Goblin Moon

While the waxing moon brings out plagues of goblins in the city of Thornburg, an alchemist searches for the secret of life, a fairy godmother conspires against her ward, and a masked man disrupts the meetings of secret covens.

Goblin Moon possesses fabulous atmosphere and wooden characters. Which is a shame, considering the novel's wryly ornate prose ("Chained to the seat beside him was a sad-faced miniature indigo ape with a jeweled collar"), chapter titles ("Chapter Ten: Which the Sensitive Reader may wish to Omit, but Ought to be read, nevertheless"), and the possibilities of the hero (a masked neurotic in the tradition of the Scarlet Pimpernel and Francis Crawford of Lymond).

What Georgette Heyer might have produced had she written fantasy as well as Regency romance. The series is not set in the same world as the 2 Celydonn trilogies; instead it's set in a fantastic Europe-like world where there are other races and magic seems to work. The ebook version suffered a bit with stray hyphens, but was still eminently readable. I wonder if it was an influence on Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and Galen Becket's Mrs Quent trilogy.

A bit slow to get going, and the style is rather mannered (very reminiscent of Georgette Heyer!), but worth the read. Starting with a couple of river scavengers finding a floating coffin, the main thread of the story deals with the show more tribulations of a pair of cousins, an alchemist, various members of the aristocracy, dwarven merchants... Yes, they are all connected - sometimes the shifts in PoV can be a bit much. Enjoyable. show less

A fun read. Will appeal to those who like fantasies about magic, although this book has a little bit of everything. Goblins, dwarves, pirates, cadavers, and high society. The author's detail for description of place, person, and costume (love the descriptions of dandies) is what draws you in; you get a vivid picture of the world she creates.

The dialog is witty and crisp. The various plot lines converge nicely and you are in for a few surprises. Paranormal books these days are so chock full of sex and violence (you can feel the efforts to out-shock the last book) that this was a refreshing break back to the STORY and CHARACTERS. Remember those?

This is a good "fantasy primer."

It's so sad that this book is no longer in print, and that only seven people have reviewed it. That means there are A LOT of people out there who have never been introduced to the wonder that is Teresa Edgerton's Lord Skelbrooke!

I don't know how I first heard about these books- I probably saw them on someone's Amazon Listmania list, and then requested them off a bookswap service. But once I started reading Goblin Moon, I was sucked right in.

Is it epic fantasy? Not at all. Is the plot twisting and turning and totally compex? Nope. What it is is more of an adventure story than anything else, coupled with romance, science, hilarity and chaos. It is so ovious while reading this book that Edgerton enjoyed writing it. The characters come to show more life full-blooded, they enjoy living within their pages so very much, that it is impossible to read it and not enjoy their lives as well. Francis Skelbrooke steals every scene in which he appears, and Sera, too, is a heroine I'd love to have as a friend any day.

I highly recommend this book, and its sequel, The Gnome's Engine. Both are superb, and even if I came late to the game, I'm going to be cheering Edgerton on for a long time. show less

I acquired Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton recently in E-book format. I found it to be entertaining.

If you are a fan of Dumas, Dickens, and Tolkien. You'll love this. Add a bit of Shelly and you round it out.

The richness of description of the world of the Goblin Moon are reminiscent of Charles Dickens. While the lead Female character would be likened to Little Dorrit. The depth of intrigue is similar to the work of Alexander Dumas. The Male lead is in someways like the Count of Monte Cristo. Throughout is a thread of theme which is like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Toss some Dwarves and Goblins into the mix and you'll have trouble putting this one down.

One problem I had with this especially after reading it a second time was that the show more characters tend to lack something that helps a person get into their head and actually feel for any of them. There were no moments for me when I was truly concerned about what might happen to any of them. show less

A bit disappointing. The writing was fine with the exception of plot and pacing, which is a bit of a problem. One set piece was pulled off semi-successfully, the rest rather fell flat, they was a super-abundance of characters and sub-plots and the book would have benefited greatly by having about half the amount. Most of the book felt like set-up, and when I realised (I was on an e-reader) that I had about 10 minutes left, I was stunned--thought I was maybe 60% of the way through--but no, it all wrapped up in a very perfunctory, rushed manner.

I'm giving it an extra star for promise, and because the sentences themselves read well, but the sum was less than the parts: it could have been so much better. Hopefully the author improves her show more pacing in future volumes.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!) show less

Honestly, one of my favorite books of all time. It has everything: action, romance, patches and powder, addiction, intrigue, Trolls . . .