Two Moons of Merth: A Mythic Tale of the Royal Karda Family
Funny enough, I picked up this book because I was looking for another author with the same name. I’m glad to have discovered it. As a writer with a very small audience, it makes me happy to support another author. The Two Moons of Merth has aspects I enjoyed and did not enjoy, let me talk about each.
Two Moons of Merth contains some interesting ideas. The parallels to our times are poignant, albeit, a bit heavy handed. In the story women are referred to as “breeders”, and Aadya, a strong willed woman who becomes queen, has a great deal of influence in changing that. This is a point of contention with neighboring countries, which do not share their progressive values.
The romance between Poma, the prince, and Aadya, is a compelling one, and a highlight of the book. I have trouble plotting the book in Freytag's pyramid. In a way Aadya, has a story arc, which is exposition to the rest of the book. Next Galen is the main character, the prince and princess's daughter. She becomes the main character in chapter 34, or book 2 within the book, about 36% through. Or perhaps not, as her sister, Ali, later becomes the main character.
With such a long story, the pyramid can be difficult to use, as there are fractals throughout the book, each with a pyramid of their own. But in my opinion, the children' s fractals are the primary one. With this understanding the first 36%of the book is just exposition, which is a bit on the long side.
The novel is a bit meandering at times. On one hand, I have no idea where the story is going to go, which can be interesting. With the other, I don’t really think I could summarize the plot to you. This happens, then this, then this, then this.
At the center of the story is the Matong, a orb thing that tells the royal family what they should do. It is consulted before all major decisions are taken. It is an interesting bit of world building, but I think it does run a bit contrary to the theme of the book, which is, women should be allowed to choose for themselves whether they want to marry or be a warrior or whatever other matter in life. Instead though, while espousing those values, the women of the royal family still defer their judgment to the Matong.
The story had an excellent proofreader, as I see no errors of that nature. I think it could have used a stronger hand in developmental editing, as this perhaps would have cut out some of the more meandering chapters. Some of which, I don’t understand why they are needed for the story as a whole. The plot is like that of a literary novel, but missing some of that level of prose. The writing is perfectly fine, even good at times. But not art in and of itself, or maybe I just don’t know art, actually, it is probably that one.
Lastly, the ending of the book is a bit sudden, and a little confusing. I don't know where it falls in a traditional 3 act structure. There are 3 books in the book, but like I mentioned before, they are all their own little pyramids. Perhaps I missed some overarching plot. There are some values espoused throughout the book. For example, “women can have premarital relations too” was a theme in part of the book, which is fine, but not really a plot.
As I let the book digest a bit more there were some things I enjoyed about it. First the chapters are very short. I can pick it up, read a few, put it down. It's great, all books should have short chapters.
And two there were genuinely a few times I lost track of time and became immersed in the book, which is great! One aspect of the story is that the characters develop the ability to communicate telepathically, and the way it is handled in the text is very humorous and well done.
SPECIFICALLY IN ALL CAPS, which is delightfully jarring when it first occurs.
I started reading work by R. A. Salvatore recently and not to go into too much of a tangent, but the first chapter was like 20 minutes of reading on my kindle. Maybe I'm a slow reader, but I also commented on the chapter as I went.
The book just drove me crazy. The main character just asks so many questions, often the same questions. Like why won't the sun set, and she asked it like 7 times in the first 3 pages. OK so where am I going with this?
Well, there were no moments like this in the book. There wasn't anything that made me hate it. So that is great. I guess I didn't realize how much something could irritate me. And as you might shortly see, this is no small feat, perhaps even the majority of books drive me so crazy I just put them down unfinished.
I'm not a huge fan of giving numerical scores to a book. I would give this book a weak recommendation though. There were certainly parts I enjoyed, but as I said, the plot isn't too solid. Kind of like a literary novel. But the prose isn't a literary style.
Who should read this book?
If you like women's rights
Fantasy
A meandering journey
This book might be for you.
I'd the idea of a book advocating for women's rights bothers you. Well, grow up. That being said it was a little heavy handed at times.
Other details:
Tense: Present
Perspective: 3rd person… limited?
Some of the characters have the ability to read minds, so there is that.
I think the chapters generally follow a main character, although, there are a few where I was confused who that character was.
Length: 371 Pages
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Link to the Book:
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