Moonstroke

by Blaine C Readler

[chymerra]

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a huge fan of science fiction, fantasy, young adult, romance and any combination of those. When Moonstroke showed up on my Titles in My Categories section on NetGalley, I clicked on it to see what it was about. What I read caught my attention and made me click on the read now button. I think that I can’t remember if I have ever read a book that took place solely on the moon. I know I have read books where the moon was a stopping point but never the sole area where the story takes place. Also, factoring into my decision was that the entire book took place on the dark side of the moon. Which fascinated me and I couldn’t wait to see how it was the storyline went.

Speaking of the storyline, I liked that the author chose to have almost all the base’s adults die in a solar flare and leave their toddler children in the hands of 3 men. I do wish, though, that there was some sort of preface about the solar flare that happened. It would have given a lot more insight into why the toddlers, now teenagers, are called nextgen and why they continued mining.

I do think that the storyline started really slow in the beginning. Like super-duper slow to the point where I honestly thought nothing would happen, even though it said on the blurb that it would. What also bothered me was that the nextgens were being kept in the dark about Earth and their heritage. Almost everything that they know about Earth came from movies that they were allowed to watch. The only one exempt from this was Katlin, the daughter of the base leader. And even she was exempt from some things. But the book did pick up towards the middle of the book and I was able to enjoy it.

The main characters were teenagers and I thought that the author did a great job portraying how they would act if they lived in a community with no access to Earth. I do think that they acted pretty normal for kids who had no contact with anyone but the people on their base. I mean, they acted like typical teenagers and rebelled like typical teenagers. I loved reading the parts with Van in them because he was very forward thinking for being in seclusion for his whole life.

The last half of the book was very surprising to me and I didn’t expect certain events to happen or certain truths to be revealed. It kinda blew my mind when those truths were revealed and made my heart hurt for those involved.

How many stars will I give Moonstroke: 3.5

Why: I did like this book but I do think that it could have used a bit more backstory than what was given (just my opinion). The beginning of the book was very slow and to be honest, I almost DNF’d it. But, it did pick up speed towards the end of the book and I did enjoy the read from that point on.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Young Teen

Why: mild violence

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**