A review by krs10
What Tomorrow May Bring by Samantha Durante, Shelbi Wescott, David Estes, Cary Caffrey, Jenni Merritt, David J. Normoyle, Susan Kaye Quinn, Deborah Rix, Tony Bertauski, Megan Thomason, Joseph A. Turkot
4.0
This review is for The Moon Dwellers, which I purchased on my own. I was provided a copy of the boxed set in exchange for writing an honest review for a book in the set, so I chose the one I'd already purchased.
True rating: 3.5 Stars
Note: Spoilers may be present in this review, though I tried to mark them as best I could.
The Moon Dwellers is set over five centuries into the future, after a meteor has wiped out the surface of the Unite States. A select group of people has moved underground and developed a tri-level society (The poorest Star Realm, the almost as bad Moon Realm, and the rich Sun Realm). Adele, the female protagonist, hails from The Moon Realm. She's a strong young woman who must use her fighting skills to break out of jail, evade (and battle) the evil Enforcers, and rescue her family. The male protagonist, Tristan, comes from the Sun Realm. He's a swoon-worthy "black sheep of the family because he's a good guy" prince who spends much of his time chasing after Adele with his friend/servant, Roc, and trying to figure out his place in society.
Mr. Estes' writing is truly gorgeous and it's clear he has an incredible gift. What he chooses to describe and how he does so (excluding one of my bullets below) is unique and refreshing. He paints beautiful pictures that convey strong emotion and a realistic world. His premise is relatively unique for the genre and I enjoyed the characters, particularly the relationship between Tristan and Roc. Based on these things, this novel would have earned 5 stars from me; however, I had difficulties getting into it until I was nearly half-way through, mostly because I kept getting jarred out of my read by the following things:
1. Plausability - Fantasy is a genre where a reader is expected to suspend some aspects of reality to believe in the new world that's created. I actually love that, but for me to truly suspend reality, the fictional world has to be wholly believable. The majority of the time, The Moon Dwellers does a good job meeting this requirement; however, I had a hard time with the way the book sometimes handled dialogue and descriptions. Cliches and common, modern expressions were used throughout the book (some examples: "No problemo!", "Bring it!" "Bingo! Give the guy a prize" and "make mincemeat out of your face"). Although I'm not a fan of any author adopting the regular use of cliches, when a book is told from a YA perspective, this can be forgivable, and even expected within dialogue. In the case of The Moon Dwellers, though, the story is told from a YA perspective 500+ years into the future. Our language changes every year and often evolves drastically within a few decades (old phrases are replaced with new ones; cliches are forgotten and recreated), so using modern speak doesn't work for me. No matter how hard I tried to ignore this aspect of the book, I couldn't and wound up disbelieving the progress of the society for this reason. The real shame for me in this is that I loved (and I do mean truly LOVED) Mr. Estes writing style. When he chose not to use those tools, the end result was so much better than when he did use them (for example, "The pain on his face is utterly complete, cracking his cheeks with jagged lines"), so I think this situation could have been avoided. There were also a few other logic issues throughout the novel (such as a scene where it's pitch black, yet Tristan somehow knew they were in a hub) that bothered me, but not as much as the one I've detailed above.
2. Love at first sight premise - While I'm typically okay with love at first sight novels, I had trouble believing that
3. Editing - Every author has editing points that are missed; it's the nature of writing, but when those issues are prevalent, I start highlighting them. In this case, there were a few things that got to me. Incorrect semi-colon/colon use and missed commas were standard grammar issues, and some sentences could have benefited from tightening (for example, "...I think about when my next scheduled visit to the Moon Realm is.").
4. Character Development - While I did genuinely like most of the characters (particularly Cole and Roc), I didn't feel they grew much throughout the novel. The main focus of the plot is non-stop action, which will appeal to many people, but for me it came at the expense of getting to know the characters and their internal struggles.
5. POV - The Moon Dwellers is told from first person point-of-view, alternating between Tristan and Adele. While this is handled well throughout much of the novel, some scenes were repeated from the other person's perspective without adding value to the plot. This slowed down the pace at times. In one big fight scene, when the POV is switched in short succession repetitively, it also dampened the emotion for a pivotal moment.
Despite these personal quibbles, I enjoyed The Moon Dwellers overall and think David Estes is worth reading and following. I suspect we'll be seeing great things from him in the near future.
True rating: 3.5 Stars
Note: Spoilers may be present in this review, though I tried to mark them as best I could.
The Moon Dwellers is set over five centuries into the future, after a meteor has wiped out the surface of the Unite States. A select group of people has moved underground and developed a tri-level society (The poorest Star Realm, the almost as bad Moon Realm, and the rich Sun Realm). Adele, the female protagonist, hails from The Moon Realm. She's a strong young woman who must use her fighting skills to break out of jail, evade (and battle) the evil Enforcers, and rescue her family. The male protagonist, Tristan, comes from the Sun Realm. He's a swoon-worthy "black sheep of the family because he's a good guy" prince who spends much of his time chasing after Adele with his friend/servant, Roc, and trying to figure out his place in society.
Mr. Estes' writing is truly gorgeous and it's clear he has an incredible gift. What he chooses to describe and how he does so (excluding one of my bullets below) is unique and refreshing. He paints beautiful pictures that convey strong emotion and a realistic world. His premise is relatively unique for the genre and I enjoyed the characters, particularly the relationship between Tristan and Roc. Based on these things, this novel would have earned 5 stars from me; however, I had difficulties getting into it until I was nearly half-way through, mostly because I kept getting jarred out of my read by the following things:
1. Plausability - Fantasy is a genre where a reader is expected to suspend some aspects of reality to believe in the new world that's created. I actually love that, but for me to truly suspend reality, the fictional world has to be wholly believable. The majority of the time, The Moon Dwellers does a good job meeting this requirement; however, I had a hard time with the way the book sometimes handled dialogue and descriptions. Cliches and common, modern expressions were used throughout the book (some examples: "No problemo!", "Bring it!" "Bingo! Give the guy a prize" and "make mincemeat out of your face"). Although I'm not a fan of any author adopting the regular use of cliches, when a book is told from a YA perspective, this can be forgivable, and even expected within dialogue. In the case of The Moon Dwellers, though, the story is told from a YA perspective 500+ years into the future. Our language changes every year and often evolves drastically within a few decades (old phrases are replaced with new ones; cliches are forgotten and recreated), so using modern speak doesn't work for me. No matter how hard I tried to ignore this aspect of the book, I couldn't and wound up disbelieving the progress of the society for this reason. The real shame for me in this is that I loved (and I do mean truly LOVED) Mr. Estes writing style. When he chose not to use those tools, the end result was so much better than when he did use them (for example, "The pain on his face is utterly complete, cracking his cheeks with jagged lines"), so I think this situation could have been avoided. There were also a few other logic issues throughout the novel (such as a scene where it's pitch black, yet Tristan somehow knew they were in a hub) that bothered me, but not as much as the one I've detailed above.
2. Love at first sight premise - While I'm typically okay with love at first sight novels, I had trouble believing that
Spoiler
Tristan and Adele would think about their first meeting twice, let alone consider it as a sign of anything important. When they first saw each other over a large distance, they each felt pain (although neither of them knew the other felt it). This seems like a coincidental thing, so I'm not sure I understand why Tristan would change the course of his future, risk his life, and chase after Adele for it.3. Editing - Every author has editing points that are missed; it's the nature of writing, but when those issues are prevalent, I start highlighting them. In this case, there were a few things that got to me. Incorrect semi-colon/colon use and missed commas were standard grammar issues, and some sentences could have benefited from tightening (for example, "...I think about when my next scheduled visit to the Moon Realm is.").
4. Character Development - While I did genuinely like most of the characters (particularly Cole and Roc), I didn't feel they grew much throughout the novel. The main focus of the plot is non-stop action, which will appeal to many people, but for me it came at the expense of getting to know the characters and their internal struggles.
5. POV - The Moon Dwellers is told from first person point-of-view, alternating between Tristan and Adele. While this is handled well throughout much of the novel, some scenes were repeated from the other person's perspective without adding value to the plot. This slowed down the pace at times. In one big fight scene, when the POV is switched in short succession repetitively, it also dampened the emotion for a pivotal moment.
Despite these personal quibbles, I enjoyed The Moon Dwellers overall and think David Estes is worth reading and following. I suspect we'll be seeing great things from him in the near future.