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A review by ashleylm
Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant
2.0
Unfortunately it's not the sort of thing that grabs me anymore. At age 55 now I'm becoming a lot fussier. I see other reviewers have compared it (mostly unfavourably, though they enjoyed it) to The Lord of the Rings. When I read LOTR, it was captivating—and unlike many, I loved the Shire, the hobbits, and the fuss about the birthday party. By the time Frodo and friends went out on the road, I knew what they were like, and I cared about them and was concerned about upcoming events.
The characters in this book are introduced with what they look like, and almost immediately stumble into a fantasy world, where (of course) despite being in what seems like rural surroundings, they immediately bump into helpful characters (including a princess--what are the chances) who accept them without question and speak English, despite their moon being a different colour.
I mean, that's just annoying.
So three people I don't care about, for no apparent reason, are plunged into an unlikely situation that stays unlikely. There's nothing appealling about it, though I likely would have gobbled this up in 1975 through being starved for fantasy.
I also don't particularly love the tone of the actual sentences, sort of a cross between dry and poetic, but missing the point of what engages a reader (like me). On page 11, by which point I still don't know anything particular about the characters, we get a detailed description of rocks and snow. Maybe they figure later in the story and are important, but I doubt it:
"The path seemed to wind along a mountainside, with the precipice on one hand, and on the other the rockface against which they sat. It was all the same smooth, shiny black rock, streaked thinly with white where the snow had found somewhere to lodge. Mostly the rock was too smooth for it to settle, and it floated in whorls along the ground as the wind blew it."
So there's time for that.
Once they do meet up with the Fantasyland inhabitants, then we get hit with Name-itis, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I know, I know, LOTR is riddled with names, place names, elven names, historical names, etc., but because of its scale, and because Tolkein was a linguist, it never bothered me in the slightest. But when I read Fantasy now, and the authors lead early on with sentences like "There is neither wall nor gate in the Khentor lands. You are on the Northern Plains, O'li-vanh, in the Realm of Kedrinh, in the land of Vandarei," well, I want to toss the book away (and usually do).
I'm learning Japanese now--that's enough to keep me busy--I don't need to keep track of that much entirely-made-up Geography in what's supposed to be pleasure reading.
So, not for me. On to the next book!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
The characters in this book are introduced with what they look like, and almost immediately stumble into a fantasy world, where (of course) despite being in what seems like rural surroundings, they immediately bump into helpful characters (including a princess--what are the chances) who accept them without question and speak English, despite their moon being a different colour.
I mean, that's just annoying.
So three people I don't care about, for no apparent reason, are plunged into an unlikely situation that stays unlikely. There's nothing appealling about it, though I likely would have gobbled this up in 1975 through being starved for fantasy.
I also don't particularly love the tone of the actual sentences, sort of a cross between dry and poetic, but missing the point of what engages a reader (like me). On page 11, by which point I still don't know anything particular about the characters, we get a detailed description of rocks and snow. Maybe they figure later in the story and are important, but I doubt it:
"The path seemed to wind along a mountainside, with the precipice on one hand, and on the other the rockface against which they sat. It was all the same smooth, shiny black rock, streaked thinly with white where the snow had found somewhere to lodge. Mostly the rock was too smooth for it to settle, and it floated in whorls along the ground as the wind blew it."
So there's time for that.
Once they do meet up with the Fantasyland inhabitants, then we get hit with Name-itis, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I know, I know, LOTR is riddled with names, place names, elven names, historical names, etc., but because of its scale, and because Tolkein was a linguist, it never bothered me in the slightest. But when I read Fantasy now, and the authors lead early on with sentences like "There is neither wall nor gate in the Khentor lands. You are on the Northern Plains, O'li-vanh, in the Realm of Kedrinh, in the land of Vandarei," well, I want to toss the book away (and usually do).
I'm learning Japanese now--that's enough to keep me busy--I don't need to keep track of that much entirely-made-up Geography in what's supposed to be pleasure reading.
So, not for me. On to the next book!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!