Book Review: Moon's Dreaming

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Moon's Dreaming     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Susan Sizemore , Marguerite Krause
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Magic
Series: Children of the Rock # 1
Starlight Writer Publications, 1999, 460 pp.

King Hion of Rhenlan knows that magic has delayed his death somewhat, giving him time to prepare his son Prince Damon to rule the kingdom. Unbeknownst to Hion, many of the ruling Shapers, including Damon, do not believe in magic or the powers of the Dreamers, who keep chaos at bay. The Keepers, the third race of the three adjoining kingdoms (Rhenlan, Sitrine, and Dherrica) prefer to work their land and not be involved with Dreamers, as they have no need of magic beyond that of nature.

Princess Vray pleads with her father, Hion to show mercy to their prisoner Princess Emalie of the nearby kingdom of Dherrica. However, Hion strongly adheres to laws so that chaos can be kept at bay, thus dooming Emalie. He is unaware that he has set in motion a series of events that could cripple his country because Damon firmly presumes that he is above the law and traditions of the three kingdoms. Thus the seeds for civil unrest and revolution have begun, starting with a split in the royal house that has repercussions in the three realms.

MOONS’ DREAMING, the first book in the “Children of the Rock” series, is an entertaining work of speculative fiction that makes this other world appear vividly real. The various characters seem genuine, including the differences between the three “races” of humans. Susan Sizemore and Marguerite Krause provide a fantastic setting to the issues of when does a caring person or an amoral individual commit civil disobedience in breaking a law? This simple but clever moral question serves as the basic plot in an action-packed, thought-provoking fantasy that leaves the audience clamoring for book two.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner