stormashke's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
llaverac's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I hard a hard time buying into the initial premise of the book: since the Knights of Hyperion murdered the Moon Goddess a dozen years ago, the souls of the dead keep haunting the streets and may kill anyone who bleeds, and fish (or food in general) has become increasingly difficult to find. But it's treated as something that happened, whereas it's very much something the head of the main religion ordered, for reasons that only become clear near the end of the book. And people keep worshiping Hyperion without questioning his Knights' actions. If it were me, I think I would be ANGRY. (You could probably write a story about how some religious leaders made their followers' life difficult for selfish reasons and how these followers kept on believing in them, but that's not what Dark Moon, Shallow Sea is about.)
The first half of the book is a bit of a slog, not bad enough to drop the book immediately, but not good enough to actively enjoy the read. Also, good books with queer male leads written by a queer guy where the MM relationship is not the center of the story but just a part of it aren't easy to find, so I admit I was afraid I would miss the moment where the book finally shines and kept on reading.
On Twitter, the author described the city in which the story takes place as "a dark, mist-filled Venice full of empty canals" and I wish the writing had conveyed this atmosphere as clearly, because the setting felt so dull. It was also difficult to root for the main characters' romance since one of them remains a mystery until the last quarter of the story.
The second half is better: the setting changes, and characters whose viewpoints alternated until this point finally meet each other. The last quarter of the book, in particular, delivers several twists and revelations, although I feel like their impact could have been greater if the characters and their relationships had been more fully developed earlier in the narrative. It felt more like a succession of very lucky encounters than satisfying payoffs.
impalalove's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jfreud's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The setup is interesting and I like the focus on faith and the difference between devotion to a god and loyalty to an earthly power structure. The execution was a bit shaky though - the pacing was off kilter and the main two characters spend most of the story not interacting.
zoeymik's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
theatrealpaca's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was my first David Slayton book, but it will be far from my last. His characters are loveable and he did a great job with his first epic fantasy. I can't wait to see where the series goes next!
cyberalien's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kamilajj's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
billies_not_so_secret_diary's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Dark Moon, Shallow Sea
by David R. Slayton
Fantasy
NetGalley ARC
Publication Date: October 31, 2023
Blackstone Publishing
16+
Raef survived when the knights of the sun god killed Phoebe, goddess of the moon, now he lurks in the shadows, hiding from the shades, the spirits of the dead who, without Phoebe, cannot move on, surviving by any means. But when he is told of treasure just brought into the Temple of Hyperion, he breaks in with the hope of changing his life.
Tasked to guard the box, Seth is a knight of the sun, but when a thief takes what was in the box right from under his and two other knights' noses, he now must find both; what was inside and the one who took it.
This book was like walking through a magical forest, except the path is an elementary school hall and the students drew the forest. And while there are talented magical creative detailed pictures where there is no doubt the artist could make it a career, there are more stick figures and green blobbed trees.
The world, magic system, and characters were creative but lacked love. There was more telling the story than showing.
A deep dive into the work, adding depth to everything: the world, backstory, characters, politics, magics, gods, etc, and including a really good edit, as I came across quite a few issues, (ie location 626 says that there are no bodies swinging from the gallows but three or so sentences later on 628 the other character is looking at bodies), would fix a lot of the missing elements.
I almost loved this. It has all the makings of a good story, but it was executed poorly and I had to force myself to finish because of the lack of depth.
2 Stars
jaime_of_gryffindor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
This was an excellent dark fantasy book! The author did a great job with the world building in this one, making it a very atmospheric read. This book had a unique and interesting story that had me immediately intrigued and I really enjoyed reading this one.
Read this if you like:
💫 Atmospheric fantasies
💫 Character driven stories
💫 Rivals to lovers
💫 MM romance
💫 Greek retellings
Overall this was a great read and I look forward to reading more books by this author.