I’m still not entirely sure of how I feel about Moon Chosen (Tales of a New World, #1) by P.C. Cast. I have very mixed feelings about this novel. Don’t you just hate when that happens?
Chosen to embrace her true identity. Chosen to follow her destiny. Chosen to change her world.
Mari is an Earth Walker, heir to the unique healing powers of her Clan, but she has been forced to turn from her duties, until she is chosen by a special animal ally, altering her destiny forever. When a deadly attack tears her world apart, Mari reveals the strength of her powers and the forbidden secret of her dual nature as she embarks on a mission to save herself and her people. It is not until Nik, the son of the leader from a rival, dominating Tribe, strays across her path that Mari experiences something she has never felt before…
Now evil is coming, and with it, a force more terrible and destructive than the world has ever seen, leaving Mari to cast the shadows from the earth. By breaking Clan Law and forming an alliance with Nik, she must make herself ready. Ready to save her people. Ready to save herself and Nik. Ready to embrace her true destiny…and battle the forces that threaten to destroy them all.
The Good
- DOGSSSSS! – Okay, I might be a little biased on this one. I’m a dog person, y’all! Who doesn’t love those sweet little cuties?!
- Unique Plot- I have to say that the plot for this story was very unique. At first I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be an entirely different world, or what. However, as the story moved along and we got more information and really into the world building, I began to realize that this was our world but very far into the future in what I’m assuming to be a post-apocalyptic type situation. It was interesting to see how the people have all split off into their tribes and developed very different ‘powers’ and such.
- Characters – I liked all of the characters for the most part. I think Sora might have been my favorite though because I just really enjoyed her sassiness. Nik was a fun character to follow as well. I loved reading his chapters and getting to see his interactions with his friends and father. I found his tribe to be much more interesting than the Earth Walkers. I think that may have something to do with the fact that we actually get to experience them in his chapters. There’s not much interactions between Mari and the rest of her tribe, due to her having to be fairly isolated.
The Bad
- SO MANY WORDS, ZZZZZ… – This book is extremely wordy. I mean it’s 600 pages and very little happens for about the first 300. It takes forever to really get into the plotline, as the author spends too much time trying to get us familiar with the world, tribes, and characters. Unfortunately, I’m still don’t really know anything about this world. Talk about an info-dump that really doesn’t have any info…Yikes!
- Pacing – I think this one kind of goes hand in hand with the story being so wordy. This book really dragged on for most of it, and didn’t finally get interesting until about 3/4 of the way through. I had no trouble putting it aside in the middle of it and picking up another book to read instead. Luckily, it did start picking up towards the end. I just hate when books take so long to get interesting and then make the ending all great, just to try and get you to stick with the series. So, so cruel!
Overall, this book was both good and bad. I think the bad part stems from the story itself being extremely long and wordy, which bogged down the actual plot. It did begin to speed up at the end, which finally had me hooked. I also am really interested in a new character that was introduced in the last couple of chapters, whom I feel will have a very big role in the rest of the series. I think I will I pick up the next book when it arrives, just to see where the plot is going and if it gets any better.
Final Verdict: 3/5 Stars
Have you read Moon Chosen? What did you think of it? Have you read the author’s other series, House of Night?
Wonderfilled Reads 
You sold me at dogs, lost me at being too wordy. I hate that (with the exception of Stephen King because I’m trash). Great review 😀
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Haha! Yeah, I think you could cut about 200 pages from this book and it would be a whole lot better. Maybe add more dogs? 🙂
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Any book can be improved with ‘add more dogs’ 😅
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So true! 😂
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Yay dogs!🐕🐶🐺
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Yeahhhh!! 💁🏼
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600 pages? 😴 I can already feel myself falling asleep. Sounds so boring. The cover is kind of weird, too. It’s one of those covers you’re like oh that’s kind of cool but it’s weird and I don’t understand it. Lol Lovely review!
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Haha yep, it was a little long! Yeah, when I first saw the cover I like it, but it took me forever to realize there was a dog’s face on it lol. 😂
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I thought it was a lion. lol I was totally thinking Narnia ripoff. 😂
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Hahahahaha nooooo, it’s just a dog! 😂
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Nice review, I believe I gave this one 3.5 myself for much the same reasons.
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Thanks! Yeah, I think it would’ve been a whole lot better had it not started off so slow.
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I was trying to remember if the beginning of this one was a little confusing too, it’s been a while since I read it. But I do remember once everything came together I liked the story but yes, I would’ve preferred it being edited down too.
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Yeah, it was super confusing in the beginning! The world building left a little to be desired.
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Yes, I was thinking at the time to first half could have been retold in a lot less pages and made more sense instead of the way it was.
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Oh definitely. I think Cast might be trying too hard a bit with the world building.
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Haha, this review pretty much articulated how I feel about this book! So much potential in the characters and world-building… but I had to wade through (what feels like) TENS OF THOUSANDS of words just to get to the point. I really think with tighter pacing we’ll have a pretty great book. 😂
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Yesssss, that’s it exactly! And sometimes the language didn’t really fit – the dialogue felt a little strange to me and didn’t really flow.
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I agree! It just feels a little off, haha.
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Yes, exactly!
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Yeah, you definitely got my attention with the praise, and had me slowly backing away with the criticism. So long as the characters are engaging and their relationships are interesting, I think I can (maybe?) not die of boredom while pushing through all the unhelpful info-dumping, but . . . I think I might wait to pick this book up until after you (and hopefully Reg) have read the sequel. If you guys deem it an improvement, that’ll go a long way for selling me on the series.
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Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. It’s really just the first half that seems to drag a bit. It takes a little too long to get to the catalyst of the actual plot, at least in my opinion. The way it ended gives me a lot of hope for the sequel if that helps!
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That does help! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the series rapidly improves (however long it ends up being).
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Haha I hope so too!
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