Moonset Mysteries

Moonset by Scott Tracey

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

* Read ARC via NetGalley

4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes

There have been probably millions of stories about witches but the author of Moonset, Scott Tracey, really makes his witches stand out.  The little one or two sentences at the start of each chapter about the Moonset Coven and what they did, really helps frame the story/give you a glimpse into this society.  This book introduces a really interesting world and characters that I can’t wait to read more about.

Having a coven of witches be terrorists isn’t of course all the way new (Death Eaters anyone?) but here we get to see the aftermath of their actions and it’s fascinating.  These five kids are all haunted by their parent’s actions and the way that most people now look at them.  It’s can be hard growing up in the shadow of your parents, especially if they were horrible people.  The kids for the most part have accepted their fate but with this story they start to have questions about what’s true and what’s just you know history being written by the victors.

This story draws on the themes of being outcasts and gets a little bit into a class system.  There are definitely politics at play here and these characters are thrown right into the middle of everything.

I love all the humor mixed into the story because it stops the story from being bogged down in too much of the seriousness of the world.  The personalities of the group really make the book fun to read.  Malcolm, Cole, Bailey, Justin, and Jenna have very different personalities and attitudes about magic.  Justin even though he’s not the oldest is kind of the de-facto leader of the group.  He’s the one that knows how to calm everybody down and pretty much how everyone will react.

I loved this story and can’t wait to see where these characters end up.  If you like your witches to be both intriguing and funny, than this is definitely the right book for you.