Woven in Moonlight

Woven is Moonlight is quite mythical, inspired from Bolivian politics and history with a strong protagonist, masked vigilantes, forbidden romance, and a dash of magic.▪Ximena acts as the decoy princess and goes in the stead of Catalina to be a spy in the court of Llascan and find the Estrella (a magical bracelet) which will help her destroy the Llascan king and get the real princess back on the throne and give her people their homes back. But once she gets there she realizes there isn't always one way of looking at things.▪I read this book in one go all through the night. It makes for a quick read and doesn't meander much. You are in the thick of things from beginning till the end. This also can be read as a stand alone novel which is where I had a problem with this book.▪Look I enjoy stand alone fantasy novels. And this is a good one but there is only so much you can do within 375 pages.▪My problem with this book lies in the fact that it never delves deep into what it is offering. The whole magic concept is there without explanation. The whole when and how is omitted. And it's such a beautiful concept of weaving moonlight threads into lush tapestries that I wanted to know more! There are other types of magic as well such of a seer and healer but everything is skimmed.Even with the characters, I feel I wouldn't have minded to spend some more time with them to actually develop a connection. I liked them but there wasn't any emotional attachment to their well being.▪There is lush culture in this book and you mostly experience it through Ximena's tapestry weaving. There is beautiful description of food and spanish dialogue and the atmosphere is of course well done.▪Though I still feel this book should've been longer with a bit more explanation. The ending also felt quite rushed and cluttered to me.▪But overall for a standalone fantasy novel I think this book is well done.

I loved this book. Though it took a while for me to generate interest for this,but ultimately I loved it. Not a difficult read

Come for the beautiful cover (maybe bookstagram post) and stay for the magical narrative and absolutely badass character. I enjoyed this book so much. Cannot wait for the sequel

This book will take you to the beautiful kingdom of Inkasisa where magic has different notes. The intriguing story plot will keep you up all night for sure. The unexpected plot twist will surely leave you 😨!!

Front cover of the book was little bit damaged....bt it still ok...

My rating - 5/5Suggested reading age - 13+Review 📝The central theme of the story develops around a war between the Illustrians and the Llacsan. It bought no happiness but only destruction and division for both the sides. Families were killed, land was lost and all this gave birth to the over ambitious King Atoc who led and won the war and The condesa or should I say the condesa's decoy's feelings of revenge.There is an arcane sense about our protagonist throughout the book.The writing style moves fast it does not leave anything behind, after every chapter I could feel the story, the book, ending...While reading you are going to find yourself in the place of the protagonist, the struggles are different but yet very similar to that of common man, are you really you? Do you dress as you want to?Do you let others speak for you? Are you bursting with anger, are you lost? Do you know where you are?And the most important WHO ARE YOU?WHO AM I?You are going to see yourself with the book side by side answering all these questions. ..There is a vigilante, EL LOBO he is my favourite character in the whole book, be careful when you read. You might fall for him, he is the one that helps and protects everyone. The author plants and drops subtle hints for the readers to figure out who he is and that's the best part about the book, it's your discovery, us the readers are moving with the story. This book has made me feel something that no book in a long time has.And oh oh, how could I forget that part, the characters turn on each other, unexpected friendships, that was one blow your mind away amazing plot twistYou won't feel left out while reading the book, you will be living inside the book.There were words from different languages that just made it more intriguing. There is a glossary/dictionary in end for the reader to refer.I 100% recommend this

Woven In Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez is a young adult fantasy novel inspiration from Bolivian politics and history. Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.In order to protect her people, Ximena has to act as the Condesa for her friend Catalina, and marry the Empire King, Atoc. I liked the concept so much by reading the blurb, but due to a lot of political and history of the world building in this book, the magical element was somewhere hidden and not so much out there. But I loved how powerful the women in this book are shown. I loved the fact that this is something different and not our regular European fantasy.But soon she meets her helper and plot changes and she realizes Catalina will not be suited for being the next Queen. The cover is really very pretty and I went completely blindly into this book looking for something different and unique. This being the debut novel of the author I am surprised with her writing, but I wanted more magical elements in this book. The cover and blurb speaks out magic, but the inside is more political and historical in nature.

Woven in the moonlight tells the story of Ximena, the decoy Condesa, for the Illustrians. Her people have been ousted from their city in a bloody revolt and now they plan to place their queen back on the throne. Ximena goes to the palace in the guise of the condesa marrying the false king, in order to find a way they can defeat their enemy, While she is there she discovers that things are more complicated than they first seemed and her loyalty to her queen and her people is tested against her loyalty to what is right, Firstly, I hate giving any book less than four stars. As a writer I know how much blood, sweat and tears goes into a novel and I know that creating this novel would have been no easy feat.What I lovedFirstly I want to talk about what I loved about this book. The world was colourful and rich and I loved all the little details of the language and the food. I wanted to step in it and take a look around, eat the food and soak up the culture. I loved the way the author deals with diversity and the tough theme of war, how no side truly wins. I enjoyed watching Ximena question her blinkered loyalty to her people and her queen and start to think for herself, it is a powerful message.What fell flatHonestly, this book had so much potential. All the things that i listed above that I loved, I wanted to see more of. It felt like the author only just scraped the surface of the wonderful world she had created. I wanted more and I wanted her to go deeper. The magic system as well was never fully explained, there could have been so much more explored with that. The romantic subplot as well fell flat for me and I am a BIG sucker for romance. I never really understood why he fell for her, again it all felt very surface level. And the actions of the characters - I found myself screaming in frustration on more than one occasion as things they did were just so idiotic, or brattish or just didn't make sense. I really struggled to connect with Ximena and even Rumi and towards the end things unravelled in a way that made me really annoyed - it almost felt like it was rushed to a climax.All the elements of a great novel are in this book and the author is a great writer. I almost wished she had made this a series so that she could have fully explored the world, the magic, the characters and the themes. I will keep an eye out for her future books and I'm sure this is just the beginning for her.

Nice enough story but did not have enough substance for me. Personal preference as I prefer fantasy novels that tend to be far more in depth but it is a pleasant one-off. Read this for a book club.

Loved it! The cover is stunning

Excellent

Llego en excelentes condiciones y antes de la fecha de entrega!La historia es apropiada para adultos jovenes!