Gifted – The Constellation of Moon

Moon Reads: The Trident and The Pearl

Posted on March 24, 2026

The Trident and the Pearl by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Rating:

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I am not a big follower of romantasy, mostly because I do like my romance and my fantasy but I don’t always want romance to take over the fantasy part. However, this sounded pretty interesting and made me curious.

I will start by saying that the actual rating is 3.75 not 3.5 but I do not have a way to make it that number via fox rating. The reason it gets this rating is more or less because of how the book declined the closer it got to the end.

Our story starts strong. Queen Coralys says goodbye to her husband who is going to try and save people during a hurricane/storm that is about to end their island and reign. She then goes to make a deal with her god, which according to her she doesn’t actually believe in, and gets an interesting bargain. Her people will be saved, but she will have to marry the first person to touch harbor and become their profession and life, so more or less it is a “sacrifice your Crown for your people” and she’s willing to do this. Now, we find out that her husband dies during the storm and she’s grieving, which odd request from the god, but oh well. And then we learn about her customs of her island etc. Which to be fair, end up being pretty irrelevant to the story, which was a bit sad.

Somehow the first person to arrive is a fisher man who has a horrible wound, god given, that won’t close. Coralys is still grieving but she gives the impression of being a superb queen and not spoiled and not your regular main character for a fairy tale or a romantasy. Sadly this lasts about a third of the book and then we get the trope of they can’t communicate.

Her new husband is a fisher man indeed who says he is the Fisher King, and Coralys is thick as bricks and has no imagination so she doesn’t figure out who her husband really is until extremely late, after every single piece of evidence has slapped her repeatedly in the face. And this is part of the reasons the book didn’t get a high rating.

The world building is incredible, how gods work, what makes a god a god, what causes gods to war against each other, and how the people can communicate with them and all that interaction, fascinating. Oke, the fisher king and Coralys’ new husban, also incredibly awesome. He is trying to allow her to grieve, give her space so that being husband and wife is not a responsibility and a burden for Coralys. Like he is a cinnamon roll who is sparing Coralys from a lot of things. And Coralys is anything but the Queen she supposedly was. The Coralys we get has convenient grief for the plot (always incredibly convinient and never comes around if the plot doesn’t require it, and yes I know grief is funky and so forth but in this case, it is too noticeable to just accept it as grief is a beast), is thick as bricks, has no idea what communication is (despite being a Queen and having been married before and had counselors, etc), and mostly lets the plot happen to her, which felt a waste of Oke and the actual plot.

The plot is interesting if Coralys wasn’t such a puppet of it. The romance is not really there at all. Well, we can see Oke being nice to her, trying to give her space while doing his many responsibilities, making sure to make time for her too amongst everything else, etc. And then Coralys is adamant on revenge for her dead husband, but you also can’t believe she is blinded by it, because she only cares when it is needed for the plot.

Still, plot was cool. I think the book needed another pass or two on edits to make Coralys actually be more fleshed out as she’s pretty much a blank puppet who says she is something but doesn’t really make sense at all with her actions or motivations or anything. She genuinely is just there to let the plot happen.

Would I read the second book? Yes probably, since I do like the world and I am curious to see what will happen. Would I say everyone should read this book? No, but if you enjoy romantasy and want a cool world with gods and chaos, and a nice male main character, this is a good one to have.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Book of Fallen Leaves

Posted on March 17, 2026

The Book of Fallen Leaves by A. S. Tamaki

Rating:

When Orbit announced this book I was in a Ghost of Tsushima mindset preparing for Ghost of Yotei, so of course I had to read it and review it. The description of it felt like it suited my gamer mind and would fit anyone else who enjoyed the games (yes, it is not actually anything to do with them, but I feel like they are a good match in how they approach Japan and Samurai with some mysticism and magic).

I haven’t written a review for Ghost of Tsushima or Ghost of Yotei, which are both games on Playstation. I mostly don’t have a review because I don’t have screenshots to share, but I loved the first game and also the second one. So if you as a gamer, enjoyed them, then the quickest review I can give you is, that this is a similar feeling to playing through the Ghost games but as a book and you have more character points of view.

If you are not a gamer and your eyes are glazing over why I would recommend this book, I am sorry, I will now review it as a book lover. The Book of Fallen Leaves follows Rui, who is a commoner, a no’in, and Sen who is the surviving son of a clan lord that tried to rebel against the Emperor and was caught. Both of them in their own ways feel a little bit at a loss on their purpose and life, and there’s something tugging at them that “there’s more than this provincial life” for them. Circumstances put them into the path of a civil war and various schemes that are political and some that involve the gods too.

Overall I did enjoy the book a lot, however I will say that the introduction or prologue is superb and then it just doesn’t measure up for the first third of the book. That first third is slow, it is doing a lot of trying to set up the politics and in some ways it over explains things while trying to keep a sense of mystery (which fell a bit flat for me after the start, maybe if the start hadn’t been such a punch, this wouldn’t have been such a contrast).

You are also introduced to a bazillion characters and each of their points of view, which again, felt slightly a bit too much without giving enough significant story, just a lot of backstory and setting each side character into their position for the real story to start. I do understand we needed a view into the Empire, the Capital and the factions brewing, but I feel like this could’ve happened in a different way and maybe be a little bit better. It ended up feeling slgihtly repetitive or dragging out certain chapters.

But, once the pieces are in the right places and we introduce Jobo, we go at better speed and then it is a chaotic adventure and I enjoyed the ride a lot. My favourite characters where Jobo, Rui and Sen’s sister (Sen to me was actually pretty boring over all, sorry!), because you get a delightful balance of politics, intrigue, mystery, magic and samurai life.

Overall, it was a fun read and I am curious to see what the next book will bring since the ending left a lot to ponder. And I recommend this if you like politics, Japan and samurai inspired books, and obviously magic martial arts (I would even say it gave me the vibes of Drunken Master Jackie Chan even if that’s not exactly what is going on here, but it was that type of fun chaos).

Book Review

Moon Reads – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

Posted on February 27, 2026

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Rating:

This book was the perfect excuse to pull some cute cat plushies because why not, I have my own brand of “stray” cats.

I loved this book, probably even more the Emily Wilde’s series (and I enjoyed those a lot). And I am so so thankful to Orbit for the review copy because I was able to read the book before it came out and then I raved about it to other people (I do circus arts and I have an informal “book club” where we all read different things but weekly we talk about what we each read and recommend books to each other and this book has been one I’ve recommended a few times).

Anyway, to the actual review of this book. The short version of the review would be that this felt like I was reading a mix of the film and book versions of Howl’s Moving Castle (book version including the other two which rarely ever get included, but are so good), with Agnes being a little like Sophie and Havelock being like Howl. There is also like in the books, a much more involved sister and it is just very satisfying and wholesome and worth reading. Very cosy, very cute, you will want to visit a cat cafe and maybe watch Howl’s Moving Castle or read it afterwards.

Now the longer version, we start our story with Agnes trying to find a place to move into after a mage battle destroyed her previous shop front and the landlady she had cannot afford to fix the damage. Winter is coming and she needs a warm space for the cats and herself as she runs a cat charity to pick up strays. But most places she sees aren’t accepting her because she has cats. Until she finds the perfect shop, but she thinks she can’t afford it, despite being drawn to it over and over. Finally she decides to give in and just check it out, and somehow things work out in a way that is scary but feels meant to be. She’s quickly moving in and everything is pretty smooth, but then she starts getting weird visitors that go through her charity and into the basement of the shop.

To no one’s surprise, turns out she is a front for the most known mage ever Havelock, who is super famous and sought after. And well, as you would expect chaos ensues, with a magical battle between Havelock and another mage and our poor Agnes who loves keeping track of things and organisation struggles. But she’s practical and despite the fact she doesn’t agree with magic and mages, she will make the most of this chaos thank you very much.

She then goes on a mission (if you’ve seen Howl’s Moving there’s a scene that’s very similar to Sophie cleaning Howl’s Castle and it was so satisfying to read) to make things work out for this weird arrangement. But in some ways, she seems to be adopting Havelock as one of her strays and maybe, just maybe falling in lvoe with him despite her misgivings on magic and mages and the fact she thought she couldn’t love someone other than her husband who passed away two years before.

There’s a whole plot that I don’t want to spoil, but I definitely can say that this was adorable, very satisfying to read and honestly 100% worth it. I’d recommend it for the cosy factor, the magic, the Howl vibes, the pastries, the cats and the romance.

Book Review

Moon Reads – Control Alter Delete

Posted on February 6, 2026

Control Alter Delete by K. L. Kettle

Rating:

Control Alter Delete follows Halcyon (Hal) who more or less lives in a perfect virtual world called World 2.0 created by Hal’s hero, Francis Knox. This world is better than real life because she can be whatever she wants and she’s popular there. And it makes up for not knowing what happened to her dad when he disappeared.

But then she gets into the Knox Cup which is a fancy competition and suddenly everything becomes super dangerous and convoluted.

The reason this one gets a low score is mostly that it’s a little too incongruent with itself and trips over a lot of things between the first part fo the book and the second one. If you are reading this, be aware that I will be including potential spoilers here because otherwise I can’t properly explain why I struggled with the plot of the book. Read at your own risk.

We start with Hal somehow being pretty cool in this virtual world but not as cool as her ex boyfriend who won the previous cup and then they split up. But we have Hal super immersed in this World 2.0 and somehow the plot slowly tells us this is a fake virtual world and she basically lives in like a capsule and has to keep her body sorted with a fake programmed virtual mum made up her mum’s memories. And Hal is somehow “poor” and can’t afford anythign (but has a house, is always fed and never actually wants for anything except enough money to buy her entry into the cup and that gets resolved by rich guardian telling her to get her shit together).

So we have a “Hal is poor” but no real evidence of this. This was one of the first ones I struggled, she’s also not that into school, but somehow a genius, which again, there was a lot of telling and so little showing to prove this.

Once the cup starts and we start seeing the layers and the real story, it does get super interesting in to how the World 2.0 and 3.0 are created. And then we discover Hal’s parents (one disappeared, one sick and held at a hospital that Hal somehow never visits, again, what? why? this makes no sense) are 2 out of 5 original founders of the virtual worlds and all the cool things. And then we get back to how does Hal not know any of this or even question ANYTHING at all considering that as we go through the story, we discover her parents tried to protect her from evil things and were trying to make her like the “hero” or someone who could fix things. And we really only find her being able to do the things thanks to her imaginary friend who doesn’t seem that imaginary, Go.

So, overall in continuity and actually setting up the plot, this book has an incredibly low rating. The reason it isn’t a bad book is because once the Cup starts and we get to start figuring some of the plot and the weirdness, that there is corruption and that there seems something more sinister is going on (including the fact that her mum fell ill and was whisked away to a hospital and never heard of, very convenient disappearance of parent figures), and how the worlds work and then as Hal actually starts having a personality or at least starts acting (I feel like the plot happens to Hal and she kinda ends up becoming what the plot needs her to become) like she has one and starts trying to make a difference, then it becomes super interesting.

The idea behind how the virtual world was created and how it was sustained, what it meant and the good and bad implications of it was a really cool thing which reminded me of many books including Marie Lu’s Warcross, The Upper World, The Maze Runner and other similar books.

So I think it is an interesting read, but it could be better for sure.

Book Review

Moon Reads: How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days

Posted on February 3, 2026

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva

Rating:

I have typed this review a few times trying to find the best way to tell you “hey, this was really fun to read, and I wish everyone else would read, please go read it. I want more fun cosy chaos books like this one”, and I don’t think I know how else to say it.

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days is a cute chaos hug to a fantasy nerd. You have Pansy, a halfling in search of a little adventure and that feels a little out of place in her village because of being a little odd and not wanting pure comfort. And you have Ren a goblin who is trying their best to support their clan and also they have a green thumb like nobody else.

Now have Pansy inherit her grandma’s cottage and she feels like this is her chance to make her own life without feeling a bit out of place, she has found her place. But surprise, when she goes to claim her inheritance, Ren is already living there and growing all manners of things (including lots of moss inside the house, apparently moss inside the cottage is not a halfling thing but I think is a pretty cool idea).

To the surprise of both, they somehow end up making a deal on who gets to keep the house, whomever doesn’t leave and stays in it. There’s a few ground rules like not being destructive to each other’s things and stuff, and that you can’t “remove” but only add things (you can already see this backfiring, right?). And so it starts, a little back and forth between them trying to find ways to annoy each other of the home.

It is not to the reader’s surprise of course, that these all backfire in very amusing and funny ways, but also in making the home cosy for both of them. I will say, this was a proper cosy read, with lots of plants and cooking, and questions about belonging and family (or clan) and what it means to be part of them.

But there’s also a lot of little elements reminding you of other worlds, other stories, other classics and some newer works, and it was this also that was fun to read. It felt like a good hug and was about as complex a read as I could muster at a time when I had no voice and a fever. I still enjoyed it a lot and it made me laugh, then cough then regret my life choices, but 10/10 worth it for the story.

Book Review

Moon Reads – Blood of the Old Kings

Posted on January 23, 2026

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim. Translated by Anton Hur

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

When I first requested this book I wasn’t sure how much I would like it since I am picky with my translated fiction (the translator can make or break a book, trust me on this). But I shouldn’t have worried, this book sunk its teeth into me and didn’t let go, and though for some reason I didn’t review it at the time that I read it, it’s one of those that lives rent free in my head.

We follow Loran, a swordswoman who is desperate to avenge her family after it was killed by the Empire, so she does what anyone would do and climbs into a volcano to find an ancient dragon from legend and try to negotiate with it so she can get her revenge. She gets an interesting deal on this and comes out with a fancy shiny sword and a greater purpose to her life. But having this purpose still doesn’t solve everything and so Loran keeps trying to make her way towards making a difference and in turn finds a lot of interesting adventures and situations that kept me rooting for her and also engrossed into her side of the story.

The other side is from “inside” the Empire, given that Loran more or less is an outsider to the Empire. Arienne in contrast has magic and is pretty much resigned to having a life where she will become the battery of the Empire upon her death. She lives a relatively good life but she still has dreams and ponder son them. So when she starts hearing a voice inside her head from a powerful necromancer, she starts questioning things, particularly if she is truly meant to just be a battery and what living a life means.

You get a nice contrast between both of the points of view, first in the environment (inside and outside of the Empire), but also in personality and approaches. Loran can use strength more than brain (not that she doesn’t use her brain), whereas Arienne has to use her brain first before her strength. And yet, both of them have to learn how to wield their own power and what a life lived means, and what that implies for the Empire, because if they use what they have, they are enemies of the Empire and all they can truly do is find a way to make having a future a reality.

I enjoyed this so much, it was so interesting seeing both of them slowly become heroines and also work through their own preconceptions and ideals, try to fight not just the Empire but their own internal battles.

If you like epic fantasy with high stakes, magic, swordswomen, dragons, and necromancy, this is the book for you.

Book Review

Moon Reads: An Unlikely Coven

Posted on November 7, 2025

An Unlikely Coven by Am Kvita

Rating:

I got this book from the publishers and actually finished it reading in time for Halloween but the review didn’t get done until now.

I will start by saying that the story of someone who can’t cast magic and is a “useless” member of a magical family trying to help someone who has suddenly been granted powers and solve also a who did this and race against time was right up my street.

The book suffers a little with pacing and characters being introduced quite abruptly in the first third of the book, where at first we get a bit more exposition, more tell than show, and some weird incongruence with everyone highlighting how Joan is basically unemployed and still has so much money so she can just live like that, which felt a bit unnecessary and also condescending. Particularly since she technically leaves her job and all her life to come move back to be with her family, so making her aware she is dependent on her family feels pretty frustrating (and you would hope she has her own savings and her own life carved up).

Anyway, that was the parts I struggled with but then we get to meet her family and her friends, or what will become her “coven”. The book is really focused on acceptance of yourself, and seeing yourself from the eyes of others and the good that can be. We also have a big focus on found family over biological family which can sometimes take you for granted or make assumptions simply because you are part of the family.

The dynamics of the different magical groups were interesting though I would’ve liked to see more points of view or more about other beings other than CZ who is a vampire, and to get a better picture of why exactly witches dominate other than the little explanation we get on the dynamics, seeing them in action more would’ve helped.

But still, the overall story was interesting, and somehow it does wrap up most of the plot so you could have it be a stand alone and not need more, to you can take off from where it ends and create other stand alone books that still follow Joan and her little “coven” around, which I think would be very cute, particularly getting to know more of Astoria and Wren.

Overall, it was one of those books you can read in one sitting (or two in my case), easy fun read, leaves you feeling grateful for your community and found family, and wanting to spend time with them.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Isle in the Silver Sea

Posted on October 21, 2025

The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

Rating:

If you are new here, let me start by saying that Tasha Suri is one of my absolute favourite authors, and therefore this book has been an anticipated read since I knew of it (back when Tasha was obsessed with The Green Knight film and all those posts of medieval books), so of course I asked Orbit for a review copy, I probably begged. And they kindly let my soul be happy and have it. This review is therefore fully about my love of Tasha’s writing and having a review copy doesn’t change my opinion of it (or make me rate it higher, go check all my reviews of her books from the past).

The Isle in the Silver Sea is a standalone fantasy book (I am surprised since Tasha likes trilogies and epic stories), which is still incredibly epic. It is like being wrapped in a medieval fairy tale, being transported to an old London and then to a set for Merlin or The Green Knight.

The story follows Simran and Vina, who are incarnates, reincarnations of characters from tales, that are destined to re-enact and live their tale to provide life to Britain. Fated to fall in love and then doom each other, over and over, through lifetimes.

But neither of them is ready to simply follow their tale, and even less to doom each other when they realise that an assassin is targeting tales and their incarnates, and they may be next. And so they need to find a way to survive, and ponder if fate can be changed, if tales can be rewritten.

As always, the cast of characters is a whole thing here, and we find a rich world for them to exist in, starting with our main tale for this story, “The Knight and the Witch”, which is a tale of doomed love. But as you read through the chapters (divided between the points of view of Simran and Vina), each one has a snippet of some writing that is related to the tales, so you get more of the world building (and honestly, I think on a second read they would be even more significant).

Tasha deftly builds a Britain and London that is rich in history and yet also completely different, wrapped in tales and lore. And yet, as you read, as you come closer to the end, the currents of what motivates some people here and makes them think they’re British or “English”, also run a current through the story here, parallels and yet, hope lives eternal.

This was my commute book, and oh how I regretted that, because I did not want to stop reading. I dreamt of Vina and Simran, of their world, their tale, their story. I yearned for them, fought with them, dreamt with them. This is a tale that is very much alive and absolutely worth reading. Tasha gets better with each new book, each new story is a craft honed even further.

I cried at it, I hoped, and desperately wanted things to be, for their tale to make it, for life to have a chance. And in the end, I absolutely loved it. I was speechless; I had no more to say or do because this book was perfect.

So all I can ask, is that you give this exquisite tale a chance to wrap itself around you.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Moonflow

Posted on October 3, 2025

Moonflow by Bitter Karella

Rating:

Welcome to the first creepy post of October. I don’t know how much content have of this kind, but this felt fitting to be the first post for the month.

This sounded interesting in many ways when Orbit sent the monthly list of interesting books. Mushrooms, eldritch horror, a cult, and a lot of chaos, why not?

I think the best way I can describe this is that it was a trip! The story follows Sarah who studied to be a mycologist but didn’t finish and now grows mushrooms for people to consume and have a bit of fun. But life isn’t going great so when friend asks her to go on a trip to find spores for a new mushroom that gives the best trips when consumed, she agrees despite misgivings because she wants to try it again and also, the money will help her a lot to get back on track with life.

We also follow a few women who are part of the cult of the Green Lady, which is a feminist cult that exists in the Pamogo woods, that are meant to be difficult to navigate, shuffling themselves and known to belong to the Lord of the Forest. The cult is all about the feminine Green Lady and power to feminity, with lots of sexual power in it but only between women because apparently male energy is bad and corrupts.

Sarah makes it to outside of the woods where she meets her guide and then they start the trek, and Sarah starts getting weird messages that seem to be calling her deep into the woods. And you know, if you are already kinda lost, why not follow this random glitch message.

There’s a lot of chaos, some god events, a lot of sex and drugs, a lot about mushrooms (loved how they’d go all nerdy about things every now and then, which was funky), and a lot about what defines a woman and well, also cult behaviours and brain washing. As I said, it is a trip. But I laughed a lot, was terrified and the ending was just so creepy.

So it was horror well done, and very creepy. There is a lot I am sure on content warnings and I recommend you look for a list (I know there’s body horror, gore, killing, drugs, sex, transphobia, police brutality in a way, guns) because there’s loads going on, but it was a quick read, it just flowed and the ending felt fitting to the chaos ongoing in the Pamogo Woods.

Book Review

Moons Reads: The Knight and the Moth

Posted on May 20, 2025

The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig

Rating:

As you may have gleaned from the two previous reviews, I like Rachel Gillig’s books, and as soon as I knew The Knight and the Moth would be in existence I have wanted it, so very amazingly, Orbit sent me an early review copy to read (I have read it twice already, and love it), and I can’t wait for my final copy to arrive (preordered).

As you can gather, I really enjoyed this one and can only say the writing gets better with each book.

The Knight and the Moth follows Six (Sybil Delling), one of six Diviners that live in a cathedral in the center of the kingdom of Traum. And she divines through dreams and visions she receives from six figures called the Omens and upon which the kingdom is built.

But then, a king and his knights, and one particularly “rude” one came into the cathedral for a divination. This triggers a sudden disappearance of the other Diviners, one by one until Six is the last one left. So she takes matters into her hand and decides to seek the rude knight Rodrick and try to find her missing Diviners.

She gets way more than she ever bargained for.

The characters are interesting, starting with Sybil, who is strong and big and not the perfectly dainty damsel in distress, which was refreshing to read. And we have Rodrick, our knight who is an unusual and unexpected knight. Of course, we all know there will be romance happening between them. But the rest of the main characters, the ones we keep seeing and that are a regular part are fascinating, including an older female knight and a gargoyle.

The gargoyle is my favourite character. I absolutely loved him to pieces, but I couldn’t get enough of him.

And of course, we have the Omens, all six of them, which each have their own powers, their own little piece of the kingdom that they govern and their region-specific lore to give you a varied world, with some odd customs, some charming ones and some horrid ones too because nothing is perfect. And of course, the overall world and how it treats Diviners as Six encounters more fo the world she had never seen until her “family” started disappearing.

The ending was deadly. I won’t say it surprised me (except that in my head I kinda thought this may be standalone and well, with that end it for sure isn’t) because I could see a lot of it coming and could put the pieces together, but the way it surprises some of the characters was well done and it made sense for them to not see it. I did hope it was going to be different, and I now will have to wait to read whatever comes next because I need it. That is the worst part, the needing to read the next book because why leave me on that ending like that.

If you like romantasy, magical worldbuilding that at times makes you ponder spirituality and be a little philosophical, knights and prophecies and magical objects, alongside a lot of lore and thoughts of gods (kinda like Trudi Canavan’s Age of Five trilogy, which is my favourite of her series), then this is the book for you, but beware because it will take over your mind and heart and you won’t want to put the book down.