Scan barcode
A review by andrew_f
The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
For a debut novel, The Forgetting Moon is competently written with pretty good world building. However, the cast of characters are difficult to root for because they are immensely unlikeable or completely idiotic. I believe this book will only appeal to people that like dark fantasy, that revels in brutality with little hope or triumph. As I learn more and more about my own reading taste, these types of books will not appeal to me. I don't need my protagonists to be perfect, but I need them to be a little bit competent. I also need some mix of triumph and defeat, and this book was all about misery.
In this book we're following a group of characters that live in the last kingdom yet to be conquered by an invading army. One part of the story follows a group a young villagers with the main character of that arc being Nail (terrible name for a character), who is an orphan and trains under a mysterious and stern man. Nail is one of the worst fantasy protagonists I have ever read from. He does basically nothing and the few decisions he makes is stupid or downright evil (if you read the book you know the scene). He is the primary reason I will not be continuing the series.
The other part of the story follows members of the royal family. The elder brother is now king at a young age after both his parents are killed. He is swayed by the leader of the religious sect the kingdom adheres too. This puts him at odds frequently with his eldest sister, Jondralyn who is a member of a secret order that has secret knowledge of the true beginnings of the church. The youngest sister. Tala is forced to play a deadly game by an unknown assassin.
I enjoyed the political court storyline far more than Nail's storyline. However, I felt that Jondralyn became insufferable toward the end of the novel. I was compelled by her story at the beginning but then she turned into a blind idiot. I get these characters are pretty young, but the decisions she makes are completely unbelievable.
Most of the worldbuilding is centered around competing versions of the religion. The invading kingdom has their beliefs and the defending kingdom has their version, and then there is the true secret history that is known only to a select few. Each side is trying to fulfil a prophecy 1000 years in the making and the main plotline is centered around finding the ancient artifacts of The Five Warrior Angels. The religion is far too close to Christianity for my taste. I prefer fantasy religions to differ more from real world religions, but that aside, I think the author did a good job setting up the religious conflict and did a very good job with the lore.
If I didn't hate Nail so much, I might have continued with the series. However, the mysteries aren't compelling enough to read through a couple more 900 page books to find out the answers and there are other authors that do this much better. And the book is incredibly violent. I can tolerate some brutality, but this book is over the top disgusting at some points. If it was balanced by some more hopeful scenes, it would be more palatable. Joe Abercrombie is about as grim dark as I want to get. This goes many steps further and I little entertainment in these types of stories.
In this book we're following a group of characters that live in the last kingdom yet to be conquered by an invading army. One part of the story follows a group a young villagers with the main character of that arc being Nail (terrible name for a character), who is an orphan and trains under a mysterious and stern man. Nail is one of the worst fantasy protagonists I have ever read from. He does basically nothing and the few decisions he makes is stupid or downright evil (if you read the book you know the scene). He is the primary reason I will not be continuing the series.
The other part of the story follows members of the royal family. The elder brother is now king at a young age after both his parents are killed. He is swayed by the leader of the religious sect the kingdom adheres too. This puts him at odds frequently with his eldest sister, Jondralyn who is a member of a secret order that has secret knowledge of the true beginnings of the church. The youngest sister. Tala is forced to play a deadly game by an unknown assassin.
I enjoyed the political court storyline far more than Nail's storyline. However, I felt that Jondralyn became insufferable toward the end of the novel. I was compelled by her story at the beginning but then she turned into a blind idiot. I get these characters are pretty young, but the decisions she makes are completely unbelievable.
Most of the worldbuilding is centered around competing versions of the religion. The invading kingdom has their beliefs and the defending kingdom has their version, and then there is the true secret history that is known only to a select few. Each side is trying to fulfil a prophecy 1000 years in the making and the main plotline is centered around finding the ancient artifacts of The Five Warrior Angels. The religion is far too close to Christianity for my taste. I prefer fantasy religions to differ more from real world religions, but that aside, I think the author did a good job setting up the religious conflict and did a very good job with the lore.
If I didn't hate Nail so much, I might have continued with the series. However, the mysteries aren't compelling enough to read through a couple more 900 page books to find out the answers and there are other authors that do this much better. And the book is incredibly violent. I can tolerate some brutality, but this book is over the top disgusting at some points. If it was balanced by some more hopeful scenes, it would be more palatable. Joe Abercrombie is about as grim dark as I want to get. This goes many steps further and I little entertainment in these types of stories.