Early Review – Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1250755810
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Rising above the city of Collis is the holy Sanctum. And watching over its spires is Catrin, an orphan girl with unique skills―for she alone can spot the building’s flaws in construction before they turn deadly.
But when Catrin witnesses a murderer escaping the scene of his crime, she’s pulled into a dangerous chain of events where the only certainty is that the killer will strike again. Assigned to investigate is the mysterious and brilliant Simon, whose insights into the mind of a predator are frighteningly accurate.
As the grisly crimes continue, Catrin finds herself caught between killer and detective while hiding her own secret―a supernatural sight granted by the moon, destined to make her an outcast, and the only thing that might save her and those she loves from becoming the next victims…”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book from NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: This was a decent read that introduces us to a lush fantasy world and some intriguing characters. At the heart this is a “whodunit” type of mystery. The characters are trying to track down a serial killer before he/she kills again. I enjoyed this but found the pacing to be fairly slow, especially in the first half of the book.
Catrin is an intriguing character and I enjoyed reading about the work she does on the Sanctum; it involves a lot of dangerous climbing and precarious architecture. I also loved how her moon magic slowly comes to light and how she learns to deal with it. The side characters are also very well done; they have a lot of depth and are very unique. There is a lot of discussion about madness; both the killer’s madness and the strange insanity of some of the side characters and the abilities they have.
This is very much a “who dun it” type of murder mystery where Catrin and crew are trying to figure out who the serial killer is before he/she kills again. There is a lot of speculation and back and forth and misleading information. You are led to think it is person A and then suddenly maybe it is person B. As a backdrop to the main serial killer plot, Catrin is developing special powers and is trying to figure out why that is happening.
This is the second “hunting down the serial killer” type of story I have read in the last couple weeks. I am not a huge fan of these types of plots. Just like the other book I read (Kelley Armstrong’s “A Rip Through Time”), there are a lot of the characters standing around speculating for a lot of the book. This was very slow for the first 50% to 70% of the book. I almost put it down and stopped reading it altogether. However, I do try to finish books I get for review. I did end up enjoying how everything wrapped up and the pace did pick up quite a bit towards the end of the book.
My Summary (4/5): Overall while I didn’t love this, it was well written. I enjoyed the world-building and the intricate characters. I thought the pacing was too slow and I don’t enjoy these types of “hunting down a serial killer” types of plots. I had been wanting to read something by Beaty since she released her first fantasy series which is why I picked up this book for review. I wasn’t super impressed and don’t plan on reading more by her. However, if you enjoy her more deliberate writing style this might be a great book for you.
