Monday, August 29, 2011

Review: Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

Dark of the Moon
by Tracy Barrett
Publication Date: September 19th, 2011
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9780547581323

Where to Buy:
B&N | Amazon | The Book Depository
Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, filled with hours of rigorous training by stern priestesses. Her former friends no longer dare to look at her, much less speak to her. All that she has left are her mother and her beloved, misshapen brother Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety.
So when a ship arrives one spring day, bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, Ariadne sneaks out to meet it. These newcomers don’t know the ways of Krete; perhaps they won’t be afraid of a girl who will someday be a powerful goddess. And indeed she meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship—one that could perhaps become something more.
Yet Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the Minotaur, that monster beneath the palace—unless he can kill the beast first. And that "monster" is Ariadne’s brother . . . (Goodreads)
Dark of the Moon was quite a different read for me. Unfortunately, I have never read the myth about Theseus and the Minotaur. I don’t really know if I would have liked the book more if I had previously read the myth beforehand, or not, as I did find some parts of the books really confusing.

I did really like the storyline, but did not connect with a lot of the characters, especially Ariadne. I really tried, but the connection just wasn’t there. The only character I really somewhat liked was Theseus. He did make the book a bit more interesting; reading about his life, following his journey, etc.

I’m definitely going to check out the original myth to see how this book works around the myth. What I did read was interesting, and I definitely want more information about it.

Overall, this book was only an ok read for me. However, I can totally see it being a read that most people will like. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

13 comments:

  1. Sorry it didn't work for you but I am definitely interested in it.

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  2. While I love Greek mythology I don't really remember what happens in this particular myth. I have been disappointed with some of the recent YA retellings like Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini and Abandon by Meg Cabot.

    Thanks for your review. I'm not sure I'll be reading this one. At least not till I can get it from a library anyway.

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  3. It's a shame you didn't connect with the characters. I like Greek mythology and I think I remember most of this story, but I like to be able to relate to characters, so I'm still not sure whether I'd enjoy this. Thanks for the review - I may leave this one for a while.

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  4. Oh shoot, I had high hopes for this book! I just love anything mythology related, but it's hard to connect if you spend most of the time reading confused and unable to relate to the characters. Thanks for the review Christy!

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  5. Huh. I hadn't even heard of this book before, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it if the character connection isn't there.

    Thanks for the helpful review.

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  6. Eh. This one was a DNF for me. Like you, I just couldn't connect to the MC and it really racked my nerves.

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  7. This sounds like a really good book. Sorry, it didn't work for you. New follower.


    Tia @ Falling For Books

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  8. I've never heard of this one before! But it does look good. Sorry it didn't work out for you and that there wasn't any connection with the characters!

    Thanks for the review!

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  9. I have never heard of this one. It's too bad that that connection isn't there. It's so important to love the characters to enjoy the story. I must admit I am not aware of much of this myth either. Thanks for the great, honest review!

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  10. I have never heard anything about the myth behind this book either which I why I keep deciding against reading it. It does sound good but I have read a lot of just so-so reviews on this one. Thanks for the honest review. :)

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  11. While I absolutely love mythology, I've been sadly disappointed by the books that are mythology-based. Still, I keep trying! Sorry this was just an OK for you.
    Mary @ BookSwarm

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  12. I was pretty positive I didn't want to read this one, but you just proved to me that I shouldn't read it...thanks for the honest and of course thoughtful review! :)

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  13. This one doesn't seem like it would work for me. Though, if I was still teaching I would want to add it to my classroom library.

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Thanks for stopping by! :)