Book Summary: A village keeps leaving the youngest baby in the village in the forest for an evil witch to steal the child. They believe this will keep the village out of harm’s way for the year. Luckily, Xan is there to pick the children up, feed them starlight, and find them fabulous homes. And then Xan just has to go and accidentally feed a child moonlight.
Review:
Setting
The town, Protectorate, is its own type of character and I think that’s the best you can do with any type of setting. The place in which you write about needs to feel like its own entity at points, especially with fantasy. Kelly Barnhill does this and more. I really felt like the Protectorate was settled in despair and that is before really getting into the heart of the story. I can picture this place in my head so clearly. And it’s not just the Protectorate. It’s also the forest and the surrounding towns. A great job in laying down the foundation of not just the story but also the place of this story.
Characters
The characters of this book are well fleshed out. I fell in love with Xan and her care towards everyone else. Her love of Glerk, the swamp monster, and Fyrian, the dragon, is just amazing. Most of all her love and care of Luna. Luna is the child who is fed moonlight and she’s a delight on the page. I also love that all the characters have their own internal struggles. Antain is another character in this book and the things he goes through are not all connected to Luna directly but you feel for his struggles.
Plot
The story of a village sacrificing a child once a year and those children actually ending up with Xan is amazing. I loved the premise of this book and it didn’t fail me. This book is a great example of a fantastically deep middle grade read. There are interweaving plots and intriguing characters.
Overall
I can’t recommend this book enough. Kelly Barnhill is an author to keep an eye on.
May you get lost in a book,
Chrissy