3 stars
Very enjoyable but I could not connect with the characters as much as I wanted too and the world building lacked alot but other than that it was a solid book

I really thought I was going to like this much more then I did. The synopsis game me hope this would be everything I want in a book. Although moving through the story was a little difficult for most of the book. The writing just didn't pull me in like some other books have. It was very one dimensional, along with the characters. There wasn't anything wrong with this, but I enjoy a little more pizzaz in my writing. I like reading the explanation and the reasoning behind everything that's happening. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, but this was missing just a little bit for me. Otherwise, it was a good book.

The author did a great job addressing a type of prejudice - Narra's birthmark subjects her to the looks and bullying that comes with a person that doesn't look like 'normal' society. It also controls the way she interacts with others and hides her true nature to anyone she meets. This is such an important issue to tackle especially for a younger audience to reflect upon when they themselves go out and interact with others. By helping readers understand that what they may deem 'unnatural' or a deformity or even just someone else being different doesn't justify mistreating them, isolating them or making them feel insignificant. Beauty comes in many different forms and should be appreciated for that - beauty.

I struggle through the story and it's because the plot deviated from what was expected and what I wanted for a YA Fantasy. I was wanting a YA fantasy competition plot and got something very different that I just couldn't really get into. I am interested in learning about past lives and how fascinating they can be especially if we could remember them, however, having the plot focus mainly on that instead of the competition itself kind of bored me when 50% into it and nothing exciting with her past lives happened yet.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- the story was a bit wobbly and had a poor execution, which didn’t help with the writing style that was paired with it. however, i did find the story alright, as the characters seemed a little interesting, though feeling more like puppets rather than feeling like actual people. overall, i wish i could’ve enjoyed this more.

This title had potential: an interesting premise and clearly an interests in storytelling by the author.

However, the dialogue felt strange: awkward, forced and like it was a draft, not the final version of a story. The writing as a whole is often choppy and made it difficult to connect to the story. I almost felt like I was racing through the story due to the pacing of the sentences and not necessarily because of the pacing of the plot.

I hope to see that Barbosa's work grows with time because I do believe that her ideas have a lot of potential.

The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa is a Filipino fantasy that mixes sacrifice, past lives, gods and star-crossed lovers.

Narra enters a competition in hopes of freeing her mother. She has no skill, no magic and basically no knowledge of what she's getting herself into. Just a fierce determination focused on doing what she must to free her mom. What I didn't expect was the pull away from the competition and the focus on Narra's past lives, the vivid visions and her connection with Teloh.

I didn't get far into this novel. Personally, it wasn't for me the way I had hoped. I can say that the world building is well done alongside a few themes that stood out. I especially liked the aspects that deal with the marks on Narra and the belief she is cursed. This hits a hardcore topic with prejudices and how it affects how someone views their self worth. Barbosa does such an exceptional job in this area.

I would've preferred more focus on the competition and watching Narra grow in strength and shine beyond the prejudices held over her. The focus on her past lives and Teloh wasn't a plot move I expected. I felt it took away from Narra's growth and identity in the present. It also made character connection difficult for me. I did notice there is a lot of depth in the writing from the start. Even though this narrative wasn't one that spoke to me it's obvious many readers will end up loving this diverse fantasy. I highly recommend checking out more reviews!

Thank you Entangled Teen for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts are my own.

The Moonlight Blade is the debut fantasy novel by author Tessa Barbosa. The novel has a richly developed world inspired by the precolonial Philippines and Filipino culture. A young cursed girl enters a competition to become the new ruler of Tigang and, while unraveling her past, falls for an assassin. Narra Jal is cursed. Birthmarks declare her damned, and her penance for the sins from a past life is a touch that spreads bad luck like poison.

As the humble second daughter of a cloth merchant, she's spent her life traversing Tigang, a harsh country carved out of stone, moving from place to place before people discover her secret and chase her out. When her mother Shora Jal is arrested, Narra blames her bad luck. She has no money for bribes and no connections to beg favors to save her family. What she needs is power. Every ten years, Tigang selects a new ruler through a vicious competition called Sundo.

Anyone 18-25 may compete, but only the desperate and the foolish ever join. The Sundo lasts for 7 days, and then a winner is chosen. No one knows what happens in the glass fortress during the trials, only that those who survive never leave unbroken. Within the magic suffused walls of the fortress, Narra quickly realizes there is more at risk than her life and her family. She comes face to face with a disarming immortal enemy and learns how close the peace in Tigang is to shattering.

Narra has nothing. No weapons. No training. No magic. No real chance of leaving with her life. Just her fierce grit and a refusal to accept the destiny she’s been handed and some curious memories of a past, and the easy she has of learning different languages. Even the intense, dark-eyed Guardian she feels a strangely electric connection with cannot help her. Narra is on her own. But she’ll show everyone what the unlucky can do. Narra must unravel the mystery of who she is, and confront the ugly truth of who she was, before the competition undoes her, or her growing feelings for the enemy destroy her people – again.

The unfortunate part of this book is whether or not this is a standalone, or part of a larger series. As the book ends, there are possibilities that the author will continue with Narra's journey especially after the events of the Sundo and the stunning revelation of who Narra really is. Through a series of tests that get harder and harder, Narra must decide whether any of this is worth it, and how much she will eventually lose of herself when everything is revealed.

This book was so good thanks so much for the copy I really enjoyed this so much along with the writing definitely will recommend

The Moonlight Blade is a YA fantasy by debut Filipina-Canadian author Tessa Barbosa. The book is about Narra Jal, a cursed outsider, who is trying to save her mother who has been imprisoned in the city of Bato-Ko. Narra was born in Bato-Ko but for reasons unknown to her, she has promised her mother she would never return. But Narra will do anything to save her mother, including breaking her promise and entering the Sundo, the deadly competition held every ten years to select the next ruler of the land. Entering the competition will put Narra one step closer to rescuing her mother, but first she’ll have to survive a series of trials that will test her in every way.

Barbosa has created an intriguing world full of magic and suspense. The Sundo captivated me and I loved the competition aspect of the story. The magic system is interesting, and I like how magic isn’t the sole focus of this world and how there are spiritual elements included. I love the role reincarnation plays in this story and that it’s something that every character accepts—they have all lived past lives and some of them have met each other before. As a result, this gives a unique role to the stories told by the characters within this novel. It’s something I haven’t seen often in fiction and I welcomed this aspect of the world.

Narra is headstrong and driven by her love for her family, and my favourite aspect of her character was her devotion to them. Narra is tested so much throughout this novel because of the trials and being othered by her curse, and yet she never stops loving and she never gives up. I liked following Narra as she unraveled the mystery of her life and learned who to trust. Her friends and allies were solid characters that I enjoyed reading about, and the love interest contrasted well with Narra.

Unfortunately, I was confused about a few things regarding the worldbuilding and the villain. But overall this is an enjoyable novel and I like Barbosa’s writing. It was awesome to read a Filipinx-inspired fantasy with tons of brown characters in a queernorm world! Pick this up if you like mysterious YA fantasies with determined characters, interesting worlds, and deadly competitions.

My thanks to the author for providing me with an eARC to review.

Rating: 3.5/5

I want to thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this title.
Unfortunately I’ve found that it is not for me, so I am unable to leave a full review.
Thank you for the opportunity and I hope to work with you again in the future.

This book was so interesting and unique! It's my first Filipino fantasy and I have to say I loved the amount of culture and language incorporated. I'm a little familiar with some of the terms, though I still felt like a glossary would've been useful since I found myself flipping back a few times. Nevertheless, this book started playing like a movie in my head and I really enjoyed it!

So many elements in this book kept me engrossed and turning pages - the trials and competition, the high stakes, the monster roaming at night 😨, the mystery that is Teloh! I really loved the world and magic and I also really enjoyed how the author weaved in the political/religious aspects into the intrigue.

That being said, I do wish we got a few more answers as to how the magic system and visions work but this book was surprisingly complex for a YA and I enjoyed the multiple layers to it. We also learn about the world as we go versus having chunks of world building. I feel like this allowed the story to still be somewhat fast paced, considering the complexity. In fact, I even felt like the ending was almost too fast and would've liked a couple more chapters to really flesh it out.

I'm not sure if this book is a standalone but I would read a sequel if one came out!

Content warnings: violence, blood & gore depiction, injury description, bullying, buried alive, burns, captivity & confinement, classism, discrimination, cults, murder and death, death of a parent, drugging, flogging, grief & loss, hazing, mind control & possession, physical abuse, physical assault, poisoning.

A huge thanks to Entangled Teen, Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC for review. All opinions are my own.

I adored the story, the world building was amazing. I love meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. The writing was also really nice. I couldn't put the book down and I can't wait for others to read and enjoy this story as well.

The world-building in "The Moonlight Blade" is superb, with Barbosa drawing on a range of cultural and historical influences to create a unique and fascinating world. The magic system is well-developed, with a variety of spells and abilities that add to the sense of wonder and awe. The action scenes are also expertly crafted, with sword fights and battles that are both thrilling and intense. I think it's a new fav!
Review to come on YouTube

✨Book Review✨

The Moonlight Blade - Tessa Barbosa

A trial-based fantasy with reincarnation and family love. This was a fast-paced story that was both plot and character driven.

Narra, a girl who has been hidden from the world since a baby die to her “cursed” birthmarks, is desperate to rescue her mother from the dungeons. Seizing the opportunity, she enters the Sundo - a trial held in the castle to determine the next Tigang leader - under her sister’s name. She spends every waking minute cowering the castle for ways to free her mother but, with the trials becoming deadly and candidates going missing, nothing is as it seems and she is very quickly making herself an enemy of the Astar - Arisa.

Honestly, the way to my heart is to give me deadly trials in a fantasy world. I loved that the different tasks were not just brushed over and were actually an integral part of the storyline.

The way this author write “flashbacks” is magical. She knows how to allude to the past without giving too much away. I thoroughly enjoyed the reincarnation, past-lives sections and like how they intertwined with present day.

Character-wise, I didn’t LOVE our main character. She was fine but, equally, if she died I wouldn’t be bothered. My favourite character was Arisa. She was so evil and emotionless that I actually loved reading about her! I found myself scanning the pages in search for her name at times. She was brilliantly evil.

What I did find, however, was that there were a lot of ‘holes’ in the writing. It was almost like we had to be inside the author’s head at times to work out what was going on. People were in the room that I didn’t know had entered; this character knew about her but I hadn’t read where they were told this and some of the settings I just was not able to picture because the lack of description. I don’t know - I guess I just wanted every bit spelled out for me. I also think this contributed to my lack of care towards the main character and the romance.

Overall, however, this was a really gripping read and the concepts were really strong.

Thank you to @netgalley and @entangled_publishing for my copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley & @hitessabarbosa for providing this EARC in exchange for an honest review!
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The MoonLight Blade; I quite enjoyed this one. It took me a little bit to understand the world (like most fantasy books) & the key leader roles which play a crucial part in this society. Once I got my head around them I was super engaged in Narra’s journey to save her mother. The characters are interesting and unique. I totally didn’t pick how this book would unfold.
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This book gave me hunger game vibes mixed with magic and history. Totally worth a read. Thank you for the opportunity to read it ❤️
It is available now!

This book is pitched like many other YA fantasy competition books. There is a girl who enters a competition and this time her motive is to save her mother from persecution. The main character is Narra Jal. She has no magic, no training in weapons or magic. Entering this competition has its dangers but her mothers life is worth whatever risk the competition can through at her. This is a Filipino fantasy book with interesting world-building and a unique magic system that requires sacrifices to wield. Its a diverse, own-voices novel featuring star-crossed lovers, dangerous gods and forgotten memories of past lives.

I will admit to being a little lost at the start of this. I felt like I was thrown into a world that I should already know and understand. But as the story progressed, and the competition began, things began sliding into place making it more enjoyable to read. I would love to read more about the author's influences and inspiration for the world itself. It seems like a fascinating history.

I picked up this book for the competition aspect. I thought that it would be a suspenseful, possibly dangerous aspect to the story and I was looking forward to that. Throw in a little bit of romance and I'm there!

Unfortunately, the competition is not the main focus of this story. Instead, the narrative shifts to uncovering Narra's past and how she truly fits into this world. Which is interesting, no doubt, and I appreciated the many layers and elements that weaved together to bring a different type of suspense to the story. But when the tagline is "Let the bloodbath begin", let's just say I expected a little more competition action.

Regardless, I really grew to enjoy this story as I read it more. It was like putting a puzzle together trying to put the pieces of Narra's life together and I enjoyed the suspense that brought, even if it wasn't what I picked up the book for.

Such a creative story that kept me on the edge of my seat. There have been so many books with similar premises but somehow Tessa Barbosa manages to keep this entirely entertaining and completely unexpected! So excited for the rest of the series.

That is such a gorgeous cover, and the sound of a Filipino-inspired fantasy? Absolutely tantalizing! And while this book didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped, it still lived up to being a promising new voice in YA fantasy.

“Inay once told me that bravery only exists when you fear. I’ve hidden my whole life, and it’s time for me to be brave.”


When Narra’s mother disappears, she does the one thing she’s sworn she’ll never do – go to the city of Bato-Ko to search for her. But her mother is a prisoner in its palace fortress and there’s only one way in: entering the Sundo, the deadly competition for their people’s next ruler. Unprepared, friendless and posing as her sister, Narra has enough to worry about without adding in strange visions and the very handsome Guardian who seems to recognize her. But it’s the secrets from her past, not the competition, that may prove the most deadly.

I went in expecting the standard “teen must enter fantasy competition in order to….” (in this case rescue her mother from imprisonment) setup and there is that. Narra literally shows up to the competition with nothing. She’s spent her life as a nomadic cloth merchant, has very little knowledge of magic or combat or basically, well, anything that would be useful in the competition, oh, and she hates parties and sucks at making friends. That’s an amazing setup for an underdog and some crafty competitions! But rather than seeing Narra overcome the challenges through ingenuity or will or sheer spite, instead they’re mostly focused on her having visions of her past lives.

“How can our past lives matter if we are not supposed to remember them? It’s just a comfort to know that you will meet the people you love again.”


And that’s my big issue with this book. I’m not a big fan of past lives story lines and that plays a big part in this story. Things feel strangely familiar to Narra and people – especially Teloh, the cute guard – recognize her, but she has no idea why. It was especially annoying at the beginning because people – it’s Teloh, pretty much entirely Teloh – had all these expectations and baggage about Narra’s past lives, despite her repeatedly telling him that she didn’t remember him or anything else. It’s all wrapped up in an interested fate versus free will discussion, but at the end of the day, even that (and the cute doomed romance) couldn’t save it for me.

“You are a swift-moving current that alters everything around you. You are interesting, Narra Jal.”


That’s not to say there’s not a lot of good things about the book. The book draws from Filipino culture, from food to cultural mores to clothing. Elders are to be respected and family is everything. The magic system is also intriguing. Magic is performed through orasyons, written or painted magic spells, and it requires sacrifice, usually your life force. Narra also has a birthmark on her neck and shoulders that lead many people to (superstitiously) believe she’s cursed. While her mother has always tried to protect her, in the times she hasn’t been there Narra’s been subjected to violence and hatred since she was a child. And that’s part of her motivation for going after her mother – she wants to prove that she’s not worthless, that she can save the life of the person who’s saved her life so many times.

Overall, while there’s many good aspects, I just wasn’t a fan of a good chunk of the storyline. Despite that, I will be definitely be keeping an eye on this author and looking for what she writes next.

I received an advance review copy of this book from Neon Rainbow. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I wanted to love this book more. I truly did. I was excited when I first got it. But at the end of the day the book was simply okay. Nothing to write home about but certainly not trash. Personally I would have liked more focus on the competition and the MC's growth. As a person and as she found out more about herself. But the bulk of the focus kept going back to her past lives. That kept pulling me out of the book. I can't say that I much cared for any character in the book really. I don't need connect to all the characters to love a book but I should at least care about them and in this case I just didn't.