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shareen17's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, quick, suspense story. The main character is on vacation on a Greek Island. The descriptions of the people, landscape, and town made me ready for travel.
chris_of_mercia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
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
chris_of_mercia's review against another edition
Switched to another edition but unable to delete this edition.
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Thoroughly enjoyed this light romantic thriller.
sophiarose1816's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
5.0
Originally penned by one of the queens of romantic suspense in 1962, The Moon-Spinners was a fast favorite the first time I read it. Mary Stewart spins out a tale of a British woman living in Athens taking her work holiday on the isle of Crete and instead of encountering lots of R&R at the little seaside village hotel, she gets a suspenseful and romantic adventure.
Nicola Ferris takes her Good Samaritan act to the extreme when she aids Mark, a fellow Englishman with basic first aid, but then helps him solve the mystery of his shooting and his teenage brother's ominous disappearance. Mary Stewart brought the gorgeous, pastoral inland Crete isle to life as well as the village and fishing life as setting and laid out a well-paced suspense plot of danger drawing ever near as Nicola figures out who is involved and what is going on before they work out that she's on their trail.
Daphne Kouma is a new to me narrator and I thought her brilliant for the pairing with The Moon-Spinners, the voice of Nicola and her talented skill to voice the rest of the cast whether Brit or Greek.
All in all, this was a spendiforous revisit to a fabulous classic romantic suspense.
Nicola Ferris takes her Good Samaritan act to the extreme when she aids Mark, a fellow Englishman with basic first aid, but then helps him solve the mystery of his shooting and his teenage brother's ominous disappearance. Mary Stewart brought the gorgeous, pastoral inland Crete isle to life as well as the village and fishing life as setting and laid out a well-paced suspense plot of danger drawing ever near as Nicola figures out who is involved and what is going on before they work out that she's on their trail.
Daphne Kouma is a new to me narrator and I thought her brilliant for the pairing with The Moon-Spinners, the voice of Nicola and her talented skill to voice the rest of the cast whether Brit or Greek.
All in all, this was a spendiforous revisit to a fabulous classic romantic suspense.
reedabook's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
rebroxannape's review against another edition
4.0
I had just seen the Disney movie The Moon-Spinners for about the millionth time motivated by reading Hayley Mills's autobiography. I had forgotten how different it was from the book. Of course, the book has Colin, the hero’s missing little brother instead of the friendly Greek youth of the movie. That was a plus. Mark's and Nicky's anguish and our suspense over whether the bad guys had killed Colin or taken him hostage added a lot to the novel. The scenes where Nicky and Colin find a buried body that appears to be Mark’s and the discovery of the truth later makes gripping reading.
There is one main thing, though, that I feel the Movie improves upon and that is Mark's motivation for his conflict and danger from Stavros and company. In the book, Mark and Colin just witnessed one of Stavros' gang murder someone which puts them both in grave danger. But in the movie, Mark was accused of stealing some jewels in London and the only way he can clear his name is to follow Stavros to Crete and recover them and prove Stavros was the real thief. This brings in the iconic Pola Negri to play the part of Madame Habib to whom Stavros is bringing the jewels to sell. Those scenes, and also the scenes at the diplomat’s house that they take refuge in only to find out he is one of the gang are really suspenseful and add a lot more adventure to the plot of the movie.
I did enjoy the Moonspinners very much despite the sub-par narration of Daphne Kouma. Her enunciation was not the clearest and she often whispered to convey tension or suspense in the story which also made her difficult to understand sometimes. The romance between Mark and Nicky was very slight and rather subtle, but it was sweeter than in the movie. The characters of Colin and Lambis added some humor and depth. Nicky’s successful Cat and Mouse with Sophia, Tony, and Stratos until she makes a fatal mistake keeps you on the edge. And of course, Mary Stewart's description of the land and the character of the people and their ways were very evocative as always. The book is lighter than some of her books in which the lead characters are a little more mature, but none beat this one for charm.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
There is one main thing, though, that I feel the Movie improves upon and that is Mark's motivation for his conflict and danger from Stavros and company. In the book, Mark and Colin just witnessed one of Stavros' gang murder someone which puts them both in grave danger. But in the movie, Mark was accused of stealing some jewels in London and the only way he can clear his name is to follow Stavros to Crete and recover them and prove Stavros was the real thief. This brings in the iconic Pola Negri to play the part of Madame Habib to whom Stavros is bringing the jewels to sell. Those scenes, and also the scenes at the diplomat’s house that they take refuge in only to find out he is one of the gang are really suspenseful and add a lot more adventure to the plot of the movie.
I did enjoy the Moonspinners very much despite the sub-par narration of Daphne Kouma. Her enunciation was not the clearest and she often whispered to convey tension or suspense in the story which also made her difficult to understand sometimes. The romance between Mark and Nicky was very slight and rather subtle, but it was sweeter than in the movie. The characters of Colin and Lambis added some humor and depth. Nicky’s successful Cat and Mouse with Sophia, Tony, and Stratos until she makes a fatal mistake keeps you on the edge. And of course, Mary Stewart's description of the land and the character of the people and their ways were very evocative as always. The book is lighter than some of her books in which the lead characters are a little more mature, but none beat this one for charm.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
themarnacle's review against another edition
3.0
Easy, fun, light read. I'm a fan or Mary Stewart but I thought the descriptions dragged a bit in this book so that I found myself skipping over passages.
krobart's review against another edition
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/06/20/review-1876-the-moon-spinners/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/06/20/review-1876-the-moon-spinners/