lolasreviews's review
4.0
This was a fun read, but as it's the first book in a novella series it is quite short. This book felt a bit like the introduction to the story and world. This episode takes place over the span of a day and we got a good feel for the world and how the human and spirit world were connected, how the town looked like. There was even a drawing to show what the town looked like, which was very helpful and gave a good feel for the town. Every year on harvest day a girl will be chosen as the next bride for the harvest wolf. The plot is a bit predictable, but I liked the way the story was told. I just felt like I couldn't get fully engrossed in the story as it was so short and I had to get a feel for the world and setting first.
One thing that bothered me is that in the middle of the story we get a flashback to years and years before that to show what happened to the harvest wolf and I think it's part of the story of how he got trapped there. There's also the epilogue and it just didn't quite fit into place. The epilogue was confusing as we don't know enough then and the flashback was a bit jarring as it was so far in the past. It did provide some information though and I was happy we also got Kessel his point of view, although I didn't really could get a good idea of his personality.
The blurb says it's a beauty and beast and red riding hood retelling, but I found the story to contain little elements of those two, for which I was happy as I don't like to be remember of other stories when reading a book. The main character has red hair and there's a wolf, so I can kinda see where the comparison came from, but that whole sentence almost prevented me from reading this book, which would've been a shame.
While we get a good feel for the setting and world in this book I felt that getting an idea of who the characters are was a bit harder. Most of the story is told from Siena her point of view, she's a bit daring and outgoing, but a bit naive as well at times. I liked her overall and how she was curious. What I didn't like was later in the book when she did something I didn't quite like much, she made a hasty decision and didn't even knew the guy she had a crush on that well. Luckily things didn't go too far. I didn't like Thomas at all, who is presented as the love interest, he seemed a bit like a creep and I am happy things didn't go too far as I didn't like him for Siena at all. Reed on the other hand seemed like a great guy and he's Siena her best friend. Then there is Siena her other best friend Kaya and we see some of her family, her older brother and sister, her mother and grandmother. I did like that this book introduced us to many of the characters, although because it was so short there was no time to really get to know them. We also get a few chapters from the point of view of Kessel, the wolf. It explained his situation a bit and hinted at how and why he's stuck there.
The world building and setting was both done very interesting and there's a lot of information in the first book already, it did feel like a bit much to take in as this world is quite different, but it wasn't confusing. It takes place in a bit of a medieval feel town, on a different planet and there's the moon which is actually the planet for the spirit people, the chapters mostly focus on the human home world, but we also learn a bit about the spirit home world. The focus is on the wolf in this book as it's the harvest time, but I hope we learn more about the other spirits as well. the spirits aren't really spirits in the traditional sense of the word though, but they are shape shifters who live on the moon world Lunaris. The world is pretty original and there's a lot of focus on traditions and mythology.
To summarize: Bride of the Harvest Moon episode one is a nice set up for this series. We get to know a lot of the important characters, get a feel for the world and the story. It's a bit predictable at times, but I didn't mind too much. My main complaint was that it's so short and I have no clue when the next episode will be released. And there's a flashback in the middle of the book that was a bit jarring. I did like Siena, but I wasn't a fan of her love interest Thomas and I didn't like what they almost did and I am glad they got stopped. The setting and world building was done well and I got a good feel for the setting and world in this book. The world and mythology were pretty original and I liked learning more about the world. This first episode had a bit of an introductory feel, but I guess that's normal as it is the first book in the series. I am looking forward to the next book!
One thing that bothered me is that in the middle of the story we get a flashback to years and years before that to show what happened to the harvest wolf and I think it's part of the story of how he got trapped there. There's also the epilogue and it just didn't quite fit into place. The epilogue was confusing as we don't know enough then and the flashback was a bit jarring as it was so far in the past. It did provide some information though and I was happy we also got Kessel his point of view, although I didn't really could get a good idea of his personality.
The blurb says it's a beauty and beast and red riding hood retelling, but I found the story to contain little elements of those two, for which I was happy as I don't like to be remember of other stories when reading a book. The main character has red hair and there's a wolf, so I can kinda see where the comparison came from, but that whole sentence almost prevented me from reading this book, which would've been a shame.
While we get a good feel for the setting and world in this book I felt that getting an idea of who the characters are was a bit harder. Most of the story is told from Siena her point of view, she's a bit daring and outgoing, but a bit naive as well at times. I liked her overall and how she was curious. What I didn't like was later in the book when she did something I didn't quite like much, she made a hasty decision and didn't even knew the guy she had a crush on that well. Luckily things didn't go too far. I didn't like Thomas at all, who is presented as the love interest, he seemed a bit like a creep and I am happy things didn't go too far as I didn't like him for Siena at all. Reed on the other hand seemed like a great guy and he's Siena her best friend. Then there is Siena her other best friend Kaya and we see some of her family, her older brother and sister, her mother and grandmother. I did like that this book introduced us to many of the characters, although because it was so short there was no time to really get to know them. We also get a few chapters from the point of view of Kessel, the wolf. It explained his situation a bit and hinted at how and why he's stuck there.
The world building and setting was both done very interesting and there's a lot of information in the first book already, it did feel like a bit much to take in as this world is quite different, but it wasn't confusing. It takes place in a bit of a medieval feel town, on a different planet and there's the moon which is actually the planet for the spirit people, the chapters mostly focus on the human home world, but we also learn a bit about the spirit home world. The focus is on the wolf in this book as it's the harvest time, but I hope we learn more about the other spirits as well. the spirits aren't really spirits in the traditional sense of the word though, but they are shape shifters who live on the moon world Lunaris. The world is pretty original and there's a lot of focus on traditions and mythology.
To summarize: Bride of the Harvest Moon episode one is a nice set up for this series. We get to know a lot of the important characters, get a feel for the world and the story. It's a bit predictable at times, but I didn't mind too much. My main complaint was that it's so short and I have no clue when the next episode will be released. And there's a flashback in the middle of the book that was a bit jarring. I did like Siena, but I wasn't a fan of her love interest Thomas and I didn't like what they almost did and I am glad they got stopped. The setting and world building was done well and I got a good feel for the setting and world in this book. The world and mythology were pretty original and I liked learning more about the world. This first episode had a bit of an introductory feel, but I guess that's normal as it is the first book in the series. I am looking forward to the next book!
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