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totallywickedruth333's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Ever. Kelly Barnhill is an amazing writer. This book will make you laugh, cry, and laugh and cry all at the same time. Even if you don't like fantasy, you will like this book. The characters and story are well crafted, with all of it intertwined beautifully. I'd recommend this book to anyone! ❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Moderate: Blood
piperclover's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
I won't give this a star rating because it was read for a school assignment but I do have thoughts. This is exactly what I personally enjoy fantasies to be like this a whimsical fairytale story where it's not dark and gritty and there's no kingdoms or wars.
I absolutely adored the world building in this book. The Protectorate is the town that abandons the babies and they believe it's for one thing but it turns out to be a completely different reason. I absolutely love fantasies where the world the characters believe to know is turned completely upside down and is something they are horrified by so this was right up my alley. I actually found the world building to be the most compelling part of this book. I was a little bit bored and impatient through Luna discovering her magic and trying to learn about it because we already known all that information through Xan's pov and I just wanted to get back to the world building and how the protector was living and how The council of elders were upholding this system of terror by stealing the babies and abandoning them using the story of the witch to cover it up. I was so enthralled with the story of Sister Ignatia being a sorrow eater and how the whole system of abandoning the babies was a way to consistently feed her sorrow and it being upheld by the council of elders because it gained them power and wealth. This was just really clever and powerful and fascinating.
The cast of characters in this book are precious. Luna is the definition of a strong independent female character in a fantastic way. She is curious, stubborn, intelligent and information seeking. And though she makes mistakes and does get a little entitled and selfish sometimes she makes up for it and apologizes.
Fyrian the dragon is adorable and precious and chaotic and delightful. He's so endearing and his character introduces a piece of world building in such a clever and subtle way that you don't even realize it until he end. Glerk the swamp monster is a great foil to Xan's frenetic worrying because he is calm and stable. All of these characters mix together so wonderfully. They're distinct but mesh well together.
I usually dislike multiple povs and while I did feel like was slightly disjointed in the timeline bc of the multiple povs, I did enjoy seeing various povs through the whole town and surrounding areas to get a complete picture of the world and the events of it.
I absolutely adored the world building in this book. The Protectorate is the town that abandons the babies and they believe it's for one thing but it turns out to be a completely different reason. I absolutely love fantasies where the world the characters believe to know is turned completely upside down and is something they are horrified by so this was right up my alley. I actually found the world building to be the most compelling part of this book. I was a little bit bored and impatient through Luna discovering her magic and trying to learn about it because we already known all that information through Xan's pov and I just wanted to get back to the world building and how the protector was living and how
The cast of characters in this book are precious. Luna is the definition of a strong independent female character in a fantastic way. She is curious, stubborn, intelligent and information seeking. And though she makes mistakes and does get a little entitled and selfish sometimes she makes up for it and apologizes.
Fyrian the dragon is adorable and precious and chaotic and delightful. He's so endearing and his character introduces a piece of world building in such a clever and subtle way that you don't even realize it until he end. Glerk the swamp monster is a great foil to Xan's frenetic worrying because he is calm and stable. All of these characters mix together so wonderfully. They're distinct but mesh well together.
I usually dislike multiple povs and while I did feel like was slightly disjointed in the timeline bc of the multiple povs, I did enjoy seeing various povs through the whole town and surrounding areas to get a complete picture of the world and the events of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Death of parent
caoxtina's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Grief, and Death
micaelamariem's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Around my birthday a couple months ago, I went to a used bookstore and picked up a few gems, including this one, which seemed perfect to read around Halloween.
The Girl Who Drank the Moonby Kelly Barnhill is a middle grade fantasy novel about a town that sacrifices a baby each year to the witch in the woods under the belief that she would curse them elsewise. The witch doesn't know why the town is abandoning their babies, but she tries to save them and give them each a loved home. Until one day, she accidentally enmagiks a baby by feeding her moonlight and decides to raise her as her own. Over the novel there are secrets that lead to the discovery of why the town must sacrifice babies and how the story began. The novel actually won a Newberry award!
The author, Kelly Barnhill, is a teacher turned author who loves promoting the arts for children.
I really enjoyed this story for a middle grade novel. There were a few themes that really struck out to me: the danger of sorrow vs hope, the fragility of memory, as well as some motifs of paper and birds and magic.
The worldbuilding of the novel is great, showing a vast landscape for readers to escape into, complete with its own laws and myths and origin stories.
The writing style was a little confusing and a lot whimsical. Half the time I wasn't quite sure what was going on but I enjoyed the ride, reminding me kind of like the show I just watched called Over the Garden Wall.
I loved the characters as well, each one combatting their own fears and sorrows. My favorite character was the Simply Enormous dragon Fyrian who was always childlike and naive, but had blocked out his own trauma which perhaps kept him this way.
Perhaps the main idea of the book is the hope and sacrifices we make for whom we love can combat sorrow. The witch and the girl formed a tightly-bound relationship like a mother and daughter and held hope for each other. The swamp monster and the dragon seemed to also care about each other. The boy from the town found his own love and hope, ready to change the world, as did the madwoman.
I would highly recommend this book to middle grade readers who like whimsical quirky things with deep messages and meanings or who like to make their own inferences in stories.
Overall, this was a four star read for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Confinement, and Abandonment
mythian's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry
antimony's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
this book kind of made me feel like kelly barnhill almost sort of does for fairy tales what becky chambers does for sci-fi, which isn't quite a good comparision because barnhill's books often have higher stakes, more plot, etc, but both over overflowing with such kindness, such hope, such belief in the good of people that i think it makes sense. this really felt like a fairy tale given intricacy, like if people passing tales down had the time and memory to add tiny details and character arcs into their tales (and maybe they did but those elements have been lost to time....) and it was really quite good
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Abandonment
my_weird_bookish_heart's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment
faeriefox's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Would round down to 4⭐
This is a reread and was one of my favorite books in elementary school, and now I remember why.
The book is beautifully written, and the prose flows beautifully. It made me feel so many emotions, and the story is very unique and interesting. It's no wonder it won so many awards.
I loved Antain and Glurk's characters especially, and without those specific personalities, the book would have lost so much.
I didn't find most of the other characters to be well-developed, though, which was especially disappointing in Luna's case, since she is the main character. I felt like she was written as too old for her years, and like she didn't have much personality.
Aside from that though, everything was amazing. I especially loved the background on how the world came to be; most books just exist, and I like that this world is similar to our own in that the people within it have stories for how it came to be. It makes it more relatable.
All in all, this was an excellent book, and I'm glad I read it again.
This is a reread and was one of my favorite books in elementary school, and now I remember why.
The book is beautifully written, and the prose flows beautifully. It made me feel so many emotions, and the story is very unique and interesting. It's no wonder it won so many awards.
I loved Antain and Glurk's characters especially, and without those specific personalities, the book would have lost so much.
I didn't find most of the other characters to be well-developed, though, which was especially disappointing in Luna's case, since she is the main character. I felt like she was written as too old for her years, and like she didn't have much personality.
Aside from that though, everything was amazing. I especially loved the background on how the world came to be; most books just exist, and I like that this world is similar to our own in that the people within it have stories for how it came to be. It makes it more relatable.
All in all, this was an excellent book, and I'm glad I read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Confinement
Minor: Child death
meagangrace's review
emotional
reflective
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Abandonment
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death and Death of parent