Moonglow
By Michael Griffo
Published on 2/26/13
Published by K-Teen
Published by K-Teen
From the author of the acclaimed Archangel Academy vampire trilogy comes a stunning new series about a girl determined to defy her fate—and reclaim her future…
Something strange is going on with Dominy Robineau. All her friends in Weeping Water, Nebraska, have noticed—and it’s way beyond teenage blues. As weeks pass, Dom grows consumed by anger, aggression, and violence, and she seems powerless to stop it. Then she turns sixteen, and things get really dangerous.
When her best friend is murdered, Dominy’s father is compelled to reveal the truth behind the darkness that threatens to both overtake and empower her. Her boyfriend, Caleb, swears they’ll find a way to change her destiny. But others are hiding secrets too, and gifts that are far more terrifying than hers. And even as she struggles to control her new abilities, Dom must contend with an enemy who wants her to use the beast within to destroy all those she loves, before she destroys herself…
I have no idea why I keep reading books where the main female character's name is some derivative of Dominique... but I should take the hint by now that if that is the case, I am probably not going to like the book.
And so it is with Moonglow.
It should be no surprise that this book is about werewolves. I hate to spoil it for you, but between the title and the description above, it really should not be a shocker. The actual shocker here is that the author takes until page 159 to mention "the curse". 159 annoying pages filled with a bratty self-absorbed girl and her bratty self-absorbed friends who like to mash words together in an attempt to be cool. (My favorite? "Twattoo", which I will leave up to your imagination.)
I was excited about this book because the blurb piqued my interest. It sounded cool, and I totally like this genre. Unfortunately, I ended up forcing myself through the book. I basically hated all of the characters. Really? Some po-dunk town in Nebraska has a gay, albino, football star? Uh-huh. Go ahead and swallow that one, folks.
I got especially angry over the relationship between Dominy and her bumbling father, who seems to, at all costs, go the way of Bella's awkward dad in Twilight. And maybe it would not have been so bad that he waited until page 159 to mention that Dominy was a werewolf if his character stayed consistent for the next 240+ pages, but he turns into a matter-of-fact save-the-day everything-in-the-open kinda dad.
I will give the author some credit - he kills off his characters with the ruthlessness of George Martin of Game of Thrones. You say to yourself, "There is no way he is going to kill that main character off!" Then he does. So bravo for that, but it honestly just makes it worse. As much as the author seems not to care about who dies... neither do the other characters! I mean, big important people die, and its like "OMG, NBD!"
Which brings me to another annoyance: the use of slang, abbreviations, and "cool things". I get it, you are current. I got a strong sense that the (male) author googled "typical teenage girl" and tried to fit in as many cliches as possible. I do not mean to be sexist, because certainly males can write with the voice of the female and vice versa, but I am not sure it worked this time. I would hope that a goal of an author would be to write for future generations, not just this second. And that is basically all this book is - for this second. However, at 389 pages, it takes too many seconds to read, and I think there are way better werewolf stories out there.
~Ericka
