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Title: Waking the Moon
Author: Elizabeth Hand
Published: New York: HarperPrism, 1996 (1994)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 497
Total Page Count: 128,890
Text Number: 375
Read Because: mentioned by Kelly, purchased used from Powell's Books
Review: On Sweeney's first day at the University of the Archangels and St. John the Divine, she's improbably befriended by Oliver, enigmatic and fey, and Angelica, gorgeous and strong-willed. A normal girl chosen by two remarkable individuals, she's pulled into the heart of their troubles as an otherworldy divine battle begins to brew. Waking the Moon is the sort of bold which often lapses into heavy-handed, an uneven but undeniably powerful book. Sweeney is an intentionally unlikely protagonist, an effect which doesn't always work: she has character, standing out even in a strong and varied cast, but not enough agency. The narrative hops awkwardly between first and third person, but Hand's voice is lush and strong, her plot intelligent, willfully violent, and often tense; in its best moments this book is chilling. But its most evocative aspects are often the least explored—an early doorway into a haunting alien plain; the deceptively insidious Benandanti; the powerful but rushed climax which leaves the book's themes dangling, unfinished. What's provided in droves instead is a pointed but ham-fisted feminist reconstruction of the divine—brilliantly intentioned but demanding more subtlety than the rushed climax allows. This is the sort of book I want to love, but don't quite—yet can still appreciate, both for what it attempts and what it achieves. It carries a number of caveats, but I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Elizabeth Hand
Published: New York: HarperPrism, 1996 (1994)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 497
Total Page Count: 128,890
Text Number: 375
Read Because: mentioned by Kelly, purchased used from Powell's Books
Review: On Sweeney's first day at the University of the Archangels and St. John the Divine, she's improbably befriended by Oliver, enigmatic and fey, and Angelica, gorgeous and strong-willed. A normal girl chosen by two remarkable individuals, she's pulled into the heart of their troubles as an otherworldy divine battle begins to brew. Waking the Moon is the sort of bold which often lapses into heavy-handed, an uneven but undeniably powerful book. Sweeney is an intentionally unlikely protagonist, an effect which doesn't always work: she has character, standing out even in a strong and varied cast, but not enough agency. The narrative hops awkwardly between first and third person, but Hand's voice is lush and strong, her plot intelligent, willfully violent, and often tense; in its best moments this book is chilling. But its most evocative aspects are often the least explored—an early doorway into a haunting alien plain; the deceptively insidious Benandanti; the powerful but rushed climax which leaves the book's themes dangling, unfinished. What's provided in droves instead is a pointed but ham-fisted feminist reconstruction of the divine—brilliantly intentioned but demanding more subtlety than the rushed climax allows. This is the sort of book I want to love, but don't quite—yet can still appreciate, both for what it attempts and what it achieves. It carries a number of caveats, but I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
