A review by roseice
Moonblood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

2.0

I managed 200 pages before I couldn't get any further, so I skimmed the rest. I loved Heartless, enjoyed Veiled Rose, but Moonblood got to be a little much for me. Usually it's neat to read scenes that happened in past books, from other characters' perspectives, but I found it really tiresome here. It was mostly a new story, but I really didn't enjoy it. From the synopsis on the back, you'd think I would. I love fantasy, action, adventure. But the pacing of this novel, the vague, sketchy personalities of most of the characters, an unlikable hero (Lionheart) and just over-the-top weirdness finally got to me in this installment. The story screams vague. I can tell from this series that Ms. Stengl likes to go for the mysterious, enchanting, mystifying atmosphere, but it just happens too often. You don't know what's going on. You don't care about, or feel with, the characters because they're too mysterious and they feel false. I just wanted a straightforward story, I suppose. Sometimes too complex is not exactly better.

Having said that, Ms. Stengl is a beautiful writer, and I might still give Starflower a try.