So, I’m sure I’ve read this book before (especially once I started actually reading the book – it’s all familiar and I’ve either read it before or had a scarily accurate dream about the story). But because I can’t find any review of the book on this blog or on Goodreads, the completionist in me decided to reread the book and write a proper review. Without further ado…
The Girl Who Drank The Moon is a charming and heartwarming tale about family, growing up, and magic. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering for the Witch. What the elders know, however, is that there’s no witch, they made her up to keep the people compliant. What the elders don’t know, however, is that there IS a witch (Xan) and she’s been rescuing the babies and giving them to loving families in the Free Cities. One year, while bringing another baby to the Free Cities, Xan accidentally feeds the baby moonlight and enmagick’s her. This begins Luna’s story of her life with Xan.
The most magical thing about this story is probably its characters. Luna grows up with Xan (witch) Glerk (swamp monster) and Fyrian (Simply Enormous Dragon who’s currently a Perfectly Tiny Dragon). The three are quirky but loving and Luna grows up very well cared for. I really adored reading their interactions with one another and it was easy to feel the love they had for Luna. In the Protectorate, we follow the story of Antain, the nephew of the Grand Elder who isn’t quite fit for such a callous role. His story is smaller than Luna’s but no less important.
In terms of story, what starts as a simple story about Luna’s magic threatening to overflow quickly turns into something much more complex. We learn about Xan and the Protectorate’s history and all the different plot strands come together at the end for a very exciting finale. My “gift edition” of the book that I borrowed from the library also comes with a story about Xan’s childhood, which was lovely since it colours in even more detail.
If I had any complaints, it would be that the pacing of the book was quite uneven. The first half was rather slow and gentle while the last section was a wild ride. But still, we do follow Luna over quite a long period of time and I was charmed from the start so I didn’t really mind the uneven pacing.
Overall, this is a great Middle Great fantasy. It’s filled with so much love and magic, as well as quirky adorable characters, that it was difficult to put this down once I started. I definitely recommend this to fans of fantasy.
Featured Image: Photo from Canva