Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Girl and the Moon is the third book in the Book of the Ice epic fantasy trilogy by Mark Lawrence. Released 26th April 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley Ace imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a powerfully written story set in a cohesive and immersive world. The author is talented and quite adept at not just descriptive prose and believable characterization, but also with the nuts and bolts craft of writing. It's a substantial book and once I sat down to read it, the world fell away and I was surprised to discover the amount of time which had gone by when I was finished.
Although it's somewhat self contained and the author does a good job of bringing readers up to speed (there's even a precis before the beginning), it works much better as part of the trilogy. It's set in a cohesive universe which contains much of the author's oeuvre, and although it's recommended to have read the two books in this trilogy before beginning the third, it's not necessary to hunt down the other trilogies beforehand.
Five stars. Definitely one of my best reads for 2022, this would be a great choice for public library acquisition and for the home library.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reviewed by annieb123 on
Reading updates
- 16 December, 2022: Started reading
- 16 December, 2022: Finished reading
- 16 December, 2022: Reviewed
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 16 December, 2022: Reviewed