Title: Red Moon
Author: Benjamin
Percy
Publisher: Grand
Central Publishing
Publication Date: May
7, 2013
Genres: Horror,
Dystopian, Paranormal
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Received
from publisher via NetGalley
My star rating: 3/5
SUMMARY
They live among us.
They are our neighbors, our mothers, our lovers.
They change.
When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realizes just how different she is. Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and hours later stepped off it, the only passenger left alive, a hero. Chase Williams has sworn to protect the people of the United States from the menace in their midst, but he is becoming the very thing he has promised to destroy. So far, the threat has been controlled by laws and violence and drugs. But the night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge...and the battle for humanity will begin.
They are our neighbors, our mothers, our lovers.
They change.
When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realizes just how different she is. Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and hours later stepped off it, the only passenger left alive, a hero. Chase Williams has sworn to protect the people of the United States from the menace in their midst, but he is becoming the very thing he has promised to destroy. So far, the threat has been controlled by laws and violence and drugs. But the night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge...and the battle for humanity will begin.
REVIEW
Reading
the blurb, I couldn’t wait to get a copy of this book. I wanted to know who
“they” are. I was guessing “they” might be aliens or some underground species
of monsters or something really exciting and unimaginable. My imagination was
going wild wondering what “they” could be. Imagine my disappointment when I
started reading Red Moon and
discovered that “they” aren’t that interesting at all. They’re only lycans. And
no, I don’t read werewolf-themed books, but since I requested it for review
through NetGalley, I had no other choice but to give this 500-page plus novel a
go and see if maybe I’ll enjoy it. So I’m subtracting one star because the
blurb was misleading and another star because I didn’t enjoy the story as much.
The
good things first. Benjamin Percy is a phenomenal writer. Even if the story
sucked completely (which it didn’t) I would’ve given it a high star rating
because of his eloquent prose, vivid descriptions and exceptional action
sequences and fight scenes. Seriously, this author can write up a storm, but
there were times I couldn’t refrain from eye-rolling at some of the analogies
he used. Although I avoid books with werewolves (lycans) and other paranormal
creatures such as vampires, shifters, witches, etc, I have to applaud the
author for cleverly underlining issues such as racism, prejudice, xenophobia
and terrorism by creating a novel where humans and lycans are at odds with each
other.
What
irked me about the story is that the author builds up the suspense and reader’s
expectations to the point where you feel you just can’t take anymore, and then
he goes and wraps up the final scenes in a few sentences, which left me feeling
deflated and let down. The descriptions were vivid, which contributed a lot to
the world building and made it easier for me to immerse myself in the story,
but many times it got too lengthy and ended up being page filler. It was clear
the author did a lot of research for this book, but the scientific terminology
and complex explanations went right over my head, so eventually I started
skimming through those.
Overall,
Red Moon was an okay read and I think
fans of books with paranormal elements will enjoy this novel without complaint.
It just wasn’t for me. I’ll definitely read more books by this author if he
writes anything in my preferred genres (or anything which doesn’t contain
overused paranormal themes/characters) as he undoubtedly is a very talented
writer.
I received
a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest,
unbiased review.
READ more REVIEWS
Red Moon by Benjamin Percy has 36 reviews on
Goodreads. Read it here.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Benjamin Percy is the author of two novels, Red Moon (Grand Central/Hachette, 2013)
and The Wilding, as well as two books
of short stories, Refresh, Refresh
and The Language of Elk. His fiction
and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing
editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House
and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting
Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, the Pushcart Prize and inclusion in Best
American Short Stories and Best American Comics. He is the writer-in-residence
at St. Olaf College and teaches at the low-residency MFA program at Pacific
University.
AUTHOR LINKS
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