Moon-Flash

by Patricia A. McKillip

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 150
Series: Kyreol Duology #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

Kyreol's small world begins at the Face, a high rock cliff, and ends at Fourteen Falls, a series of rapids. Each year, her people celebrate Moon-Flash-a spark of light that seems to come from and go into the moon, a symbol of life and joy. When a mysterious stranger arrives, Kyreol wants to know more about him, as well as the Moon-Flash, and soon she and her childhood friend Terje leave their home to look for answers. Those answers will pluck Kyreol from Riverworld and transform her life forever-by fast-forwarding her into a future she can barely comprehend.

Patricia McKillip’s Moon-Flash begins feeling like a fantasy novel, and it’s difficult to talk about how the story actually goes without spoilers. The initial chapters follow Kyreol, a girl who doesn’t quite seem to fit within the small world of her very much pre-industrial society, shaped by ritual and custom… a girl who asks questions and tells stories about the world around her, and ultimately notices too much, finding herself driven to understand what’s really going on.

Into her quest she draws her best friend, a young man that she wishes she could have married (though she has been betrothed since very young to someone else): I rather liked Terje and his practical responses to everything that’s going on, while at the same time he enjoys Kyreol’s curious mind and the stories she comes up with about things.

The reveal, when it comes, is pretty much as I’d expected in many respects, but it works out quite neatly, I’d say. The only thing for me is that sometimes I find McKillip’s prose rather opaque — beautifully written, but I realise that I don’t really feel like I understand Kyreol, even when I’m told what she’s thinking (and you definitely don’t get to understand Terje’s thoughts well). Sometimes she makes a leap, and I’m like… what? How’d you get there? Why are you feeling that way?

But that might be me; it’s a problem I’ve often had with McKillip’s prose, and I do think her writing is lovely anyway, in general, though this isn’t one of my favourites.

I did also discover that I had read this book before, just now, from the fact that I have apparently previously posted a review of it. I have no memory of the previous occasion at all, though I can excuse myself somewhat due to that being a decade ago.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)