Reviews

The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo

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crimsoncor's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars simply because the slim volume does not do enough to fully satisfy the desire to be immersed in this alternative Russian empire world. But the author handles the 5 POV characters quite well and I'm excited to check out the second volume in the series.

kleonard's review against another edition

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1.0

You're the daughter of the moon but soon you'll marry the moon, who is also your dad? No thanks.

emilyrandolph_epstein's review against another edition

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5.0

The Five Daughters of the Moon was a perfect book to read coming back from my trip to Finland. Not only is author Leena Likitalo Finnish, but the book resonated with the themes of many of the panels I attended at WorldCon 75 in Helsinki, especially the panel about Female Friendship in Fiction.
The Five Daughters of the Moon isn't a book about female friendship, but it is a book about sisterhood. Likitalo gives each sister pieces of the greater narrative and uses their relationships to then twist that narrative. It's brilliant.
Also brilliant is the way Likitalo uses point of view. There are five first person points of view in this book, one for each of the five Romanov sisters, and each is distinct in tone and style. Likitalo uses these POVs to slowly give the reader bits and pieces of information until the whole becomes apparent and it was a delightful craft to read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this intimate tale of an empire's fall and look forward to the second book in the duology The Sisters of the Crescent Empress coming out this fall.

liz_towery's review against another edition

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1.0

I do not recommend this book! Not even a little bit. If you want to know why I will tell you, but it's just to much and I feel like it would be to rude to the author to say it all here. Just know. It's not great.

nickystrickland's review against another edition

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3.0

3 1/2 stars I found the premise and world intriguing. Really enjoyed the way it was written from a progressing narrative weaving through different pov characters. As part of a duology beware the sudden finish of this part.

kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition

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4.0

This is set in a fantasy world that seems more Eurasian than European in its world-building. This fantasy world is powered by souls that are extracted from animals, and a line is crossed when a powerful man high up in the government begins to experiment with extracting and using human souls. There is political unrest, questions of scientific ethos, and an exploration of the bonds of family and sisterhood here, making for a short but rich story. I have the second one on my shelf and am looking forward to it.