gifted Clans, where she also meets new characters and creatures.

Also if you’re asking me to pick a favourite character relationship, let it be known that I just can’t! That’s how beautifully it’s written in here—Riley’s sisterly bond with Hattie and her unconditional love towards her parents and friends is just so heartwarming!! Starting off, to be honest, Riley was a teeny bit annoying but it was all worth it because her charcter arc goes through a huge development, especially with her befriending more people and figuring it all out slowly but steadily.

dandelionsteph's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I'm subtracting some points on the out-of-place profanity, oddly euphemistic ways of referring to excrement, and very uncreative way of making Jiok look just like New York City and Cheongdang looking just like Los Angeles. So, so many stories take place in New York City: it's almost the default for U.S.-made fantasy trying to depict a modern city. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Chronic illness, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Torture, Animal death, Death, and Excrement

It's mentioned that the hells (Jiok) used to torture people, and there are brief mentions of exactly how (though they are not largely not realistic), but when the protagonist enters Jiok, she finds the system has changed to a vacation package-like setup, so there isn't any "on-screen" torture. "Chronic illness" is used for Hattie's mysterious magical condition of sleeping for days and visiting the afterlife while unconscious. The "Suicide Attempt" is listed for the benefit of very sensitive readers: the protagonist uses a faulty love potion which she knows will stop her heart for two hours, allowing her to enter the afterlife, and she has some limited cause to believe it will not cause lasting damage. Still, this is acknowledged as dangerous. The protagonist gets aboard a soul train full of dogs in the afterlife, so obviously there is pet death before the story starts, although it's a minor element, and the dogs seem fine about it and happy. I believe there's some minor body horror about the people forced to eat nothing but fried food for a very long time: they are not merely obese, but seem miserable and unhealthy. Injury detail is for the protagonist's wound from an inugi, which has a sharp acidic tail. Since the protagonist is in the afterlife, obviously, the majority of people there are dead. There are one or two mentions of excrement, conveyed by euphemism (which is odd, given how it treats other topics). There is one instance of profanity, which is very odd, given the tone of the book, the age of the person using it, and the audience, and how easily it could be replaced with something else.

fafabookcorner's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-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

5.0

Full review to come ☺️