Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Blood Moon Prophecy is a young adult, high fantasy novel that follows Tilly Nyx, an orphan living in New York City. As a child, Tilly's mother died. Tilly knows she has a sister, but she has not idea what happened to her. All Tilly knows about her early childhood is that a man called the Time Keeper brought her to NYC and told her he would eventually come back for her. Tilly lives as a servant to a rich family who treats her badly. All she has of her past is an important map given to her by her mother. When Tilly finds out that the Time Keeper has been murdered her past and all it's secrets start to unfold. Tilly finds herself on a ship full of magical people and she learns she has an important part to play in the fight against the evil Crom Fahll, her mother's killer.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it is so thought out and original in it's magical and fantastical elements. Also, the food descriptions were amazing!! They made me so hungry. The length of the book was what brought my enjoyment down a bit. Don't get me wrong in depth fantasies and longer stories are great, but in this case it seemed like the same plot formula was being used over and over again. Tilly is looking for something, or she find something, something bad happens, people get hurt, and then it repeats 5 or 6 more times. It wasn't necessarily that the same thing was happening over and over, but the formula was exactly the same and it made me question why it was all necessary. I was like "were in the infirmary again??" Besides the fact that the book could have wrapped up a little sooner, I would definitely recommend it to fantasy readers. Along with the great fantastical elements and food descriptions, there is also heaps of excellent characters and a good storyline. I will be looking out for the next book in the series.

This spellbinding tale weaves a spine-tingling dark mystery into the fabric of an already riveting narrative. Set against a backdrop of supernatural intrigue, the story unfolds with a magnetic allure, keeping readers on the edge of their seats. As friendships are tested and family ties are explored, 'Blood Moon Prophecy' masterfully blends the mystical and the mundane. A thrilling celebration of enduring bonds, this novel is a must-read for those craving an unforgettable adventure that lingers long after the final page.

World building was lacking and just did not keep my attention. Maybe I have been reading too much of the Maas universe but I just could not get into the story line.

I did not enjoy this book very much, and personally I don't really think its target audience of YA readers would, either. A unique blend of Harry Potter and Pokemon, Blood Moon Prophecy is the story of an orphan child named Tilly who, upon the death of her mother, was sent to live with indifferent-at-best relatives. After years of suffering their disdain, Tilly's past comes back to haunt her, and she's forced to escape into a world of magic and mayhem, prophecies and ancient feuds. A significant portion of the book is set on the sea, and while usually that's one of my favorite settings, so many other aspects of the story fell short of my expectations that I was unable to appreciate this as fully as I otherwise might have.

One of the major issues was the fact that Tilly and her classmates, despite being around sixteen years old, all acted and sounded like eleven-year-olds. If this book were marketed towards middle-grade readers, it would make far more sense: Tilly's personality and the lessons she learns based on her actions are all very childlike, suited more to younger readers than the older YA community. These lessons only show up during the latter half of the novel, though. For the first several chapters, Tilly is nothing more than a vessel through which the reader is introduced to the world and its characters. Very rarely do we get to hear her thoughts; for the most part, she's just a reference point from which we get to view everyone else and the conversations they have. There is little substance to her during the first half of the novel beyond this function.

There are also far too many characters. I understand the purpose of Tilly's friend group and quite a few of the adults surrounding her—each had their own place in her life—but a lot of others were superfluous. We don't need seven different characters playing the role of bully, for example. People kept getting introduced and only playing very minor roles in the narrative, and I believe keeping track of character names would be much easier if there were less of them to keep track of in the first place.

Though on the whole the plot was interesting, there were moments within it that I found to be inconsistent with earlier scenes. James is one example. He acts like he's dying to return to his old team aboard a different ship, only for the reader to be told much later that he actually hates everyone on that team and used to be constantly bullied by them. He holds a "my father will hear about this" attitude for so long that discovering his father essentially disowned him is less of a plot twist and more a point of immediate confusion. Tilly is told not to cast fire sprites since they're all living on a ship, but the ship has fireplaces. The whole book is written from the perspective of Tilly, but we sometimes get sentences like "Tilly sounded hurt." Sounded... to whom? There's a distinct lack of cohesion to the plot which adds to the overall effect that the novel is packed with much more—information, characters, backstories, plot twists (without any form of foreshadowing whatsoever)—than it actually needed.

With some editing and a change in direction from young adults to middle-grade readers, I believe this could be a good book. As it stands right now, I'm not willing to recommend it to others, whether within the age range of its current target audience or outside of it.

" People with Great Power have a great deal of responsibility.

𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿
It has quite an intriguing cover but doesn't give much away to the story.

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀
set at sea
found family
feuds
maps
adventure

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
I'm not sure. it felt like a watered down version of harry potter. It kind of tried too hard if you know what I mean. Half the time I was turning pages wondering when it was going to end. but the other half i was turning pages quickly to find out what was gonna happen next.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀
I wasn't a fan of Tilly, she felt like she had no depth to her. I also just can't get over the fact that one of the character's names was Drake. There wasn't really anyone I loved or hated.

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
I don't think the writing was bad it just didn't have enough depth to it. We were constantly told things instead of being shown or discovering ourselves.

𝗔𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱?
I've said it so many times in this review but it was lacking DEPTH.

Ce livre m'a laissé un avis assez mitigé, il est magnifique rien à redire dessus. Le travail éditorial est juste sublime. Les chapitres courts font que la lecture est agréable et fluide.
L'histoire de Tilly est touchante, comme tout enfant elle n'écoute pas sa maman et cela aura des conséquences sur sa vie. Elle devient orpheline après avoir brisé l'une des règles fixée par sa mère. Entre magie, suspens, recherche de vérité cet ouvrage à de quoi plaire. Mais hélas, les chapitres trop court font qu'on n'a pas le temps de s'attacher aux personnages, nous passons d'une personne à une autre trop rapidement ce qui dessert l'ouvrage.
Malgré cela, ce fut une bonne lecture.

This book just wasn't for me. I found Tilly hard to like and I couldn't get Harry Potter out of my head while I was reading. The magical world Kahawala created was really interesting, but my annoyance with Tilly overshadowed it. The world has a lot of potential, just need a less immature main character.

This book desperately needed a developmental editor. The world building and the story were interesting, but the thread of the story was often lost in how cool the world was. There were characters that appeared and reappeared and plot points that meandered off.

I would like to see more from this author, but for now, this is a miss for me.

I really liked the worldbuilding of this! The chapters weren't extremely long which was really nice!

Sixteen year old Tilly Nyx is unexpectedly thrust into a world of magic and put on a team with other teens who she becomes friends with. Mystery, intrigue, magical creatures, and action and adventure abound as Tilly tries to learn magic aboard a ship trying to follow her mother's mysterious map. This is the first book in what should be a fascinating YA fantasy series.

Good world building that wasn’t confusing. Engaged throughout my time reading. Exciting!! Loved that the chapters were short.

This book has a lush and intruiging world and creative magic system with interesting characters and mystery. An engaging, YA fantasy read!

Blood Moon Prophecy is the story of Tilly Nix, a girl who was abandoned with a neglectful family after her mother was killed. After an attempt on her life, Tilly is thrown into a world of myth and magic and is forced to face the reality of her life which was nothing like she expected. This was a good coming-of-age story suitable for middle-school readers who like more modern fantasy and a found-family style story. Overall, I really did like this book, even if the style was a bit younger than I'd normally read. There were definitely some darker moments, so something to consider if you are buying for a younger reader, but still a great adventure story.

This was a NetGalley review.

I enjoyed this book, but I feel that it still needed a bit of editing. Some of the timelines were unclear and at times it was hard to tell which character was speaking. Overall it was a really original premise that made it hard to put down.

The characters for this one just didn't work out as well as I was hoping. I loved the way that magic in this world was created as it was something new. But that wasnt enough to keep me loving the story overall.

Tilly had to flee her home when she was young after her village was destroyed, her mother killed, and her sister vanished. But she wants to go home, not having a happy life with her new family. She has a secret map, one that her mother made her promise to protect with her very life. But when someone who was supposed to explain things to her is killed and a monster appears to be hunting her, Tilly finds her wish to travel home coming true and her magic beginning to grow.

The premise of this work was promising, but unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The worldbuilding had some interesting ideas and was okay overall, though it never managed to really become immersive. This was largely due to a major lack of descriptions or incorporation of any details that might make a setting/world feel real.

The characters were not written well – most of the first half of the book, Tilly was pitiful and unengaging. This was largely because she was given zero agency. Things continuously happened to her, and she was simply along for the ride or being rescued or being pushed around by the plot. Then she undergoes some “growth” and honestly becomes even more unrelatable due to her obnoxious bratty behavior. The other characters were almost impossible to become invested in as none of them felt alive or well developed. There were also just so many characters that were introduced, caused some problems, then dropped from the story completely, leaving them all feeling unnecessary.

I think the issues of the work can mainly be boiled down to the author relying on telling rather than showing. This did away with any immersion I may have felt with the setting and world and created characters that didn’t feel alive. I’m sure others may be able to enjoy this work, but there was simply nothing about it that was able to grab my interest. My thanks to NetGalley and Cedar Street Press for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This story has a lot of promise, but I struggled with it. The world building is practically nonexistent. Not enough description was given about the characters, the magic system, how the different dimensions worked, etc… The villain also had absolutely no backstory. I kept thinking, “Things will become clear as I read. There’s gotta be a big reveal coming.” Nope. A small reveal, but not one that answered any questions.

Also, cut out some characters. Why are there so many bullies? What’s the point of Charlie? What’s the point of Melvina? What’s the point of that bully duo whose names I can’t even remember—Val and Bryn, maybe? All these characters were introduced and then also randomly dropped and we never heard from them again. Why include them at all?

And why are some of the adults being complete dicks to a 16 year old girl who just found out about magic and the existence of another dimension and some prophecy that only she can solve? Why did they expect her to come into this world, get thrown immediately into battle games (basically like Ender’s Game) and know how to cast these “sprites” (which are basically vapor Pokémon) without any training?

Also, don’t introduce new parts to the prophecy in the last 20 pages with absolutely no description of what it is and no reaction from the characters to say, “Woah, that’s new! What’s that?!” The alchemist? The abbysmith? Not introduced until the last minute. Why is “the alchemist” called the alchemist? Who are Crom Fahll and the alchemist? What is their beef and how did it start?

There is a clear “found family” trope, but again, the lack of character building and description made it unsatisfying.

The story just fell flat because there was no world building and no description. Hopefully if there’s a sequel (which it seems there has to be because lots of random info was introduced at the very end) it will be more engaging and descriptive so I can more clearly see the world I’m reading about.

So, 2 stars.

tl;dr - Really promising concept. No world building or character building, so story falls flat. Ender’s Game meets Pokemon Battles with a found family trope.

Thanks to NetGalley and Cedar Street Press for ARC.

16 year old Tilly has never quite fit in with the family that took her in after tragedy struck. After Tilly didn't follow one very important rule her mother was killed and Tilly has lived her life with that weight on her shoulders. Suddenly, on her 16th birthday, Tilly is swept into the magical realm from which she came from as a young girl, a world she cannot remember but a world to which she may be very important.

I felt like this book felt a bit like Harry Potter at sea. Tilly was taken in by rude relatives, she joined a boat crew but was one of the few not raised by magic, other boats targeted her while some "teachers" gave her special attention. Not only Harry Potter but I kept finding myself comparing it to other young adult books or shows throughout. Despite the comparisons though I felt it does stand up for itself and never feels identical so it did not work against my overall feelings on the book.

Pick this up if you like magical fantasy and obviously if you'd like a book that gives off Harry Potter vibes but in a more inclusive way.

Eleven years after her mother died, Tilly discovers that she is from an ancient magical family from another land. She is destined to join an adventure across seas where she builds friendships and develops her powers with the end goal of solving the secrets she carried.

Blood Moon Prophecy turned out to be a heartwarming adventure. I found the book a bit long, but ended up quite enjoying it, I especially enjoyed the world building, found family and magical aspects of the book.

#netgalleyARC

YA fantasy with a lot happening. Tilly Nyx's life changes drastically in one night and she finds that she is part of a world she barely remembers from 11 yrs ago when she was five. Tilly is forced on an adventure she ever imagined and learns more about a world she thought she was imagining as a child. Tilly has a map that her mother made her memorize as a child and that map is the key to finding out her Momma's secrets. There is a family-found and chosen one theme throughout this adventure. I had a hard time believing Tilly was 16 though as many of her thoughts/actions reminding me more a 12 yr old but I am totally invested in this series now and need to know where the adventure takes us next.