SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Daughter of the Moon by Effie Calvin

 

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Daughter of the Moon by Effie Calvin: https://t.co/NsGRcRCInM

Short Review: 8.5 out of 10
1/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) November 9, 2020

Short Review (cont): This F-F fantasy romance series continues with a new couple: a prior antagonist, a princess exiled for her attempt at a coup, and a young woman desperately searching for answers to her incomplete magical blessing. Short but an utter delight in the end
2/3

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) November 9, 2020

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on November 9, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Daughter of the Moon is the fifth book in Effie Calvin's Tales of Inytha series of F-F queer fantasy romance novels, which began with The Queen of Ieflaria (my review here) back in 2018.  The Tales of Inthya novels feature a fantasy world where mortals - mostly humans, but dragons and other creatures sometimes have significant roles - are often dealing with a group of meddling gods (among other things) as they wind up getting into trouble and romance.  It's a chaste romance series - the most you ever will see on page are kisses - but the books are short and genuinely charming for the most part, which is something I really could use right about now.  

And Daughter of the Moon is a highlight for the series, with a pair of protagonists who rank up near the top of any in the prior books.  The book takes place just a few months after the last book (The Empress of Xytae), and features a surprise character as one half of its protagonists while returning us to the city of Ieflaria.  There once again we have a pair of young women struggling to figure out what they have in life and why things have turned out in a certain way, who despite all odds fall in love with the process: to the consternation and pleasure of some of the goddesses.  You can probably read this book without reading the rest of the series, although you'll probably want to read book 4 at least before this one.  But either way, you'll enjoy this one, even if it continues a trend from book 4 that's a bit awkward.

-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Klavida of Nalova has come to Ieflaria in search of answers: in particular the answer to why she seems to only have gotten half of her family's blessing from her Goddess Talcia, and cannot transform like the rest of her clan.  She hopes that either the libraries of the capital will hold the knowledge she seeks...or that she will somehow obtain an audience with Princess Esofi, the woman who has Talcia's clear blessing to the point where she and her wife have a baby dragon as their adopted child, and might possess some answers, if anyone does.  

But what Klavida did not anticipate was that on her way to the library she would meet Netheia Isinthi - one time princess of Xytae, who led a coup against her sister for the sake of her goddess, the War Goddess Reygmadra - and now finds herself exiled and friendless in Ieflaria, in a land that hates the violence she represents and shows her no trust at all.  But what started as a random meeting and then an association of convenience blossoms into something more, as Klavida realizes that Netheia has never really known what it is to feel friendship and soon finds that she can't help but teach the other girl what that really means.  

But even though Netheia is herself enjoying Klavida's company, her old allies from Xytae, and Reygmadra herself, are not done with her just yet....and Netheia may soon find herself torn in two by her goddess' demands and the girl she is coming to feel something for.....
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Daughter of the Moon takes place just a few months after book 4 and features book 4's antagonist (kinda) as one of its protagonists - Netheia, the young woman who, blessed by the mad goddess of war, attempted a coup to take the throne from her sister when their father died.  It's a very interesting choice, because well, Netheia wasn't a nice person before, and she still basically isn't to start this book.  But what the last book made clear is that Netheia's patron goddess, Reygmadra, is kind of broken, and we see here that her madness affected Netheia's childhood as well, preventing her from really growing up in the environment to teach her the importance of caring, of kindness, and of other people.  And so, much of this book is Netheia learning these things from Klavida, the rare outsider without the knowledge/reason to hate Netheia for what she's done and who can thus get close without being repulsed.

This leads to one of the series' most charming romances from beginning to finish as Klavida finds herself drawn to Netheia because she can tell it's not quite Netheia's own fault for growing up this way.  In a way Netheia is sort of like Aelia, one of our prior protagonists, in that love changes her from selfish and uncaring to a better person, except whereas in that book (Daughter of the Sun) the change was unintentional, here Klavida is trying deliberately to change Netheia for the better, something Netheia doesn't quite think is really possible.  And Calvin writes this all so well, so you can tell the two are falling for each other (the moment where they have their first kiss is truly perfect for the two of them) and see the changes in both of them as they happen, all the while really showing the series' great charm.  

I should note somewhere in this review that Klavida is a trans woman, a fact that this book notes but never makes a big deal of, because well - it's not really an issue in this world, no more than any of the queer relationships are.  People are men, women, non-binary (referred to as Neutroi here) and love who they want, and with magic (courtesy of the Goddess of Love) they can have their body changed to fit their image if they feel the need - temporarily or permanently (in fact, it's noted that the priestesses encourage people to try out the other gender to see if it fits them better, and our other protagonist absolutely hated the experience, showing her comfort with her own feminine body).  Klavida is a woman, she changed as a child, and that's all there is to it.    

The book also features a return to Ieflaria for the first time since book 4's timeskip, and seeing how our original protagonists Adale and Esofi and their dragons have done in the meantime only adds to the charm - especially in how they've really had a great happy ending - love in each other's arms, no need for one of them to bear a child to have an heir as they'd kind of dreaded, with dragons and humans mostly in peace...it's kind of great.  The book's only real problem for me is that it features the second book in a row where the romance is stated outright to have been manipulated by the goddesses - not to spoil, but Klavida and Netheia running into each other is not quite coincidence, and it raises questions of free will that kind of ruin the spontaneity in retrospect of their love.  

But even that can't make me disappointed that much, and Klavida's own personal struggle with her mixed-blessing, her inability to transform into something others would fear, really adds to it all and makes her easy to love right from the start.  Netheia is a strong character, but Klavida is just a charm from the start, and is easily one of my new favorites in this series.  I know the series was originally planned for only 6 books and as such I suspect this the last we see of her, but if we do get more, I really hope to see this duo again, as they just bring a smile to my face.