Review: The Moon Coin by Richard Due

Title: The Moon Coin
Author: Richard Due
Publisher: Gibbering Gnome Press
Publish Date: August 25, 2011
Source: I received a copy from the author. This did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You like a good fantasy!
• You like a vivid story!

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "For Lily and Jasper Winter, the Moon Realm began with a single secret bedtime tale. As the children grew older, Uncle Ebb enthralled them with thrilling tales of the Dragondain riding horse-sized, catlike Rinn; mysterious tales of peerin-wielding lunamancers manipulating the magic that lies just beneath the surface of reality; exciting tales of flying dragons, swimming merfolk, stomping giants, and troublesome faeries. But as the magic of their childhood faded, so too did the tales. Eventually, they were just . . . good stories.

Or were they?

Now, nine years after it all began, Uncle Ebb is missing.

Lily and Jasper search for clues, but their uncle's mansion is full of distractions. A Tesla generator thrums in the basement. Prismatic electrimals flit around walls resembling underwater reefs. Then a most unexpected friend comes to their aid, leading them to a hidden room where they find a mysterious coin—the moon coin. Before the night is out, Lily is transported to the real Moon Realm. But the moons are in trouble. The Rinn of Barreth are under siege, and the lunamancers of Dain are beset by the very dragons they once loved. Most horrifying of all, the moon Darwyth has fallen to a villain named Wrengfoul, whose creeping evil now threatens to overshadow all the Realm.

Are Lily and Jasper too late to save the Moon Realm, or will they have enough time to write an ending of their own?"

My Two Cents:

This book sucked me in from the beginning. This book is another beginning to a series and this is definitely another series that I could get into. In fact, I NEED to get the other books once they come out. The world of the Moon Realm is so wonderfully detailed and vivid that you have no trouble imagining everything that Lily is going through. The book also includes really fantastic illustrations. The world building is really awesome and is most definitely a stand out feature of this book. You all know how much I love world building!


The characters are really fantastic. Lily and Jasper's Uncle Ebb tells the kinds of tales that I think every little kid dreams about. They're full of strange worlds and wondrous creatures. They will soon enough find out that the stories are real. Lily is a fantastic heroine as well. For someone so young, she's incredibly brave and adventurous. I was a huge fan of the noble Rinn, a sort of big cat looking creature (that's a Rinn on the cover). There's dragons and all sorts of other fantastic creatures in the book that will definitely stay on your mind for a long time!

This book is geared for young adult readers but I could see precocious middle grade readers enjoying the book as well as adults. Fantasy lovers will love escaping into this new world!