The Hunter's Moon

American (apparently she was Canadian in the original printing?) teenager Gwen hoped to spend her summer with her Irish cousin Findabhair seeking out places famous for their faerie connection. She never expected to be on a wild hunt around Ireland hoping to rescue Finn from a Faerie king desperate to make her his bride. Caught between the human world and Faerie, Gwen has to use all of her wit and all of her willpower to resist the charms of Faerie - or lose her cousin forever.

I loved the depiction of faeries in Melling's The Hunter's Moon - they're beautiful, charming, and dangerous; whimsical and pitiless. They're the stuff of Irish folklore brought to life in a way that emphasizes their otherworldliness, their lack of humanity but show more while still making their attraction obvious. And that's a pretty tough thing to pull off. I was really impressed at the way Melling seemed to echo and amplify the story's Irish roots by contrasting it with modern-day Ireland.

I enjoyed the girls' story - and the twist near the end certainly took me by surprise. After all, a story involving faeries will certainly never be straight-forward. I was really drawn into this story, and I recommend it to those interested in Irish folklore.

More posted at my blog. show less

This was a pretty good book among the huge number of "faerie" books I've noticed are competing with the vampire craze.

Gwen and her cousin Findabhair both love Ireland. But they also have a special fascination with it, and they are determined to find some way to get in touch with its mythical side; the realm of Faerie. When Findabhair is captured by the faeries as a sacred victim for an ancient ritual, the more shy Gwen has to find to her courage to save her.

This book has a lot of interesting Irish references and mythology woven into it, as well as lots of dialect (there's a glossary in the back). But sometimes it feels like the introduction to the world drags away from the characters. I never felt particularly attached or identified show more with any of them. Any relationships formed felt rushed and unrealistic (Gwen fell in love with a guy over the course of a single chapter!). And the big climax was pretty much a letdown.

Nevertheless, it has pretty good writing style, and a fairly satisfying ending. The next book is much better though. show less

This is one of the best Young Adult novels I think I have ever read. It discusses the Land of Faerie in all its amoral glory, and introduces us to the King of the Fae, Finvarra. And let's not forget the many fairy rings and hills and legends in modern Ireland, even today.

In good storytelling, there is a pair of cousins, one daring and one not so much, who decide to take the summer to travel Ireland. And the daring one chooses that they sleep in a Fairy Mound, and yes, she gets taken by the King as his next paramour.

What makes this book especially interesting are all the ways in which the Fae of Ireland provide hints of themselves. It is up to young Gwen to learn the ways of her helpers and trust her encounters to lead her to her goal: show more that of returning her cousin to the modern world. show less

The Hunter's Moon by O. R. Melling is another one of those fusions of modern-day life with faery, with teen protagonists. However, this one is lifted out of the ordinary by several factors. First, it takes place in Ireland. Although this is NOT uncommon, the author is a resident of Ireland and has a BA in Celtic Studies and Philosophy and an M.A. in Medieval Irish History. Therefore, the geography and descriptions of countryside all over the island as well as the use of mythology is uncommonly accurate. This doesn't guarantee good writing, but in this case, the writing integrates it well into the story of two 16-year old cousins setting off for an adventure around Ireland. Another factor is the intelligence and assertive character that show more the main viewpoint character, Gwen, develops through her travails. The girls are not passive victims but active participants in their destiny. All in all, I find this a very readable and enjoyable YA novel. show less

I absolutely loved this book! It's rare that I find a fiction book I can recommend without reservation. The first of Melling's Chronicles of Faerie, this is the the story of two cousins who set out across Ireland searching for the fantastic worlds that they've always dreamed of, but run into trouble when they actually find what they're looking for. I loved the writing, which manages to be rich and evocative while at the same time clear and unpretentious. And I really appreciated the differences between this book and the sort of YA urban fairy stories that are popular lately; this story has a sense of innocence and wonder that I found lacking in some of the gritty real-world fairy stories I've recently read. There's no drug abuse, no show more dysfunctional families, not even any swearing. Instead, there are positive relationships set against a rich background of Irish lore. It was refreshing to be reminded of how magical YA fantasy can be. show less

Two cousins are backpacking around Ireland until they make the mistake of sleeping inside a fairy mound. When Findabhair is kidnapped by the King of the Faeries, Gwen goes to great lengths to rescue her cousin - finding help and love along the way. But the ending is a great surprise.

As someone who has always been a sucker for the novels that involve Ireland, Faerie, and Celtic myths, I really enjoyed this YA novel. Interestingly, Melling focuses more on the human world and their belief in this land of hopes and dreams, than on human beings actually being in Faerie itself. Probably because the main heroine of the story is trying to rescue the girl caught up in Faerie. I do love the connection that she makes between the two worlds, and show more the implication that neither can survive without the other.

I look forward to the sequels! show less

This is my first book for the Canadian Book Challenge, and I’ve been meaning to read it for a very long time. O.R. Melling was born in Ireland, but raised in Canada, and as I’ve been wanting to read more Canadian YA books, as well as the fact that Sabrina recommended it again and again, I thought this challenge was the perfect time to pick up The Hunter’s Moon.

Gwen is visiting Ireland for the summer to go exploring the country with her cousin Findabhair. The two plan to explore all sorts of places mentioned in Irish mythology, and decide to spend one night in a Sidhe-Mound. When Gwen wakes up the next morning, it’s to find that Findabhair has been magicked away by the fairies. Thus starts Gwen’s quest to free her cousin from show more the fairies that have kidnapped her.

It was all very well to set out on a quest for things unimaginable, fantastical and unknown. It was quite a different matter to encounter them. Only now did Gwen realize that she hadn’t really believed in the existence of another world. It had all been in the realm of the imagination. Till now.
“She’s been stolen by the fairies.”
The words issued from her mouth like mist on her breath, quivering with incredulity.
“What am I going to do?” she wailed.

I think Gwen may be one of my new favourite YA characters. She’s charming without realizing that she is. She’s a little awkward, and she struggles with body image. She’s more real than a lot of characters in books, which contrasted so nicely with the fact that there are fairies and leprechauns and Excalibur in the story. (And we all know that any book that mentions Excalibur gets cool points.)

I loved Melling’s Faerie – it was so real, and exactly as one would picture it. Definitely made me want to go for a visit, even though we all know that would only be looking for trouble.

I picked up a used copy of this book, lucky for me. A while back, Sabrina posted about how, when this book was rereleased, Melling made the main character American instead of Canadian. From a marketing perspective, I suppose I can understand why – she wanted this to appeal to the American market, but it is still disappointing that she would feel she needs to make that change. And it may seem insignificant to some people, but to me it just feels like something like that would completely change a character. I don’t know if there were any other changes made with the rerelease, but I think that one is enough to make me happy that I got an older copy of the book. I’m definitely going to be looking for used copies of the other books in the series too, in order to read it how they were originally published. It may mean that it will take much longer to get through the series than I want to, but I think it will be worth it. show less