I saw every twist coming from a mile away. But with that in mind, this is still BEAUTIFULLY written, steeped in gorgeous metaphor, and layers to dissect.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

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adventurous dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast

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funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

The first chapter of this book delighted me, and I was disappointed to see that most of the book went downhill from there.

This book had the makings of everything I love: quirky characters with heart, a setting based at a magic school, and a magic system whose powers originate from the moon. Let’s GO, right?

I was an early reviewer, so I knew that I may come across some typos, possible plot holes, or characters missing some development. And somehow I hit all of the above multiple times, and I was pretty shocked by the amount of typos that could’ve been caught with Word. It happens, so this review doesn’t reflect the misspellings, which would’ve docked it an additional star otherwise. (Seriously, this book is missing half of its commas.)

But I couldn’t stomach the characters that had so much promise of three dimensions in the beginning of the book, just to see that they were cardboard cutouts later on. This broke my heart, especially when we had chapters offering two separate points of view, and readers were granted near exact perceptions of events TWICE rather than two separate experiences. Descriptions of characters often included “Wreny” or “Sam-like,” and I didn’t have a good grasp of who these characters were, so this built them to be more paper thin and missing a perfect opportunity to build.

Also, is this plot/concept eerily close to Curious Tides? I haven’t read it personally, but when I got halfway through then found the Curious Tides synopsis, I didn’t really know what to think.

This magic system seems like a solidly missed opportunity.

Sure, I think exploring 4 different zodiac moon signs is fine, but suddenly they’re locked into healing, super strength, or just being really smart? It had some redeeming features (read: I loved the internet-like Taurus network or the crowd-influencing Leo powers), but overall, it seemed lackluster.

I’d say the largest reason for the 2 star rating comes to

how graphic Sam’s death was. Sam was one of the most fleshed out characters at the end, and I think it’s fine that her death happened, but it pushed YA standards and in turn, ended up killing off the character with the most depth. There ended up being a large discrepancy between the detailing between other deaths and Sam’s, which made hers especially gruesome.

In other news, the twist of who Celeste really was delighted me and caught me off guard. Loved it!

Overall, the pitch of this book interested me much more than the execution. I probably won’t revisit this series, yet I hope my concerns are addressed. This has the makings of something magical, even if the moon magic didn’t make it for me.

This ARC was provided for free for a honest review.

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medicineandmetaphors's reviews 249 reviews

medicineandmetaphors's reviews
249 reviews