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A review by novoaust
The Crescent Moon by E.J. Doble
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
The Crescent Moon is the first story of a trio of philosophical novellas. What Doble does with this one is nothing short of masterful. I was captivated from the get go, and while this is just a novella, I read it in one sitting. It's a comfortable read, yet though provoking and surprisingly emotional.
One of my main praises for The Fangs of War was that the writing seemed to be crafted carefully, with each word selected purposefully. While not a short novel by any means, the prose felt tight and refined, and we see that here as well. Simply put, the writing is beautiful. Literary art. There are plenty of memorable quotes in this one and I found every aspect of how The Crescent Moon was written to be executed perfectly. Even something like dialogue, which many new authors can struggle with, was done so well. Following My'ala as she ages, I found that Doble manages to perfectly encapsulate her growth and maturity, largely through how she speaks and how she thinks. At the start of the novella, we are introduced to a 10 year old girl, and how she speaks is reflective of her age. As the story progresses and she grows, so does the sophistication in her speech. This may come off as a minor detail, but I was impressed at how well this was done seeing that this is just a short novella.
While this is a philosophical story, there are fantastical elements, and they too had me intrigued. The world building is suprisingly detailed, and while Doble had to resort to a bit of info dumping at the start to build the world, what is built is quite large and impressive in scale. I actually love this desert setting, which gave me Moroccan or Tunisian vibes. It felt as though we were thrown into a city like Tunis, rich which history and beauty. I oddly found myself also interested in the sub plot of the story, even while knowing it existed to help future the philosophical aspects of the story. I cared about the city being invaded, the lives lost, and the overall impacts that came with the invasion of Arbash.
As mentioned before, this is a philosophical story, mostly centered on the question that is "what is the meaning of life?" Doble manages to touch on this topic with carefully selected words and well crafted symbolism, as well as showing us aspects of life. We see growth, turmoil, frustration, love, grief, and many other aspects of life that many of us will experience. While there is a more definite conclusion, I feel as though Doble's main goal with this one is to make us think. He touches on various potential answers to the question of "what is the meaning of life?" We see this answered in regards to love, greed, duty, etc. He presents possible solutions based strictly off of emotion (love, for example) versus a more pessimistic (or pragmatic, depending on how you see things) answer. This story is thought provoking, and it was quite nice to have a story allow me to think and come to my own conclusions. I was left thinking about sitations in which duty could become selfishness. In which love can cloud judgment. How grief can be handled. How the many challenges and difficulties in life should be approached.
The Crescent Moon was simply a delight to read.
One of my main praises for The Fangs of War was that the writing seemed to be crafted carefully, with each word selected purposefully. While not a short novel by any means, the prose felt tight and refined, and we see that here as well. Simply put, the writing is beautiful. Literary art. There are plenty of memorable quotes in this one and I found every aspect of how The Crescent Moon was written to be executed perfectly. Even something like dialogue, which many new authors can struggle with, was done so well. Following My'ala as she ages, I found that Doble manages to perfectly encapsulate her growth and maturity, largely through how she speaks and how she thinks. At the start of the novella, we are introduced to a 10 year old girl, and how she speaks is reflective of her age. As the story progresses and she grows, so does the sophistication in her speech. This may come off as a minor detail, but I was impressed at how well this was done seeing that this is just a short novella.
While this is a philosophical story, there are fantastical elements, and they too had me intrigued. The world building is suprisingly detailed, and while Doble had to resort to a bit of info dumping at the start to build the world, what is built is quite large and impressive in scale. I actually love this desert setting, which gave me Moroccan or Tunisian vibes. It felt as though we were thrown into a city like Tunis, rich which history and beauty. I oddly found myself also interested in the sub plot of the story, even while knowing it existed to help future the philosophical aspects of the story. I cared about the city being invaded, the lives lost, and the overall impacts that came with the invasion of Arbash.
As mentioned before, this is a philosophical story, mostly centered on the question that is "what is the meaning of life?" Doble manages to touch on this topic with carefully selected words and well crafted symbolism, as well as showing us aspects of life. We see growth, turmoil, frustration, love, grief, and many other aspects of life that many of us will experience. While there is a more definite conclusion, I feel as though Doble's main goal with this one is to make us think. He touches on various potential answers to the question of "what is the meaning of life?" We see this answered in regards to love, greed, duty, etc. He presents possible solutions based strictly off of emotion (love, for example) versus a more pessimistic (or pragmatic, depending on how you see things) answer. This story is thought provoking, and it was quite nice to have a story allow me to think and come to my own conclusions. I was left thinking about sitations in which duty could become selfishness. In which love can cloud judgment. How grief can be handled. How the many challenges and difficulties in life should be approached.
The Crescent Moon was simply a delight to read.