The Girl Who Drank the Moon - Kelly Barnhill - ★★★.¾
AUTHOR: Kelly Barnhill
GENRE: Middle-grade Fantasy
PUBLICATION DATE: August 9, 2016
RATING: 3.75 stars.
In a Nutshell: I loved many, many things, but I am still undecided about many, many things. (Two whole days later!)
Plot Preview:
The Protectorate is a town filled with sorrow. Every year, on the day of sacrifice, they are compelled to offer their youngest baby as an offering to the witch in the forest. What they don’t know is that the witch, Xan, is a kindly soul who doesn’t understand why the townsfolk leave a baby in the forest every year. She rescues the babes and finds new homes for them in a nearby city. One year, she accidentally feeds an abandoned baby moonlight instead of starlight, thereby “enmagicking” her. She adopts this baby, names her Luna, and sets about keeping her safe from the magical powers surging inside her.
Time goes on and one young father in the protectorate decides that enough is enough as his newborn is chosen as the next sacrifice for the witch. Will he be able to save his abbe? Will Xan be able to convince the townspeople that she isn’t the kind of witch they assume her to be? Who is responsible for this ghastly annual sacrifice?
As I said, there are plenty of things I loved about the book. But my most favourite of all has to be the characters. The characters are the life of the book. Many of the main characters are carved with such precision that at no point do you question their actions or doubt their intentions. Luna and Xan to the swamp monster Glerk to the “perfectly tiny” dragon Fyrian to the young father Antain and his wife Ethyne, all are impactful. But there are many other characters who leave you thirsting for more on their origin. The mad woman in the Tower being one such intriguing enigma until the end. This is how it goes for most of the secondary characters; there is absolutely no back story provided. So there are many past incidents that go unexplained or ignored in the story. This doesn’t affect comprehension but it affects the experience.
Another enjoyable aspect of the book was the magical elements. From the bubble spells cast by Xan to the flying paper birds to Luna’s out-of-control spells, the magic is such that it will appeal to the target readers perfectly. I loved visualising all the fantastical parts of the book. Imagine threading starlight and moonlight in your fingers and eating it!!! What a lovely thought!
The writing has a very lyrical quality to it. This works both for and against the book. While the beautiful imagery helps in picturing the story better, the pace of the book gets affected by the unnecessarily poetic thoughts. The book gave me mild vibes of Alix E Harrow’s “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”, an equally beautiful book with equally lyrical writing. But there, the story is executed in a much better and even darker way, possibly because it is aimed at a slightly older audience.
What I disliked was just how much information isn’t revealed at all in the book, even after the story reached its logical finale. There are so many questions I still have in my mind, and no clue of how to answer them. A little online research led me to a prequel that Kelly Barnhill had written prior to this book’s release. That prequel helps in answering SOME questions. But,
(1) what about the rest of the pending story arcs?, and
(2) why was the online prequel not a part of the actual book when it helps so much in understanding many key situations better?
Just in case you wish to read the online prequel to this book, you will find them here:
Prequel part 1:
Prequel part 2:
Overall, I enjoyed the book quite a lot as it suits its target readers well. But I also wanted a lot more from this read. It won't be fair to dock off stars for my high expectations. But I will dock off a star for leaving me with so many unanswered questions and another 0.25 for progressing too slowly at the start. 3.75 it is!
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