Moira J. Moore

I really like these characters. But their inability to communicate with one another is starting to drive me crazy. I know that Taro is emotional and easily wounded, and I know that Lee is extremely reserved and easily confused by people, but at this point in the series, I don't really buy that the emotional intimacy they each feel with the other isn't translating into some kind of spoken intimacy. Sure, they might not be great at talking with other people, but they ought to be getting the show more hang of speaking with each other. Instead, their lack of communication feels like a plot device, not a genuine outgrowth of their characters. I'm hoping this changes in the next book or two, because otherwise, no matter how much I really, really like these characters, I don't think I'll be able to continue reading the series. show less

In book 2 of the Hero series, we again meet up with Lee and Taro and are immediately plunged into their never-boring lives (without the hasty recap for new readers which I detest on principle -- read the books in order people!!). Both Lee and Taro's mothers have come to town and each's presence forces personal revelations in our favorite Source and Shield. In consequence, Lee and Taro's relationship becomes more complex and above all more compelling. There are some definitely emotionally show more charged scenes in this one that left me feeling like I was in the room with those two.I enjoyed this second installment much more than it's predecessor for the sole reason that I was able to connect with the characters so much better. With Lee telling the story we get glimpses of perhaps what others are thinking or feeling but only through her unique perspective. This often left me trying to puzzle through a situation that might have been simply straight forward if the thoughts of both characters had been revealed. Brilliant and wonderful technique that I love - bring on more authors who make me think!And I loved the allusion to Alice in Wonderland!! Yea for the Walrus! show less

Well, this book is a good example of how if we don't explore our own learned biases they'll show up in books without a single questioning review. No, I'm not just talking about Dunleavy.

Let's get this out of the way:
The story meanders as usual. The resolution of their reason for being on the island falls into their laps, thank goodness because they do nothing for most of the book.

Oh, to shippers: they finally have sex. Dunleavy is just as ridiculous as I feared and there's little time spent show more on any of it, including dealing with Dibleavy's continual ridiculous, short-sighted inability to look at her partner

Now, here it comes. The eye rolls. Why is it, that when fantasy characters go "south," especially to islands, the people there are superstitious, a little backwards in their bamboo huts and laws, and (drum roll please) brown skinned? Let's not discuss how they think white, red-haired Dunleavy is so pretty. How their own black hair is plain compared to her exoticness. How the white people are good omens and figure out the "curse" these backwards, superstitious, silly people have been living with, without question. Their clothes are so small, and they have no shame. They're tattooed. They're (I'm gonna say it) exotic. Now yes, some of this is Dunleavy's fairly unlikable deep bias. I often appreciate how Dunleavy is unlikable in a real way (let's be real she'd be that nagging friend no one invited out because she'd raise her eyebrows knowingly at your second beer). However, Dunleavy didn't select all these tropes.

Here's what really, really gets me. This book is sci-fi lite lite. I've been left with the inpression that these people are star farers who landed on this world and are coping. Why is it that the brown people are the ones who really went backwards in development, with their unpaved roads and tiny towns? And if I totally misread that, well it's still the brown people in these little southern islands, because that's where brown people in sff live.

Let's not discuss our MCs yanking a young girl from her home, to a place where even the food disagrees with her. Having zero thoughts about the dangers of plopping her into a frankly chaotic political position, and then ignoring her desires and self-identity to then drop her off where they've chosen for her. Cool. Cool.

Done with this series. I put up with and was interested in Dunleavy's frank stupidity when I thought it was artistic choice (if slow, slow character development could be imagined around the edges) Now? It feels less like a choice and more like a just blind view to Dunleavy's major failings. I don't think that's true, but it's hard to get around that reading now.

I could rant scene by scene. I won't, but I thought, after reading multiple reviews where apparently no one saw anything wrong with this harmful trope, that someone should at least mention it in passing. show less

This is the seventh and final volume of Moira J. Moore’s charming and overall very entertaining series, self-published by the author when her regular publisher dropped her after Heroes at Odds. I’m not sure whether the series was supposed to have seven volumes from the start or whether the author sped things up to arrive at an ending with this installment - there do seem to be some unresolved minor threads, but everything major gets resolved nicely.

With all the enthusiastic genre-mixing show more this series has been doing it would have been strange if there had not been a last surprise in store for the final installment, and indeed it has – Heroes’s Reward is going all Epic Fantasy on us, with marching armies, pitched battles, a forgotten heir and stuff. Moira J. Moore really ramps things up here and raises the stakes, giving events a dramatic impact and urgency that is appropriate for a series finale. And after the (comparatively) quiet and pastoral last two volumes, Heroes’ Reward is pretty much non-stop action.

Not that non-stop that there wasn’t time left to spend on the characters, however - in fact, my favourite part in this volume was the return of Aryne (from the third novel, Heroes Adrift - the one of the piratey cover). She has matured quite a bit in the meantime, and as it turns out into a very interesting character – smart, fiery, with a decided penchant for being reckless and generally a lot of fun to read about. I’d really love to read a spin-off with her as heroine – actually, if I remember correctly, Moira J. Moore did write some stories about Aryne’s time at the Academy and published those on her website, maybe she’ll release those as an e-book some time, too… Or I could bite the bullet and read them on her website, I suppose, but I don’t really like doing that.

Anyway, Heroes’ Reward presents the satisfying conclusion to a very enjoyable but sadly underrated series. It really would have deserved to be more of a success, and I hope Moira J. Moore’s next novel will do better – I for one am definitely going to grab it when it comes out. show less