Cover Image: Phases of the Moon

Phases of the Moon

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Member Reviews

This book held my interest throughout. The story is set in modern times but has a fantasy/sci-fi theme that was seamless and believable. Aaron, Jake, and Wendy had moments of drama, danger, and preteen appropriate romance. I enjoyed the twists and turns the story took and was sad to see it end. There were a few annoying typos or missing words but overall I loved it!

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This books is more of a 1.5 stars.

Aaron, your typical average middle schooler, finds out his grandpa is a Storyteller: he has to fight evil beings who move like shadows by reading stories and protect them.
This book is soooo boring and white, there's the predictable red-head girl (hello read-head heroine trope!), the teenage characters (Aaron, Jake and Wendy) are way stereotypical in their portrayal and the story is just not compelling at all. It seems to me the author had a great idea for the plot and he just dumbed it down way hard.

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"Phases of the Moon" will thrill readers. It begins the story of the Folktellers -- a mysterious organization of knowledgeable storykeepers who curate the tales, protecting human history by shepherding our folklore. The adventures shared by Aaron, Wendy, and Jake lie within a larger message, that stories are the most important and powerful things we have. These normal-seeming kids find themselves at the center of their own yarn, when Aaron's grandfather mysteriously vanishes one day. And because every story needs a villain, in "Phases of the Moon" we encounter the Shadow People: terrifying, silent antagonists from another dimension, creatures that lack the ability to make stories of their own, and thus hunger for the strength in ours. It's a delightfully fun first act in an adventure I suspect will keep readers entranced and hungry for the next installment.

Josef Bastian's great gift is his ability to weave in normal with the remarkable. This trio of young people have normal enough young-people problems, like school and relationships, the same things you and I encountered at their ages. But throughout it all is the sense of something secret, of a universe beyond the humdrum, a universe where stories can be treasures or weapons, where dark enemies threaten and even the mundane moments of our lives can glitter with magic. Bastian's characters tingle with energy, and his vision of our world as a place built on a foundation of stories is intensely exciting.

I am reminded of Michael Ende's classic "The Neverending Story." Both books inspire us to love magic, to believe in it, and with "Phases of the Moon," I think we're seeing the stepping-off point to an unforgettable journey into a world we all wish we could enter from time to time. It's important to remember that this is the first installment of what I expect will become a much longer series. As such, not all mysteries are solved, and not all secrets are revealed. We don't learn everything there is to know about each character. This isn't a shortcoming, it's a hint of what's to come. Be patient and you, like this wonderful novel's characters, will be rewarded in good time.

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Interesting premise but not sure about the execution, there were big gaps in the storyline and the character interactions were wooden, shame.

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