Book Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Knowledge is power, but it is a terrible power when it is hoarded and hidden

The title of The Girl Who Drank the Moon is ridiculously long, but also very clear in what this novel is about. I loved this story and it’s characters.

Book Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Rating:


Title & Author: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Genre: Dystopia, Fantasy
Release Date: August 9 2016
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Algonquin Books

Synopsis

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. 

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule — but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her — even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.

I give The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill four out of five hearts because it is a great read the end is very confusing though and that lowered my rating for this novel.

I loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon because each chapter had a name which did exactly what I think a chapter name is for, describing what is going to happen in that chapter. So every chapter started like ‘Chapter x, in which …’. I like that, because it is clear. I feel giving chapters titles is useless if it is cryptic and the reader doesn’t understand why the chapter is named that way by the end of it.

Luna is great girl, she is magical, but doesn’t know. And as her power grows she is confronted with the fact that magic is real and that she has to learn how to use it. Xan has to teach her even though it means that she is going to die because of it. I really like this principle of magic, because in my eyes it sounds like something Einstein once said
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.
Because it means that there is only so much magic in the world and for Luna to come into her complete power, Xan needs to give it to her.

I think the twist in The Girl Who Drank the Moon is great, I saw it coming but I am an adult and the audience this novel is for is middle grade. It was mostly hidden, so I do think children might not see it coming.

Overall I enjoyed The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill a lot. It’s a great middle grade read and it is super cute!

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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