Greek mythology, magic, and a darkly sexy love interest…
The Moonstone by Evelyne Contant
Lou is a moonchild, someone rarely born in the magical world. Under precise circumstances, she was born from the sacrifice of her mother and raised by humans to have no memory of the magical world. She never felt as if she fit in with humans, and when she is taken away years later to train in the enchanters’ city, she faces her newly discovered home with little sadness.
As a moonchild, she has four versions of the major powers of earth, wind, fire, and air. This makes her more powerful than any of the enchanters with each only one power. However, her powers must be kept a secret, because the magical world has been waiting for thousands of years for a moonchild…since only a moonchild can find the Emerald Tablet, which holds the powers of the gods.
The beginning was slow because of world building, but once I pushed through it, I finished half of the book in just a day. The consistent action enthralled me, and the book even caught me unaware at one point with a plot twist. These days, that’s pretty hard to do since I’ve seen them all.
I found the overall idea of the story to be beautifully unique. We’ve all read a lot of books where the main character is born powerful or prized and they’ll end up saving the day blah blah blah…we’ve seen it all. I think people just like writing about it because we’ve all wished we could be that person- born naturally amazing. But what makes this one so different is that Lou spends her time training and with other (well developed) characters, instead of becoming famous or saving the world straight away. As well, there are also the details Contant writes into the story that make it so different.
A detail that shaped the entire story was the greek mythology threaded through it. Not only was there incredible imagery of mythical creatures, but also characters based around myths. Then there were the outfits, written about with careful thought that I could easily imagine. These details showed the author’s personality through her writing, and created a connection I can rarely find in books between the readers and the author. One last one I’ll mention…the enchanters lived off of sweets. I found that to be a cool little detail that brings to life the dreams of mostly everyone- eating their favorite junk foods with no side effects.
Now, what we’re all here for. The darkly sexy love interest *smirky smirk*. LORD BLACK! The romance between them was slow-building and flirtatious. This is the best type of romance because we want that satisfaction of our ship coming together, but we also need that time in between where the characters are so clueless of each other or hopelessly crushing. It’s just adorably frustrating. Also, he was completely evil, like many other characters we know and love. Warner, Rhysand, Draco…all characters from other books with this totally evil demeanor that stole the heart of the main character. Oops was that a Drarry reference?
When I tell people about little-known books I want them to read, this comes up in that list. Just because others haven’t read it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth your time or just as enjoyable. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in magical worlds, greek mythology, or maybe just some good old romance.
Happy reading! ❤
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