Waking the Moon (original 1995; edition 1998)

An interesting premise with lots of potential, but outdated in its clunky writing style: a covered-wagonful of telling-not-showing and detracting details for the sake of hyperrealism. The mystical element was interesting but bordered on cheap cinematics. But this was okay for me basically up until the MC meets her two "amazing" and "wonderful" and "smart" and "beautiful" and "mysteeeeerious" friends in class, who give off a Twilight series-esque sense of too-perfect-to-be-real-ness. It was shortly after this point that I stopped, when I realized that I was probably not the intended audience for this tale.

(D'ya like all the words and phrases I made up in this review?) ( )

The story begins with a group of college freshmen at Washington D.C.'s University of the Archangels and St. John the Divine where an ancient order called the Benandanti are headquartered. It immediately becomes evident that the mysterious Benandanti maintain a far-reaching control of most of society and that they are recruiting amongst the students. But when a member of the order finds a mysterious archaeological treasure and passes it onto a student, she unleashes the ancient moon goddess onto the world.

The story is complex and spans over twenty years, but it never drags or becomes overwhelming. The writing style is reminiscent of Stephen King at times, delivering some pretty good scares while spinning a web of mystery that ensnares the reader completely. I found the book captivating, exciting, and engrossing. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1956219.html

This is a tremendous novel, ancient pagan mysteries linked with dubious academics and sinister conspiracies, all based around a fictional sinister Catholic university in Washington DC; not so very different from the plot elements of Dan Brown's novels, only much better written and much more interesting. Some brilliant scenes of simmering sexuality and emotional confusion; a satisfactory amount of drawing from genuine mythology, with extra lore invented by the author which plugs in rather neatly. I'm surprised that it is not better known, it feels like a taproot text for much of the recent wave of urban fantasies. ( )

Not badly done. Definitely heavily influenced by 1990s grad school feminism, but not fatally so. A college novel, and as usual with college novels of this type (see also The Secret History, the Rule of Four and many others), the college experience is romanticized beyond all recognition. But Hand's romanticization doesn't bury or distort (too much) the more pedestrian adolescent crises real people experience at college. Rather it heightens them and gives them a compelling context in which to play out. ( )

Mostly I really enjoyed the things that I suspect contributed to this winning the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. The goddess cult is more along the lines of Kali the Destroyer than Aphrodite. Key to the cults are sacrifices, usually of men. The book is not for the squeamish. The women are not bloodthirsty, but along stereotypical lines of Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction. They are not just shrill, crazy harpies, but intelligent driven characters with purpose. The whole sense of impending collision between the Benandanti and the Moon Goddess is chilling.

But there are some drawbacks too, mostly in writing style rather than thematic substance. The book is far too long at 497 pages, particularly given that I knew exactly where it was going early on. Hand includes lengthy descriptions of everything that happens. A fight with a bull takes two plus pages, when it could have been a couple of paragraphs.

Full review: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/waking-the-moon-elizabeth-hand ( )