The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
A review by greystory
Crown of Moonlight by K.M. Shea
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This probably could have been 4 stars but I'm taking off for Rigel.
The minor characters all continued to be great, even amazing, in this book. I adored Skye, Indigo, Chase, even Lady Chrysanthe, all of the animals, and more! Their interactions here were great and added a lot to the story. Character development and growth? Awesome.
The plot! I felt like for all of the struggles they went through over the course of the book, everything wrapped up way too easily and the fae court agreed far too readily at the end. It didn't make sense. The buildup to that ending was lacking. There were hints and pieces there for sure but there was a gap between the progress they were making and the jump to cooperation.
On the flipside, the plot thread about Leila's artifact was painfully obvious to the point of being kinda low-key frustrating that characters weren't figuring it out. Once it finally came to fruition, it felt anti-climactic because of how long it had been dragged out.
Rigel: BORING. Bruh. I love me a good assassin. A stoic, quiet, dark and brooding character. A shadowy, mystery man. Rigel is supposed to be all of these but I think Shea misunderstood the assignment. He is constantly described as if he is these things but we also don't see much of it besides him rarely speaking or appearing out of the shadows. Ooookay. But that's.. it. Name me literally any other fact about Rigel besides his weapons or that he's an assassin. Literally anything. You can't! Because there isn't anything! He's not a mystery, he's a shell!
There is NO DEPTH to Rigel AT ALL. Literally every minor character has more character depth and growth than Rigel. Indigo's donuts in one scene had more personality than Rigel. That is especially sad given he's a main character and there are MULTIPLE chapters from his POV!Â
He's not even given the benefit of being hot. He's described constantly as being attractive but what the hell does he look like? Who knows? But his outfit is described in detail every time he makes an appearance. Shocker: it's black.
So with all of that in mind, let's move on to the next point: the romance. WHAT romance, you might ask? How can there be a romance with an empty void of nothingness? (to be fair, I'd read that monster romance and it would be better than this, so maybe that's not a good analogy) Anyway - How can you love NOTHING? Well, somehow, our otherwise perfectly great FMC Leila "falls in love" with Rigel despite him having the personality and depth of a saltine.Â
There is zero anything to love about Rigel and no true signs of affection or care from him for most of the book. There are times he plays along with Leila trying to rile up the rest of the fae court but we only see any kind of private moment (And therefore any kind of actual, REAL emotional or physical intimacy between them) like ONCE the whole book. Unless Leila is truly super delulu as the kids say these days (delusional), what on earth is she going off of with her feelings?? With what she had to work with, I could see some growing affection, sure, but in love with? Honey, no. Girl, love yourself. Show some self care.
Misc Notes I wrote to myself that are spoilery:
I feel so bad for that hydra. It deserves a much bigger lake! Like damn, it sounds like that thing barely has enough room to lay down, poor thing. :(
"But if the infighting is such a problem, does that mean my original scheme to stop the Courts from playing all these stupid power games could actually solve the problem? Is it really like one of those kids shows where the answer to the quest is ‘the friends we made along the way’?"
YES! OBVIOUSLY! THAT'S BEEN THE CLEAR MESSAGE THIS WHOLE TIME DAMNIT WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS IS TAKING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WORTH OF ENERGY TO RUB TWO BRAIN CELLS TOGETHER TO COME TO THIS CONCLUSION FFS
The minor characters all continued to be great, even amazing, in this book. I adored Skye, Indigo, Chase, even Lady Chrysanthe, all of the animals, and more! Their interactions here were great and added a lot to the story. Character development and growth? Awesome.
The plot! I felt like for all of the struggles they went through over the course of the book, everything wrapped up way too easily and the fae court agreed far too readily at the end. It didn't make sense. The buildup to that ending was lacking. There were hints and pieces there for sure but there was a gap between the progress they were making and the jump to cooperation.
On the flipside, the plot thread about Leila's artifact was painfully obvious to the point of being kinda low-key frustrating that characters weren't figuring it out. Once it finally came to fruition, it felt anti-climactic because of how long it had been dragged out.
Rigel: BORING. Bruh. I love me a good assassin. A stoic, quiet, dark and brooding character. A shadowy, mystery man. Rigel is supposed to be all of these but I think Shea misunderstood the assignment. He is constantly described as if he is these things but we also don't see much of it besides him rarely speaking or appearing out of the shadows. Ooookay. But that's.. it. Name me literally any other fact about Rigel besides his weapons or that he's an assassin. Literally anything. You can't! Because there isn't anything! He's not a mystery, he's a shell!
There is NO DEPTH to Rigel AT ALL. Literally every minor character has more character depth and growth than Rigel. Indigo's donuts in one scene had more personality than Rigel. That is especially sad given he's a main character and there are MULTIPLE chapters from his POV!Â
He's not even given the benefit of being hot. He's described constantly as being attractive but what the hell does he look like? Who knows? But his outfit is described in detail every time he makes an appearance. Shocker: it's black.
So with all of that in mind, let's move on to the next point: the romance. WHAT romance, you might ask? How can there be a romance with an empty void of nothingness? (to be fair, I'd read that monster romance and it would be better than this, so maybe that's not a good analogy) Anyway - How can you love NOTHING? Well, somehow, our otherwise perfectly great FMC Leila "falls in love" with Rigel despite him having the personality and depth of a saltine.Â
There is zero anything to love about Rigel and no true signs of affection or care from him for most of the book. There are times he plays along with Leila trying to rile up the rest of the fae court but we only see any kind of private moment (And therefore any kind of actual, REAL emotional or physical intimacy between them) like ONCE the whole book. Unless Leila is truly super delulu as the kids say these days (delusional), what on earth is she going off of with her feelings?? With what she had to work with, I could see some growing affection, sure, but in love with? Honey, no. Girl, love yourself. Show some self care.
Misc Notes I wrote to myself that are spoilery:
"But if the infighting is such a problem, does that mean my original scheme to stop the Courts from playing all these stupid power games could actually solve the problem? Is it really like one of those kids shows where the answer to the quest is ‘the friends we made along the way’?"
YES! OBVIOUSLY! THAT'S BEEN THE CLEAR MESSAGE THIS WHOLE TIME DAMNIT WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS IS TAKING A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WORTH OF ENERGY TO RUB TWO BRAIN CELLS TOGETHER TO COME TO THIS CONCLUSION FFS
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death