Originally published on Forever Young Adult on 1/28/20: http://foreveryoungadult.com/2020/01/28/woven-in-moonlight/

BOOK REPORT for Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez

Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charm: Eventually
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: A Solid Start
Bonus Factors: Tasty Business, Magic
Anti-Bonus Factor: Prejudice
Relationship Status: In Like

Cover Story: Montell Jordan

I would totally hang this cover up as art (bloody knives and all); it’s so colorful and whimsical. I love the nods to the little animals Ximena makes, her wildly patterned skirt, and the tapestry hanging off the title. I also literally just noticed the little El Lobo in all black with just his face peeking through the bushes at her! So cute!

The Deal:

Ximena’s life was blown apart as a child when the oppressed Llacsans rose up and overthrew the Illustrian queen. She wandered the streets for months until she was chosen to become the decoy Condesa for the last remaining royal, Catalina, and trained in the art of fighting, diplomacy, and subterfuge. Years later, when the new king forcibly requests the Condesa’s hand in marriage, Ximena is ready to go in her place. Her goal: look for weaknesses and find the Estrella, the mystical jewel King Atoc controls that helped him defeat the Illustrians.

But the Estrella is nowhere to be found, King Atoc is a royal dick, and life in the palace is harder than Ximena could have imagined. When she stumbles upon El Lobo—a masked vigilante whose loyalties are unclear—things start to get a lot more complicated.

BFF Charm: Eventually

Ximena willingly admits she can be impulsive, and she’s been raised to staunchly support one side of a political issue. Her actions at the beginning, when she almost casually sends thirteen messengers from King Atoc to their deaths because one was rude to her, left me seriously contemplating whether she would ever earn a BFF charm. She has a lot to learn about the world she’s been sheltered from for so long, but luckily, she can be flexible, and she eventually realizes you can’t shove an entire people in a box and expect them all to behave the exact same way. I can see a point in the future where I allow her to weave me a friendship bracelet.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

I didn’t get a lot of swoon from the romance, but it was…fine. It felt like a foregone conclusion, but that often happens in books, so I can’t say that was the problem. The author tried to make El Lobo’s identity a mystery, but it felt pretty obvious from the start.

Talky Talk: A Solid Start

Woven in Moonlight is Ibañez’s first novel, and she’s filled it with so many of the things I enjoy: strong, talented female characters; complicated world issues; magical moments, and even some cute and unique animals. The world she’s built is vibrant and special: she drew inspiration from her Bolivian heritage to bring something new and fresh to the fantasy genre. I had a clear picture in my head of what La Cuidad’s marketplace looked like, the surrounding farmlands and lush mountains, and the brightly repainted walls of the palace (anybody up for a trip?). I’m very interested to see if Ibañez returns to her world and focuses on other areas (like the magical jungles where a certain person is now headed) for her second novel, because I would’ve loved to have traveled around more with the characters.

In comparison to the sense of place, the plot felt a little less…punchy. There was nothing glaringly wrong, but I didn’t find myself as connected to the characters as I wanted. Some parts were a tad repetitive (my personal pet peeve). I personally would have liked more complex/longer interactions between the characters to really find the depth within their personalities versus Ximena going on so many night searches for the Estrella. Overall, it felt like a good start for a first novel, and I’m excited to see more in the future from this new author!

Bonus Factor: Tasty Business

Do not read this book while hungry. Or do, but make sure your favorite South-American-inspired restaurant (I’m guessing not everyone has a Bolivian restaurant within driving distance, but hopefully you can find similar flavors near you) is open when you’re done, because you will want to be snacking on salteñas and marraqueta ASAP. And the fresh fruit juices—I want to drink all the jugo.

Bonus Factor: Magic

The magic in Inkasisa isn’t for everyone, but many people have special and unique gifts. Catalina, the actual Condesa, can read fortunes in the stars. The king’s priest can control people’s blood. And Ximena has a talent for weaving, and is able to weave pure moonlight into shining thread that only Illustrians can see. This talent ends up expanding into something even cooler, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Anti-Bonus Factor: Prejudice

The author pulled from true history to build a society where there is misunderstanding, hatred, and no real winners. The Illustrians were not the fairest of rulers for all people in Inkasisa, but King Atoc of the Llacsans hasn’t become a beacon of charity while in power either. Ximena is very concerned with Atoc’s ever-increasing production of the “koka leaf” and it’s not hard to see the unfortunate parallels to real life.

Relationship Status: In Like

I wasn’t sure where our time together would lead, Book, and now that I’ve gotten to know you better, I think you’re pretty interesting. You’ve got some maturing to do, but I could see us becoming more serious friends in the future.

I loved the latin american representation and pretty much everything about except for the lack of world building. But I hope that will be rectified in a sequel!

Indeed, Woven in Moonlight is a fascinating, colorful narrative inspired by Bolivian culture and Spanish colonialism. This is an ideal novel for readers who are in the mood for a light fantasy read.

The story follows Ximena a girl who poses as the Condesa. When the usurper king, Atoc, demands the Condesa's hand in marriage, Xinema has to go in her stead. Motivated to see her best friend as the ruler seated on the throne, Ximena goes to spy King Atoc's actions, while also finding the magical relic that made Atoc powerful. However, as she gets to know her enemy, she starts questioning herself. Will she able to do what is really the best for the kingdom? Even when that means betraying her Condesa and best friend?

The plot structure and characters are your typical YA fantasy book. There isn't much extraordinary about it. Nevertheless, I love the magic in this book. I just wish that it were explained and shown more. The only thing I know is Ximena's magic. On the other hand, I really appreciate how the author integrated Bolivian culture in this book. The language, food, and even fashion are on point and very detailed.

Moreover, this book shows that there are always two sides to every story. We should get both sides of a story before making a decision and find the real truth. We may know a certain struggle, but do we really understand it? I really enjoyed how Ximena's character went through this process. She only knew that the Llacsans were the one who caused her people's difficulty. However, when she got to know them, she finally saw them as actual people, who also experienced struggles just like as hers. After becoming aware of this, she became wiser and more understanding of the situation.

Overall, Woven in Moonlight is a delightful read. There is romance too which I find quite cute.

3.5 stars!

Woven in Moonlight is a wonderfully magical story, filled with characters that grab your attention and leave you wanting more. I love the world that Isabel has created through the setting and plot. I was drawn in by the strong female characters. Add in a masked stranger, unexpected friendships, and intriguing twists this book was hard to put down and, even once finished, I was wishing for more! It takes a really special book to make it in my "I would reread this" list, but this is definitely one I could sink into again... and again!!

Such a beautiful story. The story flows and the writing is poetic. I loved it! The cover is a bit childish but still caught my attention. It stands out among YA novels!

First, let me say my goal this year was to read more diversely and Woven in Moonlight is one of my favorite choices to contribute to that goal. Ibanez weaves (pun intended) such a unique story set in a world that has beautiful elements of Bolivian culture but also fabulous fantastical layers of magic.

I devoured this story in less than 24 hours. The first two chapters were a little dense and hard to grasp because there were a lot of characters and world building. That said, once I was up to speed, I was fully engaged in the story. The main character was very relatable, in the beginning of the story she made some really questionable, emotional choices but we were able to see her evolve into a more thoughtful, logical character. Her relationships had real layers and with the unexpected reveals along the way, her reactions rang true to what someone in those situations might do. YA books often like to have everything wrapped up in an easy unrealistic bow and this story does tie up all the loose ends and have a gratifying ending without having a forced Polyanna ending.

The Illustrians lost everything when Atoc attacked them using a powerful ancient relic that can summon ghosts. Atoc became the (fake) King of Inkansisa and the rest of the Illustrian people have been driven out of La Ciudad. They are planning on how to take back the throne so Catalina, the Condesa and the only survivor of the Illustrian royalty, can rule Inkansisa. In order to protect the Condesa, Ximena acts as her decoy. And when Atoc demands Condesa's hand in marriage, it's Ximena's duty to go. Her mission is too spy on the king, find the relic and send information to Catalina. But her mission becomes more difficult when she get to know more about their enemies and finds out what really happened in the past.

I think this was the very first young adult fantasy book I read inspired by Bolivian culture. It was very interesting to read and I think it was one of the things that stand out in the story. Aside from the gorgeous cover which was designed by the author herself, I also liked the fantasy elements particularly Ximena's gift. It was really fascinating and I wish I have it too. Magic is present in this book but it wasn't explored enough and I would have loved to know more about it. Same goes with the majority of the characters. I felt like they lacked depth. There's also a mysterious character which I thought was not that very mysterious at all because the identity was pretty obvious. At least for me. I thought the romance in the story is unnecessary. I was actually hoping for an f/f romance. The ending quite reminded me of what happened in HP and the Philosopher's Stone. I'm definitely part of the minority here but overall, I had fun reading Woven in Moonlight. I'll definitely read the companion novel following Catalina once it's out.

Well, this book surprised me! I will admit off the bat that it took me a little while to really get in to. Not because of the plot because I feel like that was paced well, but I had a bit of a challenging time really connecting with the main character at first. Friends, she's a bit rough on the outside! But - I also know that those types of characters tend to make the best transformations so I held on and was not disappointed. The romance in this was lovely and sweet, a bit of a slow burn which I greatly approached, and the character transformation was really awesome! I will say there was a bit more violence than I would have expected so some parts may be difficult, but otherwise a really great read! Can't wait for the next book!

this took me about an excruciating 30 pages to really get into (mostly my fault, i just didn’t feel like reading physical novels) but once it sucked me in, i couldn’t stop reading. It was easy to immerse myself in the universe and there was always the visceral need to know what’s going to happen next.

I loved the cultural references present in throughout the novel and some of the unique magical abilities (she can weave using moonlight, that’s so cool!). There’s Spanish scattered throughout the book and it’s interesting to see the use of another language.

I grew fond of Xinema as the novel went on but she’s not someone I’ll remember in the long run. I’m writing the review only a few days after having read the book and I’ll admit that I have a hard time remembering her name. Her character arc or just change in her view of the world is very interesting though and i can’t really say much about that without spoiling but ! good !

The ending let me down a little as it felt rushed and didn’t even explore the consequences it could have or just could’ve taken more time to flesh out the last 30 pages more. I’m just didn’t get the feeling of “Ah, and it concludes.”

This was my first five star read of the year! I absolutely loved this story and being completely immersed in the Inkasisa world.

Ximena is such a great main character. She's a strong woman who knows what she wants and has a plan to get it. She is set on revenge and that gives her a drive that really sticks with you as a reader. She is feisty and smart, but sometimes doesn't know when to keep quiet and play the part. As Catalina's decoy, she goes in the condesa's place to the castillo where she will accept Atoc's request to marry her. But her plan is never to wed; she is there to steal back the Estrella and take back what once belonged to the Illustrians.

I have begun to read more fantasy over the past year and I have to say, it's a completely different reading experience to become immersed in a new world, often with magic. Ximena's ability to weave with the moonlight is such a cool magical power to have and super original and creative of the author to come up with.

I was able to fully picture Ikasisa, the Illustrian keep, the castillo, and La Ciudad, which is important in a book like this. I thought the world building was on point as well as the character building. All of the characters had their own unique charm and personality. Many of them grew with the story and I found myself loving characters at the end that I hated in the beginning.

One really neat feature of the book is the glossary provided at the end. The author adds a nice sprinkling of Spanish words throughout the book, especially when it comes to food. It was nice to be able to look those up and see what the words meant without having to consult Google to translate. Also, many of the character's names had meanings that fit their personalities perfectly. I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more about this world and these characters in the next book.

Whoa this is a definitely not your typical young adult fantasy read. Woven in Moonlight is dark and gritty and tackles some tough topics. Our heroine is a stand in for am insipid princess to her country. And who doesn't love impersonating stories where you get thrown to your enemies .There is a forbidden slow burn romance and who doesn't love that. The world building is phenomenal and I loved how the author incorporated a Bolivian politics and history. I don't know much about Bolivia, but I love learning about countries and their mythology and politics. And an authors interpretation of them.

Overall Woven in Moonlight is an intricate fantasy read featuring luscious world building , A heroine to root for and a slow burn romance.

**The advance copy of this book was completely unreadable and required waiting for the finished copy to provide any sort of review.

I heard a lot of good things about Woven in Moonlight early on and I think it lived up to that hype. The story is fast-paced and made it easy to get swept up in this rich and vibrant world. But I wasn't really a fan of Ximena. I think it stems from the fact that I never believed her role as a decoy. I would think that, in that role, it's important to know the person you're impersonating but they felt like drastically different people in a bad way so I had that constant questioning of "why Ximena" in the back of my head. Unfortunately it overshadowed a lot of the story by the end of the book but I can see myself returning for a re-read and perhaps my opinion will change. For that reason and the issues with the advance copy, I will be refraining from posting my review online until I have a chance to read it again.

I am not sure where to start with this book. I originally requested this book because I loved the cover art so much, and the premise of a decoy Condesa trying to save her people while being forced to stay behind enemy lines hooked me immediately.

And I did love the prose, and the beginning of the novel intrigued me fast and furiously. There is an incredibly complex and layered issue being touched on and that I would have loved to read more of. Namely the dynamic between Ximena, the decoy, and Catalina, the real last living member of the monarchy. They grew up together, they have a relationship, but it is strained and rocky and complicated. And how could it not be, when both of them have to constantly pretend to be somebody else. Actually, to pretend they are each other, and never really themselves? How do you even get a chance to figure out who you are and then don’t lose yourself when you never got the chance to actually live as yourself. I wish I would have gotten so much more of that dynamic, it grabbed me that much and never let me go.

But we didn’t, because a couple of rash decisions brings Ximena to court as the fake future bride of the new king, and with it a whole other dynamic and complexity.

Which isn’t a bad thing. And I do think there are some incredibly important conversations to be had about about confronting your own bias. About acknowledging the fact that how you get your information, who you get it from, and which agenda they have directly influences your perception of how the world works. And how your living reality is what it is, especially if you want to talk about privilege and fighting for what you believe in.

But in this one I struggled with the perspective so much. There were a least three side characters I would’ve loved to spend time with, to see the world with their eyes, see the history through their eyes. But instead we spent all the time in Ximena’s head and while I didn’t hate or didn’t understand this part of her journey it was still grating on me and rubbing me the wrong way a lot.

Simply put I think there is a lot of value and importance to these stories, but I have reached a point where spending time with a character who just realizes for the first time that their former privilege, wealth and status came at the price of the freedom of many other people just doesn’t keep me interested or emotionally invested enough to want to finish the story.

Add in that I struggled so much with the special brand of naivité and bad decision making our MC displayed in many situations and I just… Couldn’t enjoy this. When the character constantly thinks “How can ths be happening?” while I sit on the other side and think “You are a spy behind enemy lines, how could you not expect that?” we are in deep trouble. Essentially I didn’t want to know what happened after 50% of the book was over, I didn’t care about the main character enough to root for her, I didn’t even want to know how it all ended, despite some skimming and fast-forward reading here and there.

I don’t think there is something fundamentally wrong with this book or that t is bad. It just really didn’t work for me. Not the plot, not the characters, not the overall story ARC or the underlying themes and topics in the way they were tackled here.

It was a complete miss for me.

CW: violence, blood, death, magic-induced mild gore, imprisonment, mentions of war crimes like torture, genocide, anti-indigenous sentiments being presented as how things should actually be, threats of domestic violence and sexual violence on page

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

Well this was disappointing. I'm ok with a book being a little predictable if I can connect with the characters. Unfortunately, for this story I didn't care for the plot or the characters. Everything was really bland, especially the romance.

This book had me on my toes! The Latinx aspect was lush and amazing and the magic I was totally here for. The world building was epic and exactly what I wanted out of this book. 10/10 would recommend.

I won’t deny, but Woven in Moonlight was a total cover request for me! That’s so gorgeous 😍
I loved the writing style, the world building and the character development a bit too much. But it was only after I read 50%, I finally felt invested in the book. The pacing is quite slow. The story was predictable, but that doesn’t comes in the path of surprises! Each book, each story is woven with its own world and its amazing to see the world indulge and divulge there. Strong female lead, fantasy world, and a good amount of romantic flavour! Now that’s what I call a great combination :)
And that cover! I need that physical book in my life ❤️
Thanks #netgalley and #pagestreetpublishing for the ARC of this title in exchange of my honest opinion
#woveninmoonlight #isabelibañez

Isabel is absolutely a talented writer - the descriptions were beautiful and addicting. The world was very well built. But something about the plot just felt off to me - maybe a little too predictable? And it was sort of heavy handed at times. The ending wrapped up way too quickly and neatly and a lot of things didn't seem right for Ximena's character. I still enjoyed this and I'm curious to see what's next but. This was kind of an eh for me.

We had some issue with how representation was handled along with the character development and world building.

Inspired by Bolivian politics and history (which I'm ashamed to say that I did know nothing about before picking this novel), Woven in Moonlight follows Ximena, the girl everyone believes to be the Condesa, who only wishes to become herself after years of pretending.

To protect her people, the Illustrians, Ximena is forced to leave them for The Ciudad Blanca to marry their vicious leader, Kind Atoc. In Atoc' world, Ximena finds herself in a dangerous places where nothing is what it seems and is forced to question her beliefs - she is forced to understand that the world is not black and white. Needless to say, I quite enjoyed Ximena's character growth. However, what I loved the most about Isabel Ibañez's debut novel were the descriptions: the world building, the tapestries woven by Ximena and the delicious food, such as silpancho and yuca frita.

This book was a no-brainer for me to request. I mean, look at that gorgeous cover? I’m not sure I can remember a book with a cover like that; it immediately stands out and I’m sure the book will benefit from many a spur-of-the-moment pick-up while on the shelves at stores. The book description itself was also incredibly unique-sounding and dealing with a people, place, and culture that I am only passingly familiar. In many ways, the cover and description reminded me greatly of “Gods of Jade and Shadow” which I read last summer and loved. Unfortunately, this comparison didn’t hold true in the actual reading experience…

Ximena has lived most of her life pretending to be someone else, a queen, the Condesa. But mostly a queen under siege: managing dwindling supplies, sending out scouting parties, and dreaming of one day returning her people to their homeland and the city that is now occupied by the cruel king Atoc. Now, with a demanded-marriage between the two leaders of these divided peoples, Ximena has the greatest of all performances before her. She must marry the usurper and serve as an embedded spy, searching for that crack that can benefit her people and her sister-friend, the true Condesa.

Even typing up that description makes me excited about the story this could have been. Yet, alas, could have been, but wasn’t. This is one of those strange books where I question whether I read the same story others read. Currently, it’s rated over 4 on Goodreads, so many people are loving it. Perhaps I can see elements of what all of these other readers are latching on to, but it all seems like too little, too familiar, and too inexplicable to really earn those 4 stars.

The biggest strength this book has going for it is the unique setting, the unique culture (what little we really get of it), and the descriptions of Ximena’s weavings. There are some truly lovely depictions of these detailed creations, and having a mother who is an avid weaver, I could see the magic in her abilities here, even without the actual magic involved. What descriptions we received of the countryside and the city itself were intriguing, but this is also where the bare minimums began to show. I had just enough to form loose images, but I have to admit that many of these were probably drawing from stereotypical images of South American culture (there isn’t even such a thing, hence the extreme stereotype of my mental images that were just drawing from random images from other books and movies set in South American countries). I wish there had been a more detailed look into the daily life of the people, a clearer image drawn of their lives and the world they lived in. Half of the reason I picked up this book was because of the uniqueness to be had here. Finally not another European fantasy novel! But then it felt like the author only went halfway, and I was left wanting.

From the “too little” we move to the “too familiar.” Most of this plot will read as incredibly predictable to anyone who reads a lot of YA fantasy. I could quickly guess who El Lobo was as well as predict several of the other major plot points of the story. Perhaps for readers who aren’t as well versed in current YA fantasy tropes this would read better. Or even age it down to middle grade readers who simply haven’t had the time to build up these stores of memory that make stories like this feel rote and tired. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it; I’ve just read it too many times before. And when the surprise has been taken out of most of the twists, there’s not a lot of drive behind speeding through the rest of the story.

And lastly, the “too inexplicable.” I really struggled with Ximena herself. The love story was, again, predictable. And she kept referring to said characters as “the boy” which I just found cringe-worthy. I get that typing out “young man” seems kind of silly and obviously “guy” is anachronistic and has its own issues. But given the situation we’re meant to be in (she’s there to marry a king), I think we can just stick with “man” and be done with it. Regardless of age, this is an adult situation, and she’s been an adult for many years, making decisions as a ruler and now serving as a spy meant to marry the enemy. Referring to someone as “a boy” can only be a demeaning comment in these circumstances. But she uses it as a bland, seemingly objective description, and it bothered the heck out of me. If he’s “a boy,” he’s a kid and my mind will neatly file him away in the “non-love-interest” section.

Beyond that small nit-pick that I blew out of proportion with my own annoyance, it was hard to understand Ximena. We’re meant to believe that she’s been training, and acting, as the Condesa for almost all of her grown life. Not only would the real Condesa have to be well-versed in self-control, cool thinking, and precise speaking/acting, someone who grew up to serve as a decoy in this role would have to be all of that twice over. But Ximena routinely and regularly loses all self-control. It’s hard to believe that she wasn’t immediately seen through. Or, if not that, it would seem that all respect would be quickly lost for “the Condesa” as a leader since she can’t stop behaving like a rash, easily provoked youth. Ximena spends way too much time caught up in her own personal angst and far too little behaving as a true Condesa would. Sure, she always comments after the fact on how that was really “un-Condesa-like,” but that doesn’t do away with the fact that had she been trained to do this her entire life, there should be nowhere near as many outbursts as there are in the first place.

A book is always going to be a hard sell for me if I can’t connect with the POV character. I found Ximena unbelievable at best and incredibly annoying at worst. From there, the predictable story just lowered it further. I’m really sad that this wasn’t a great read for me. So many people are enjoying it, and I really wish I had read whatever book they’re loving so much. There are many great elements of this story, particularly with the snippets of the world, culture, and history we get. Unfortunately, there’s not enough of any of those things to counteract the weak main character and tired story. But, like I said, lots of people are liking it, so if you’re looking for an ownvoice, Latinx story, it might still be worth a shot.

I didn’t love this one, but a lot of people do. So I’d like to share it with someone who will appreciate it more than I was able. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, make sure to enter the giveaway for a hardback copy!

Rating 6: A really confusing read where I’m not sure what I’m missing that so many other people are loving.