Moon Chosen Tales of a New World by P.C. Cast

608 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: October 18, 2016

Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Teens, Young Adult, Magic

Mari and her mother live in a burrow. They are known as Earth Walkers. Her mother is the Moon Lady.She has been chosen to help her tribe stay health by washing the moon fever every three nights. This keep the violence dow between men and makes the women more docile. When the Tree Walkers arrived and take the women as hostages to work on the farm, they lose all sense of their feelings NS Dll into a funk. The men become violent and not only attack the women, but the kill the men as well. In the meantime, Mari’s mother, Letq is killed. Now I is up to Mari to find what happened to her mother Anne how is responsible for killing her mother.

The story is fast paced, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view.I like the concept of the two tribes of people and their views on the Divine. If you like fantasy books, you will enjoy reading this book.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

This book was a hard read for me. I went back and forth and finally finished it because I wanted to know the outcome.
It has a lot of triggers for readers that many will find hard to grasp.
Not my favorite of their books but I do like that the authors don't hold back on writing what they like. It is why I like their books.

I have adored all of the books written by P.C. Cast since the "House of Night" series. Their newest series, "Tales of a New World" kicks off with "Moon Chosen" and it was a decent read if you ignore the social issues going on throughout it. I enjoyed it for the most part but had my fair share of issues with it. I did find it lacking compared to the "House of Night". There are also some trigger warnings for this book that need to be noted, including: racism, prejudice, sexual themes, non-consent, dubious-consent, and homophobia.

There is a good amount of world-building which one has come to expect from a P.C. Cast novel. It was easy to picture the world that the book was set in.

The book is pretty wordy, more so than necessary. It could have been edited down in certain areas without excess flowery language.

POV switching between the three main characters, which is also very Cast-like.

A free copy was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Another amazing book by author P.C. Cast! I mean I knew it would be amazing just knowing who had wrote this one. I love her books and can't get enough of her storytelling. Moon Chosen is a fantastic book and I've already told all my friends about it, honestly I couldn't shut up about it.

This won’t be much of a review since I didn’t make it very far into the book. The writing style was annoying and I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore; especially with this book being so long. No flow to the story and the dialogue felt childish and bland. Plus side, the covers for this series are totally cool!

Nope. I love the authors and their other works; but this didn’t work for me. One being that I thought it was extremely boring. I had a tough time even keeping my eyes open long enough to close the book. It’s not one I recommend or care to continue.

The coolest part of this story to me is that this is not another world, regardless of the magic and complete unknown, but instead this is actually a distopian story where something terrible occurred and decimated the earth as we know it and these new changes are due to evolution, deformity, and survival based. Once I realized that this was the earth, I kept looking for clues as to what was familiar and how the changes came about.

I will admit that I was a little overwhelmed by the length of the book, over 600 pages, and at times I felt like the plot or action dragged a little bit and my attention would wane. I could have done with a lot of the side stuff chopped out and and less general tangents or build up. The second half of the book was SO MUCH BETTER! It was full of action, danger, conflict and relationship dynamics and I blew through this part, 100% engaged in the story. Overall the idea of the world, the underlying plot of a brewing battle of good versus evil and the evolution of these people was a very interesting concept and I am excited to see what will happen next in the series.

The story is narrated by three distinct voices, each with their own culture, path and goals.
First we have Mari who is an Earth Walker, or at least half an Earth Walker and her mother is the Moon Woman, able to clean the tribe from the moon madness that turns men into violent beasts and drives women to depression. The Earth Walkers were an interesting species, controlled by a form of madness, desperate to be cleaned. I loved how Mari evolved as a person through the story, becoming a stoic girl to a powerful dedicated woman. And the forced relationship between her and her arch enemy was one of the best things in the book.

Nik is a Companion, which live high in the trees with their bonded terrier or shepherd dog companions, shepherds are leaders and terriers are hunters, but Nik has neither even though he is the son of the tribe leader. He is desperate for a puppy to chose him so he can feel complete and needed, but fears that may never happen. The dynamic between the Companions and the Earth Walkers was messed up, mainly due to the Companions idea, with no concept of Earth Walkers having their own ways and beliefs.

Dead eye was creepy, awful and oh so interesting. I almost always find myself rooting for the bad guy, and a person who skins animals and humans while alive probably fits that description perfectly- but he was still really cool and interesting. Dead Eye is part of The People, the terrifying clan that live in the ruins of the city from the past, who capture, skin and eat other tribes as well as their own people, split into Harvesters and Hunters they steal the skin off the still leaving prey to try and fuse with their own ruined flesh (sounded like victims of maybe radiation/nuclear poisoning from the sun explosion the book hints a to me). Dead eye has a vision of what he wants and the determination to make it happen, making him the perfect villain to watch out for, and it was interesting to see from this view point.

​Books with dogs pretty much like a main character are pretty close to perfect in my opinion- this being my first of that kind, I recommend that there are more soon so I can gobble them up. I loved the idea the dogs bonded with a Companion, but I did wonder why the only two kinds of dogs were terriers and Shepherds, why no other kind of dog?

The story ends kind of on a cliffhanger with lots of awful danger, don't expect to wrap up or be happily ever after. I can't wait to jump back into this world for more adventure.

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Racist, unoriginal, and pretty much aimless, this book has no appeal for me.

This title was a Did Not Finish. Unfortunately, I was unable to connect with it whether it be for characters, story-line or writing style.

Thank you for providing me with a copy.

When I saw Moon Chosen on Netgalley, I thought it was time to give P.C. Cast a try. She's written so many books some of them have to be good, right? Umm… not necessarily. The writing is a bit off, and I couldn’t connect to any of the characters. This book was not for me, but I would give one of her other titles a try in the future.

It was okay, the story sometimes dragged and I struggled to connect with the characters at times.

Moon Chosen follows two characters, Mari who is a Moon Woman of the Earth Walker people and Nik from the Tree Tribe. Both are at war with one another, Nik believes that his people are stronger and more advanced than the Earth Walkers. Mari though has a secret that she can't reveal to anyone.

The book was a little racist for me and a little wordy and can be a little messy. Though this came with something new and original to the fantasy world, I think it could have been done/written with more care.

I couldn't get into this book so it has just sat on my kindle. I think it's safe to say I won't be reading this series. Sorry.

Not one that grabbed me at all, I'm afraid. Most of Cast's books hooked me but not this one.

I love that the author did not shy away from length. This post- apocalyptic tale will catch readers but it may take a while. I found it slow to draw me in. But it did catch my attention and I thought it was a great read .

An interesting read even if it's not the highest priority on my 'to read' list. The plot and characters warrant the time to read the novel, but not to be highly invested in it if the reader is juggling 10 other books to finish.

I loved the house of night series! That being said I wasn't super into Moon chosen. It's an ok read. I find the dialogue lackluster. I tried read hard to connect with the character but couldn't.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I mentioned I had a digital copy, well I ended up using a credit and got the audiobook after my best friend couldn’t stop texting me about how she LOVED this book and stayed up all night to read it once she started. This was high praise and I was down to start but my reading had been slow due to some headaches and travel so I figured audiobook was the way to go. I am so glad I listened to this one as well if only for the comparisons with said friend in saying the names which had us laughing at one pups name in particular. The narrator did a good job with the narration and distinguishing the voices of the characters.

I went into this story not knowing much just that it had a beautiful cover, an auto-buy author, and that it focused on a new world with a conflict between two different groups and that there was going to be a loveable pup in there somewhere. This was all I needed to know. I enjoyed the multiple POVs in general but even more so in that they were each from different characters in different clans/tribes and we were able to see how each one functioned from the inside as well as from the outside. The Earth Walkers are kind people who have to be cleansed by their Moon Woman every few nights to keep the women from turning into deep depression and the men into something else but they as a whole work as a community nicely but to the Companions they are animals who can't care for themselves. The Companions are tree living people who have these cities above the ground and bond with pups and have all these awesome things but to the Earth Walkers they are simply the evil ones who raid their lands and kidnap or kill their people. Seeing from both Mari and Nik gave insights into both and showcased the highs and lows of each. We also got to see some bits and pieces into the Skin Stealers as well and frankly those chapters were just creepy as can be but again insightful to the story.

We learned a lot about both cultures in the story but I'm curious to learn more about both clans/tribes. We also learn about another group towards the end, those who live in the mountains and bond with lynx like the companions do with pups. I have to admit this whole idea was so fascinating because I love animals and the idea of bonding with one pup or what is so amazing. The pups are generally Sheppard's or terriers and having had a couple of German Sheppards growing up this made me super nostalgic (I'm also looking at pups myself as I finally am finished with apartment living and have a place with a yard) for my old babies. Not all Companions have a pup but the pups that are mentioned they are totally characters in their own right and I was more nervous/upset if any danger befell them than anything else. Though as they are characters and there are many in the story there is some animals that are injured in the story so I should say that is a warning for some.

As with many of her books Cast has a strong reliance on strong female characters and those whom lead their people. I love this about her books. I also love the different takes on their beliefs from taking power from the moon or the sun or some other things I won't mention each group has similarities but have somehow become so vastly different. I loved seeing Nik and Mari trying to figure one another out and to break through the misconceptions they had of one another. Nik isn't the most likeable at first he thinks a bit too highly of himself but that quickly changes as we get to know him better and he develops a new understanding for things. Mari I instantly felt for with her situation. Loving her mother and her people but being forced to hide her true self for so long and always feeling trapped. Her journey was intense. Rigel is my favorite character though if I'm honest. Yes he is a pup and he doesn't speak but when he was in the chapters I would get all "awe what a sweetie" vibes and wish I could reach into the story to pet him. They are the main characters for sure but I also adored some of the side characters like Sora whom if I'm honest I related to in many ways that my best friend and me discussed while I listened. Even O'Bryan and his optimism and kindheartedness made him a favorite of mine when he was in scenes.

This new world is set before us and so many things have started with the potential for so much more. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book because this one just really set the stage for the world, the characters, and what is at stake. I can't wait to get my hands on the physical copy to go along with my audiobook because I know the one thing I missed out on were the beautiful images between chapters (I scanned my BFF's book after to see) so I highly recommend the listening experience but also the beautiful pictures in the physical copy!

Good story. A different style from this author's adult stories.