graphic novel – The Constellation of Moon

Moon Rads – The Baker and the Bard

Posted on March 3, 2026

The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught

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.

Felt like this fit nicely into the same vibes as our last book. The Baker and the Bard follows two friends, Juniper who is an apprentice at the local bakery, and Hadley who is a bard that performs at the local inn. The little adventure had in this book is sparked by a stranger requesting a specific pastry that requires magical mushrooms that need to be foraged since the baker doesn’t have them in stock easily.

Our two friends will then set off on a soft gentle adventure to the forest where they will also realise there’s a little mystery of something eating local crops and leaving a glowy goo behind. Might as well find magicla mushroom and solve the mystery, right?

The story is just cute with finding new creatures, a caretaker and a bit of understanding coexisting environments. I admit the story felt a bit shoe horned to just cover certain topics and at times it was a little weak but the art came into save it and honestly the art is the best part of this cosy adventure. It is still a very cute and cosy book which left me wanting some pastries and a nice cup of tea.

Book Review

Moon Reads – Ladycastle

Posted on January 27, 2026

Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson with Rebecca Farrow and Ashley A. Woods

Rating:

This felt like the perfect follow-up review since we have women fighting for their castle!

When the King and his men go on a crusade and somehow get eaten by a dragon, the women aren’t that bothered because at least there’s a lot less having to deal with them and they can do whatever they want. But when it turns out there is a curse that attracts monsters to the castle (thanks to the heads up from the least capable and only survivor knight, Sir Riddick), the women decide that it is their turn to claim what is theirs.

So we have Merinor who is the blacksmith’s wife and now the newly proclaimed King, Princess Aeve becomes the Captian rather than a trapped bird in a cage until she decided to marry, and well, Sir Riddick is meant to help them train up and learn how to fight, defend, build and do all things men do to defend a castle.

But maybe, just maybe, they don’t need to do it the way men do and maybe just maybe they may be quite good at keeping their castle safe and fighting the curse.

This was a fun read, even if at times a little bit frustrating. It challenges tropes and stereotypes, but it also overdoes some parts and just gets stuck in monologues that aren’t necessary and just a little bit boring. I think if it worked better at the plot and less at the woe is me, this would’ve been a higher score on my rating. but the art was fun, and I had a good quick read of this and a lot of fun.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Firelight Apprentice

Posted on November 21, 2025

The Firelight Apprentice by Bree Paulsen

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

The Firelight Apprentice follows sisters Ada and Safi in a city that is powered by magic and recovering from a devastating war. Ada is the responsible sister making sure things work out and they are alive, but she can see Safi is developing powers of magic and knows that her sister could benefit from becoming an apprentice to a magician, but she also wants to keep her sister safe and near.

Still she decides to let her sister join a group a travelling magicians who offer to take her on as an apprentice as they see hSafi’s powers and what could be. Safi of course id delighted to be learning and developing her magic, but there are still forces of darkness lurking, particularly a lich that is power hungry and ready to steal it from those that have magic.

I’ve loved Bree’s other books and so had preordered this one, not sure why it took me forever to actually upload the review, but it was a good read. It wasn’t the same as the Garlic series, but it still had these interesting conflict of growth and what happens as you grow and who becomes your friends and allies, and how to make that work for you being yourself.

The magical world was super interesting as was the magic that exists, I feel a little like it is the same world where Garlic and the Vampire happen but maybe a different much civilised area since this is a city. Still, it was a nice addition to the collection and a good read.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Narwhal’s Sweet Tooth

Posted on November 11, 2025

Narwhal’s Sweet Tooth by Ben Clanton

Rating:

Every time I see there’s a new Narhwal and Jelly book I am very happy for it.

The series is very funny and cute and perfect for little ones. The artwork feels a bit like drawn with a crayon and it is so fun. Narwhal is always so peppy even when bad things happen.

In this one, Narwhal’s “horn” which is actually a tooth starts seeing the effects of having too many sweet things and ahs a crack, which hurts Narwhal, and so JElly and Narwhal go around trying to figure out how to fix it and cheer Narwhal up.

As always, sheaningans, waffles and lots of fun happen and this was very cute, with some interesting facts about Narwhal horns/tooth.

I just want to know what happens next, because Jelly seems to have softened a lot now that they’re good friends with Narwhal.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Moth Keeper

Posted on October 24, 2025

The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

From the same author as The Tea Dragon Society, we have The Moth Keeper, so I know I like the art style and it was partly one of the reasons I chose this book. But the story itself was worth the read too.

In this book we follow Anya, who is training to be a Moth Keeper, a slightly lonely but crucial responsibility and a great honour. It is lonely because they are the protectors of lunar moths that allow a special flower to bloom once a year, which is needed for the village to thrive. This does mean you end up basically living at night and seeing mostly nights and very little sunshine and very few of your people.

Anya wants to prove her worth and take over the post, but it feels like a heavy cost to have to do less with friends. Then of course, Anya notices something that could cause harm to the moths and somehow breaks tradition to try to move forward.

The story is very sweet and gentle, it has an intricate nightly world initially, based around the moths and our little village, it is full of a fantastical and yet simple way of life. It is also about growing up, about making choices and pondering what thebeaten path brings, or if the choices you make, once you actually go through are exactly what you wanted. What if you want it, but also want to be able to do more, to engage in with your community?

Very sweet, lush and hopeful, worth a read for the lovely dreamy art, and for a sweet story.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Infinity Particle

Posted on September 12, 2025

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

Rating:

I have been following Wendy Xu for a long time and love her art a lot, so after Mooncakes and knowing she was making a new graphic novel, I had my eyes on it for ages. This where I find out I haven’t actually reviewed Mooncakes here even though I loved it loads.

Anyway, the Infinite Particle follows Clementine Clang who moves from Earth to Mars and lands her dream job, working with an Artifical Intelligence pioneer. It also follows Kye, who is the humanoid AI created by Doctor Marcella Lin, the AI pioneer Clem works for.

Clementine finds Kye fascinating since he seems a bit too human. And that is intriguing to her as she has built her own robots since she was young (it is part of why she got the job) and her current companion is a lovely moth-shaped one, called SENA.

As Clem collaborates and interacts with Kye, their chemistry and interactions set off sparks, but this independence and change in Kye’s behaviour starts causing friction with Dr. Lin who has issues and doesn’t handle things well, throwing rages and tantrums and being too rigid. And she’s not very forthcoming with allowing Kye independence. Brings out the interesting question of why would you create a humanoid AI and try to make it as human as possible then keep under your control too much, and not let it develop and grow as an actual AI?

As the interactions and relationship between Clem and Kye grows, it makes Clem and KYe both ask questions of where the line between humanity and AI is, what makes one human? (this is an ever pondered question, we still ponder it between humans and animals/other creatures).

The artworks was very cute and fit right, and the story didn’t shy from interesting questions and difficult topics, tackling them with curiosity and openness, and giving space for the characters to discover and work things out. I liked this thought and approach that was given and it reminded me of my own days building robots, playing with neural networks and algorithms and programming. Very well worth reading and getting a copy of it if you can.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Zatanna The Jewel of Gravesend

Posted on September 2, 2025

Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend by Alys Arden and Jacquelin de Leon

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I am not huge on superhero type of comics and stories, but Zatanna always seems to win me over. I read another story a while back, Zatanna and the House of Secrets, and since then I keep trying to find more of her.

In comparison to House of Secrets this is an older teenager almost adult Zatanna, and it still has touches on her identity and who she is. There is as always a lot fo magic and weirdness and that carnival festival. I think those two things, the magician and magic act feels that come from Zatanna being the child of famous magicians, and the carnival vibes definitely are big reasons for my love fo her stories.

My dad used to always do magic and even had a few years when he did magic at events. I learned a bunch of tricks and how to escape two types of cuffs for some of the tricks, and so I can think of maigicnas with joy, even if it is all in tricks.

This jewel of Gravesend is a bit darker and more mystical, which questions Zatanna’s parents, her history and what she is willing to sacrifice to save what she loves, and at the same time she isn’t sure she wants anything to do with magic, but feels pressured into it, there is also her attempting to become her own person and be independent and her love for the carnival and her odd life, and the artwork here was perfectly suited to the story.

It is definitely a favourite story of magic, mystery and intrigue and with Zatanna at the front of it. So can definitely recommend it as another good read to add to the collection.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife

Posted on March 11, 2025

The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife by Iwatobineko

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

As you may already know, I have a soft spot for manga, and when this popped up on my recommendations (I can’t remember where) I had to try it out. The art style looked adorable and the premise too.

The series basically asks, what would happen if you had an invisible man and a blind woman work together and fall in love?

Yakou Shizuka, who is quiet, bashful and blind works at a detective agency as a secretary and assistant. Her boss, Tounome, is a gentleman and the main investigator, with the added talent of being invisible. This is particularly helpful for investigations, even if it can generally be a bit of a difficulty for relationships and other things, but this is not an issue at all for Yakou as she can sense him and know when he’s near.

The fact that Yakou can sense him makes Tounome interested even more on her and so it starts that he decides to invite her out for a date and woo her slowly. So you get a cute slow burn romance story, and you also get a few mysteries and detective agency plots to keep the overall story going. On top of that the agency has two more characters, a human who is super good at tech and a wonderful tracking beastwoman, who also do detective work, and who are quite invested in the developing relationship between Yakou and Tounome.

The first volume is utterly cute and very sweet, it is quite slow but will make you root for them and giggle while the story develops. The “chapters” are short and quick, but they still are fun to read and there is more plot than just their relationship, including the world building happening as the investigations happen, and learning more about the coworkers.

I would recommend it as a soft romance with a little bit of disability, and an interesting take on how to coexist with variety of differences. Very sweet overall.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Galaxy The Prettiest Star

Posted on February 28, 2025

Galaxy The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor

Rating:

This was one of those recommended books by Storygraph and Goodreads on due to whatever I had been reading, and so I liked the artwork and decided to go for it.

The artwork is absolutely love, very colourful! It is a wonderful palette of colours and it is vibrant and very alive, telling the story well. It also has a corgi sidekick/nanny which is adorable and drawn so well!

As for the story, we follow Taylor, who looks like a perfect boy with good grades, a loving family, sports going well, and yet he is unhappy. Because he is not actually human but the princess from an alien planet and one of the few survivors from a horrible war.

Enter Katherine, Kat, who is incredibly confident just being her own self, and suddenly Taylor seems to be seeing a different way of life, and maybe it isn’t worth to keep hiding her own identity and be human, is it so bad to be her own self and a princess?

Obviously this whole thing is a dangerous thing, because she is a survivor and a princess and well, there’s a reason for hiding her, but the story does this well and the relationships, with heir strains, their impact and the feelings everyone has are conveyed in a lovely way that makes it a heartfelt narrative.

An overall entertaining read even if not absolutely life changing, but I could see it being a light for others when they read it, and as such I think it is a worthwhile read.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Doughnuts and Doom

Posted on December 13, 2024

Doughnuts and Doom by Balazs Lorinczi

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I love a good little graphic novel and Doughnuts and Doom does not disappoint. For starters, what a title!

But our story follows Margot who has troubles being a witch in public or under stress, she just wants to get her license and be able to do her own life. But as she gets a craving for doughnuts to cheer herself up, she accidentally casts a curse on Elena who just wants to be a rock star and make it.

Their lives now accidentally entwined due to Margot’s chaos and her magic being a little out of control, we keep getting some interesting interactions and a cute story.

One of my favourite things is that there are a lot of raw feelings depicted here, the frustration, the anxiety, the fears, they are here and they’re not “positive” or made pretty, instead they cause chaos, they harm, and then our characters have to figure out a way to make things work, or to find a way to keep going.

A feel good lovely graphic novel that will have you craving doughnuts and maybe a good soundtrack in the background to listen too while reading.