Light of the Moon by David James - Paul's REVIEW

***I was provided an ecopy from the author in exchange for an honest review***

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Title: Light of the Moon
Author:  David James
Year Published: 2012

Synopsis: One night long ago, a constellation disappeared and fell from the sky in the form of a boy...

Secrets are being kept in the sleepy town of Lakewood Hollow, Colorado. Life unfolds in shades of red for Calum, until a mysterious girl named Kate Black enrolls at his school and everything changes. Suddenly a dangerous world of demons, enchanters, and witches unfurls before Calum. He learns that the stars have forever held his destiny, and that the constellations above are much more than what they seem. But life is not so easy for Calum, and he can feel his heart beat faster whenever Kate is close. Worse, Kate's blood holds a dark secret even more dangerous than the war between the demons and enchanters. Soon the two find that there are worse things than loving someone you shouldn't. For Calum and Kate, even love and the fiery power of stars may not be enough to break a curse as dark as the blood that binds their destiny.

About the Author: David James writes books about stars and kisses and curses. He is the author of the YA novel, Light of the Moon, the first book in the Legend of the Dreamer duet, as well as the companion novellas, The Witch's Curse and The Warrior's Code. A Legend of the Dreamer anthology, Shades of the Stars, was released July 2013, and includes the exclusive novella,The Enchanter's Fire. The final book in the duet, Shadow of the Sun, will be released in late 2013. Living in Michigan, David is addicted to coffee, gummy things, and sarcastic comments. He enjoys bad movies, goofy moments, and shivery nights. Learn more about David and his writing adventures at djamesauthor.blogspot.com and follow him at @DJamesAuthor.


Review: David James, the author, was nice enough to provide me a copy of this book. I had already been following him on Twitter and I suggest you do, too. He has a great Twitter account about YA books, writing, and other random interesting things. 

Going into reading this book, I didn't know much about what to expect. I read something about a fallen star taking the form of a human, but I didn't know if it was a romance, a sci-fi, or a fantasy. It turns out it is a little of all of that with some mythology and astrology added as well. 

This book was beautifully written. David James's prose is practically poetry. Because of this, I wouldn't recommend reading this anywhere you may get easily distracted. You really need to pay attention. I thought, at times, there was too much fluff and elegant language. I also thought there was just a little too much exposition for my liking. I prefer to figure out things on my own , but with prophecies involved I guess some things need to be spelled out. Overall, it was very well written. 

I felt this book had a 90's feel to it, or at least a strong 90's influence. I think the author may be a similar age as me so I think that's just what I picked up on. 

This book is written from two perspectives: Calum and Kate. It took me some time to get into the story and figure out how these characters would interact. At first, I wasn't a fan of the Kate chapters but I eventually grew to enjoy them. 

Prophecy is a big part of this book. I always like when prophecies are in books. It always reminds me of Harry Potter. Prophecies are like ongoing puzzles that you can interpret different ways as the story progresses. I like how the prophecy brought together some interesting mythology and astrology, including the Devil and demons. There wasn't a particular religion referenced. David James created such a big, interesting world with references to a lot of different mythologies. 

There were some points in this story where I was surprised by the violence. It was a little more gruesome that I expected. There's a lot of death and described gore. 

I was very interested in the Tyler and Calum relationship, but it didn't go where I thought it was going to go. I'm interested in Tyler's role in the sequel. I'm very excited to read the short stories and the sequel. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a heavy read at times and I wouldn't recommend reading it in places with distractions, but I do recommend it. If you are a fan of modern prophecies with references to mythology and demonology, this is a book for you! I give it a 4/5.

-PAUL