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A review by hdcamp
Moonscript by H.S.J. Williams
5.0
Did this make me cry? I mean, yeah. I'm going to buy this one too. Sue me.
For one thing, the prose of this book was immaculate. Sometimes it feels like this style of writing is just the author trying to unsuccessfully copy someone else they've read but that wasn't at all what was happening here. Not once did it drop the ball, or forget where or who or what it was. Sometimes it seemed vaguely overwrought, but never enough to make me wish the author hadn't tried going for it. It was beautiful and consistent.
I read a lot of the reviews talking about the characters and how hekkin wonderful they were. I wasn't immediately convinced of this, but at some point (halfway through? I'm not aware when it happened or what changed) I realized that they were hekkin wonderful and if they didn't stay together as the little found family that they are I would absolutely riot. Again, I'm not sure what changed. Arguably they're not all the most in-depth characters? Apparently I don't care. Kelm is my least favorite (sorry Kelm fans); he's supposed to be 14? He sometimes reads like he's half that age, but then other times it's more like he's a transplanted 1940s British child, and that I don't mind as much. He's also the least developed in my opinion, except maybe for Coren who I inexplicably loved to death. His chin patch makes me mildly uncomfortable, but he's so deeply chaotic and purely well-intentioned that I just aaahlsdfasdf. Tellie is very Lucy Pevensie. The conversation she has at the end and learns about everything she's done in the Unseen World? She reacts with such quiet humility. I love that. I love her. And that doesn't even touch on the other characters, who are also all wonderful and just absolutely adkadfa;dsfaADFLADKFLA
I really enjoyed the bold text at the beginning of each chapter. I generally prefer first person narration, so it was nice to hear some of Errance's voice, in particular since he outwardly betrays so little. I also appreciate how horrid he is most of the time - too often I feel like characters recover instantly from their decades of pain and suffering, and he's taking his time.
I also appreciate
1. the incredibly slow burn romance, so slow it's like not really an actual thing yet, because
1a. they have more important things going on, Errance in particular. He's working on healing his literal soul right now, throwing a romance in the way some books do would have cheapened his main struggle. As it was it was super sweet (a bit one-sided) and kind of hopeful. I have so much to look forward to where they are concerned.
2. FINALLY a trope-y protagonist (grumpy, damaged, black hair/blue eyes/super tall/pale as heck) who bucks the tropes?? He is all those things, but (please see 1a) he's not being a toxic "romantic" douche noodle, and he cries. Like so much. He talks to Tellie about his feelings, he actually improves himself, and his grumpy-ness is for once not just a meaningless personality trait. He has been through the wringer and he is entirely distrustful that this adventure is not just some hallucination thought up for him by the Voice; once he's freed, the grumpy-ness fades away.
3. They don't back away from the violence, but there's also little to no detail on it. And we don't need more, because the torture that Errance endures isn't the point; the brand marking him the property of the Darkness is.
But the core of this story is redemption, and there is nothing better than redemption. I think much of the book I was in denial (kind of like Tellie) about how bad off Errance was. I thought he was fine, I thought sure he'd been through a lot, but he'd kept fighting, which meant something. I saw as she did that he was alive, and his physical wounds were healing. But then the story goes on, and we find that he's completely taken in by Darkness - because that's how it works. You can hate and hate and hate something with all your heart, and that probably only means you're giving it more of yourself each time.
Confession is so good. Go to confession, guys. We can go together.
*Not to totally kill the vibe, but Errance thinks something at the very end about how he's not as tall as his father, which is weird considering how much stretching he went through.
Is that a reference to the years of torture in Tertorem or?? It is super random and off-hand and that^ is 100% the expression I made. We were in wind-down mode, I was not expecting it. I was teary at the time too, so as moments go it was on the whack side.
**Trillium Press should hire me as a copy editor *winkwinkforrealthough* because there were a bunch of errors that could have been easily avoided. This took away exactly nothing from my enjoyment of the story, but did make me more offended because this book deserves the best.
For one thing, the prose of this book was immaculate. Sometimes it feels like this style of writing is just the author trying to unsuccessfully copy someone else they've read but that wasn't at all what was happening here. Not once did it drop the ball, or forget where or who or what it was. Sometimes it seemed vaguely overwrought, but never enough to make me wish the author hadn't tried going for it. It was beautiful and consistent.
I read a lot of the reviews talking about the characters and how hekkin wonderful they were. I wasn't immediately convinced of this, but at some point (halfway through? I'm not aware when it happened or what changed) I realized that they were hekkin wonderful and if they didn't stay together as the little found family that they are I would absolutely riot. Again, I'm not sure what changed. Arguably they're not all the most in-depth characters? Apparently I don't care. Kelm is my least favorite (sorry Kelm fans); he's supposed to be 14? He sometimes reads like he's half that age, but then other times it's more like he's a transplanted 1940s British child, and that I don't mind as much. He's also the least developed in my opinion, except maybe for Coren who I inexplicably loved to death. His chin patch makes me mildly uncomfortable, but he's so deeply chaotic and purely well-intentioned that I just aaahlsdfasdf. Tellie is very Lucy Pevensie. The conversation she has at the end
Spoiler
with Errance after he's read the MoonscriptI really enjoyed the bold text at the beginning of each chapter. I generally prefer first person narration, so it was nice to hear some of Errance's voice, in particular since he outwardly betrays so little. I also appreciate how horrid he is most of the time - too often I feel like characters recover instantly from their decades of pain and suffering, and he's taking his time.
For a man who had looked like a corpse not too long ago...he still looked like a corpse.Amazing.
I also appreciate
1. the incredibly slow burn romance, so slow it's like not really an actual thing yet, because
1a. they have more important things going on, Errance in particular. He's working on healing his literal soul right now, throwing a romance in the way some books do would have cheapened his main struggle. As it was it was super sweet (a bit one-sided) and kind of hopeful. I have so much to look forward to where they are concerned.
2. FINALLY a trope-y protagonist (grumpy, damaged, black hair/blue eyes/super tall/pale as heck) who bucks the tropes?? He is all those things, but (please see 1a) he's not being a toxic "romantic" douche noodle, and he cries. Like so much. He talks to Tellie about his feelings, he actually improves himself, and his grumpy-ness is for once not just a meaningless personality trait. He has been through the wringer and he is entirely distrustful that this adventure is not just some hallucination thought up for him by the Voice; once he's freed, the grumpy-ness fades away.
3. They don't back away from the violence, but there's also little to no detail on it. And we don't need more, because the torture that Errance endures isn't the point; the brand marking him the property of the Darkness is.
Spoiler
What happened to him in Tertorem matters even less when the brand is removed.But the core of this story is redemption, and there is nothing better than redemption. I think much of the book I was in denial (kind of like Tellie) about how bad off Errance was. I thought he was fine, I thought sure he'd been through a lot, but he'd kept fighting, which meant something. I saw as she did that he was alive, and his physical wounds were healing. But then the story goes on, and we find that he's completely taken in by Darkness - because that's how it works. You can hate and hate and hate something with all your heart, and that probably only means you're giving it more of yourself each time.
This is the fate of the lost. The Darkness does not care if you are good or evil, only if you are vulnerable. And you had no protection, for you had rejected me already.The goodness of his friends helps him out of a literal pit, but the only thing that can empty his soul of Darkness is God.
Confession is so good. Go to confession, guys. We can go together.
*Not to totally kill the vibe, but Errance thinks something at the very end about how he's not as tall as his father, which is weird considering how much stretching he went through.
Is that a reference to the years of torture in Tertorem or?? It is super random and off-hand and that^ is 100% the expression I made. We were in wind-down mode, I was not expecting it. I was teary at the time too, so as moments go it was on the whack side.
**Trillium Press should hire me as a copy editor *winkwinkforrealthough* because there were a bunch of errors that could have been easily avoided. This took away exactly nothing from my enjoyment of the story, but did make me more offended because this book deserves the best.