This is a brand-new book; it’s the third book in a continuing series called The Worldshapers, by Edward Willett. I’ve always been partial, for some reason, to stories in which the main character can alter the world around him or herself, like the Lafayette O’Leary character created by Keith Laumer, or Daniel F. Galouye’s Lords of the Psychon. Not quite sure why those resonate with me, except that I probably have always had the juvenile wish to control my own reality… but it’s never happened. (Echoes of the song “I Won’t Grow Up” from Peter Pan.)

Anyway, this is the third Worldshapers novel; I liked it so well that even though I got this one for free as a review copy, I went ahead and bought the first one; I’ll be buying the second one too, because it’s a fun series so far. The protagonist here is Shawna Keys, from our Earth.

Only not… it turns out there is a “Labyrinth of Worlds,” and either our Earth is the “First World,” or our world is a “Shaped” world based on the first one. Or maybe something else… it all gets kind of “meta” around that stuff. So from here on in, I’ll not refer to “our” world; instead I’ll talk about Shawna’s.

The guardian or custodian of the Labyrinth is Ygrair, a Shurak (whatever kind of alien that is); her adversary, another Shurak who considers himself a kind of cop, is (duh) The Adversary. Both are (according to the Adversary) “trapped in human form.” His mission is to kill Ygrair and destroy all the Shaped worlds. Shawna is a Shaper, one of many, who unconsciously or unintentionally created a Shaped world that seems identical to the one she started on, the First World. She has apparently lost all memory of the Shapers’ Academy, and is just now learning about Shaping. With me so far? The shaped world appears identical, complete with ancient artifacts, etc., but it is merely a shell containing people and animals that don’t know they’re artificial duplicates of the originals. The lights in the sky appear to be stars, but as older cultures surmised, they’re merely lights on a shell that look like stars; Shawna’s Shaped world is actually no bigger than it needs to be, complete with the appearance of great age, fossils, etc. Apparently unless you’ve Shaped the world you’re in, you have little to no control over the Shaped worlds.

When Shawna was attacked by the Adversary, she instinctively reacted to protect herself and created a portal, or gateway, that let her and her guide, a man named Karl Yatsar, escape her Shaped world to one based on the works of Jules Verne, and destroyed the portals behind her so that the Adversary couldn’t follow. (Incidentally, did you know that Isaac Asimov, who was a born-and-bred Noo Yawker, was a grown man before he knew it wasn’t pronounced “Jools Voin”?)

I don’t know anything about the Verne-Shaped world, because I haven’t read the second book, but it appears the Adversary followed Shawna and Karl there; Karl, being an emissary from Ygrair, gave Shawna the nano-based technology (through direct transfer) that enabled her to have some control over her Shaping and create another portal, then destroy it. So now they find themselves in the Moonlit World. They must find the Shaper of this world, steal his or her hokhmah (the power to Shape, basically), and somehow go to another Shaped world, gathering hokhmah along the way, and another, until they can get back to Ygrair at the center of the Labyrinth and give her all the hokhmah so she can fix everything and get rid of the Adversary. (If you follow all that….)

Shawna’s kind of a fun young woman—her conversation (both aural and mental rambling) is full of pop references and she has a fair amount of wit, which does serve to keep her from going a bit crazy through all of this. She realizes, when she and Karl are chased by some flying vampires, that this world has a moon that’s always—day or night—on display, which makes it ultra-convenient for vampires, too. In other words, the Shaper of this world is kind of a nut job who’s really into the dark fiction. The world itself consists of a single large/long valley populated by farmers and villagers who are the constant prey of the dark beings.

Karl is kidnapped by two of the vampires, and Shawna is taken prisoner by some suspicious villagers and their priest, who think there’s something fishy about her. So she has to convince the ordinary people that she’s okay, rescue Karl, find the Shaper, steal—by hook or crook—his or her hokhmah, and create another portal to get off this world.

Only it’s not that easy after all: whomever Shaped this world messed around with folklore. Vampires don’t turn into dust or burst into flame when hit by sunlight or staked; they just turn into naked people (well, they’re naked flying vampires, after all); dead naked people if staked. Werewolves can control when they change, day or night, I think. They, too, turn human when killed. Holy water affects vampires, and silver affects werewolves, so that much is true from folklore. Shawna will have to learn as much as she can about the rules while doing all that other stuff. (And so will the reader!)

As I said, it’s a fun series, and I recommend it; I’m looking forward to reading the second one.

The Review

What a gripping fantasy and sci-fi world this author has crafted. Although I’m new to this series, I immediately felt enthralled by the larger than life mythos of this series and the wonderful world-building the author has done here.

The story takes readers into it’s most horror-centric form yet, finding a world inhabited by werewolves, vampires, humans, and war. Dark truths and hidden secrets are uncovered as the search for this world’s shaper takes the heroes into situations they could never have predicted.

The character development of Shawna and Karl was well-conceived in this novel, and readers will be shocked by some of the twists and turn each character undergoes throughout the narrative. The imagery of the world the characters find themselves in feels very cinematic in its approach, crafting a visual in the reader’s minds all the while.

The Verdict

A powerful, lengthy yet entertaining sci-fi and fantasy epic, author Edward Willett’s “The Moonlit World” is the perfect third chapter of this engaging series. With a major cliffhanger and new characters that readers will fall in love with, this is one of those fantasy books that fits in perfectly with the upcoming fall season. Be sure to grab your copy today!

A powerful and highly entertaining story that kept me hooked.
The world building, the storytelling and the character development are excellent, the plot is tightly knitted and I had a lot of fun in reading this book.
It's the first I read in this series and won't surely be the last as I want to learn more about this universe and these characters.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Moonlit World is the third installment in author Edward Willett's Worldshapers series. This story begins shortly after the ending of Master of the World where Shawna Keys had to wade through a Jules Verne like world to survive and came away stronger than she was when she started this journey. As a summary, Shawna's journey began when her world was attacked by the Adversary who tried to take away her hokhmah. She was saved by Karl Yatsar who has been her traveling companion; most of the time. Shawna and Karl (Emissary of Ygrair) are now on to their next adventure.

In this world, the Moon is a constant in the sky. But things don't exactly go as planned. Karl, who can feel portals and those with hokhmah, can't locate either. Something is very wrong. Then, Karl is captured by vampires and taken to the Vampire Queen Patricia's castle. Patricia believes that Karl is a spy sent from the Werewolf Queen Stephanie. Shawna manages to find herself in a human village where she is tested to prove she's not a vampire, nor a werewolf. Shawna also learns that human villages are disappearing. Plus, nobody has heard anything from the Church in 10 years.

This is a world where vampires with bat like wings and Werewolves can only come out at night rule part of the world, while humans are supposed to be free to live as they please. The Vampires own 50 miles, Werewolves 50 miles, and the In Between is supposed to be for humans. This is a world that has 2, not just 1 Shapers who have created this world. Queen Patricia created the Werewolves before being turned into a Vampire, while Queen Stephanie created the Vampires, before being turned into a Werewolf.

Each Queen blames the other for the Pact being broken and the chaos that has ensued. What's even more creative is that the pact was signed by Abbot Nathan Costello. If you get the reference, give yourself a treat or a pat on the back because you absolutely deserve it. Historical characters like Archbishop James Ussher who allegedly dated the creation of the world to 4004 BC is also mentioned. As are Alexander the Great who was killed by vampires, and Richard the Lionhearted who was killed by vengeful werewolves.

What's even more disturbing is that there is yet another player in this world called The Protector who is creating new hybrids of vampires and werewolves, while also trying to overthrow the dual Queens who created this world. While Shawna and Karl find themselves avoiding being killed or turned by the Queens, The Protector is digging in and charging forward with his plans for world dominance. Shawna's goal, according to Karl, is to collect as much hokhmah as possible from as many Shapers as possible so that he can save the Labyrinth from the Adversary.

Due to some extraordinary actions by Shawna, she can now easily take the hokhmah (wisdom) from other Shapers like herself. But can she really take hokhmah from 3 Shapers and live to tell the tale? One of the issues of this entire story and series for me revolves around Shawna. There is no real backstory because she allegedly wiped and rewrote her own memories. At this point, I am guessing that there is way more than the author is willing to tell us about Shawna and why her own world is only 10 years old while others are much older.

I also think that Karl is afraid of Shawna even though he doesn't show it. Shawna may be even more powerful now than the Adversary, and maybe even Ygair who comes from an alien race called Shurak. But who is Shawna really and will we get a chance to find out soon? The author has upped his game when it comes to creating interesting worlds and secondary characters. I look forward to reading what happens next. As a side, the notorious Adversary plays only a minor role in this story. But his story is not finished and in fact has been pushed forward in his desire to strike down Ygrair.

The Moonlit World by Edward Willett is the 3rd book in his Worldshapers series. Brief refresher: Shawna Keys lives in a perfect world, one she shaped to fit her, and she doesn’t remember how she learned to shape worlds. But when the evil Adversary enters her world, and slowly begins to shape people to his needs, and not know Shawna. Karl, who is sent to help Shawna understand her powers, convinces her she needs to leave her world behind, and find a way to defeat the Adversary. Together they enter other shaped worlds.

When we left off in the second book (Master of the World), Shawna Keys, our heroine, managed to fix and leave the Jules Verne shaped world and with Karl, enter a portal into a new unknown world. Upon entering this world, they end up being chased by flying creatures (bats), which they suspect are vampires, and Karl ends up being captured by those vampires. Shawna manages to escape and runs to safety, only to end up in a small village of humans, run by a priest, who makes her go through tests to see if she is a vampire or a werewolf. Karl is taken to the Vampire Queen Patricia, with the vampires believing Karl is a spy sent from the Werewolf Queen.

When Shawna manages to leave the village, she is captured by the werewolf pack, who is run by Queen Stephanie. They too believe that Shawna is a spy sent by the vampire queen. Shawna realizes all is not well in this world, as both Stephanie and Patricia, who were best friends, and were the shapers of this peaceful world, which has changed so much, that they are now enemies.

Karl escapes and joins Shawna, as they try to find the reason for the world change and destruction to many. They discover a rogue shaper, who viciously kidnaps the young humans for his benefit, and brings chaos to both the vampire and werewolf world. This is a difficult review to write, as there are so many details and characters, and to tell too much would ruin the storyline. I do love Shawna, as she is a great heroine.

What follows is an exciting adventure where Shawna with help from Karl, will learn more on how to use the powers she has to shape things on her own, and find a way to stop this rogue shaper. There were some very good secondary characters from both the vampires and the werewolves, as well as the human Priest. The Moonlit World was a detailed, exciting, and entertaining story line.