The Crescent Stone

I honestly don't remember how I stumbled on to the the author's website, but after reading the first four chapters I knew I had to buy this book. Fantasy books have always been my escape, but as I've aged there was always something missing. My worldview changed, but the fantasy stories, though varied in name and subject, felt the same. Until this one. The Hero and The Crown is still one of my favorite books where the protagonist is a woman, and I'd put this first book right up there with my love for Robin McKinley's novel. The little bits of US history that are sprinkled in the story had me not only looking up info that was never taught to me in school, but got me asking questions. It's been a while since I've read a fantasy series like that. So this isn't Tolkien, and honestly that's a good thing. There's no flowery language (the occasional song or bit of poetry not withstanding), with the dialogue easy to follow and honestly very modern. It's the start of a series that sets up its own rules and mythology, but aptly enough one that mirrors us and America as a society so well. At times I think the message came off a bit heavy handed (though not nearly as thick as Terry Goodkind's Sword or Truth series). Overall though, I enjoyed it partly because of and inspite of that. It feels to me like quite a few adults need to be slapped in the face on occasion with reality, and young adults reading this could maybe use a bit of the same thing. Also, and I'll try to keep this non-spoiler, but as a black man I'm not sure how I feel about one of the characters in the story. I'm still processing some of his actions, though I do look forward to reading more about him in the next book. So I would definitely recommend this to readers of all ages. I think it does a satisfying job on touching on issues we're facing right now with the division of the social, racial and economic classes we're seeing all over the media and news. Like the Greeks of old putting on plays to reflect their society at the time (but set in a land far away), fantasy is a great way to explore what it means to be a moral person in a world where way too often life doesn't make sense.