Ahoy me mateys! Grab yer grog! Here be book 2 of the seventh installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase. If ye missed book one click here. While I try to post no spoilers, ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .
luna: wolf moon (Ian McDonald)
While I thought the first book was fantastic (minus the unnecessarily explicit sex scenes), I found book two to be enjoyable but very problematic in parts. The main issue for me is that the scope has changed. The first book was a family story first with all of the politics and such stemming from that.
Book two has a significant time jump and begins with new perspectives and political machinations. With that comes POVs of new people that ye don’t know with goals ye haven’t had time to care about. Many of the people I fell in love with in book one don’t show up for what feels like half the book. The pacing was very slow and getting updated on what happened in the last 18 months took a bit too much time.
Earth plays a bigger part here too which changes the politics and feel of the story. It became more about the impending conflict and less about the characters and their interpersonal relationships and character arcs. I lost some of the connection to the individuals which was much of the strength of the first book. And yet there was still time for more unnecessary sex scenes.
And then there were the plot points about the wolf pack and being bipolar that I don’t quite understand and make me feel slightly confused and uncomfortable. Some of the political maneuverings were hard to follow. There were sections where nothing happens to further the plot and were irksome. Many unnecessary pages about cake for example. And it does have the problem of feeling like the sole purpose is just a bridge to set-up the third novel.
This is not to say that there weren’t things to enjoy. The segues into the second half of the book was excellent and the story picked back up once ye got back to me favourite characters. The plot still had wonderful plot twists that I wasn’t expecting which led to a rather fun ending. Character growth does happen in surprising ways for a couple of characters and there are several about whom I really need to know what happens next. There are some fun and excellent (if slightly unrealistic) sections where it really is the moon vs. humans. I did like learning a bit more about how life is back on Earth.
Basically this book does do its job of making me want to continue the trilogy. Check in tomorrow for what me thinks of book three. Arrrr!
Side note: Sci-Fi Month is hosted by Matey Lisa of Dear Geek Place and Matey Imyril of One More. Check out their blog links for more info and join the fun!
Usually I list the Goodreads blurb here but I am not this time cause of major spoilers!
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Captain's Quarters 
I’m quite wary about the time jumps and the complete change in characters/era and all. Sorry to hear about those issues you had but it does sound relatively decent. Great honest review!
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It was decent enough that I didn’t have to abandon the series and I be glad that I didn’t. Thanks for reading these posts and commenting.
x The Captain
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My own experience with this second book was similar to yours: I still enjoyed it, but it did not reach the same levels of book 1 – at least as far as my involvement with story and characters was concerned.
I can’t wait for your take on book 3! 🙂
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Oh man. I did NOT expect this twist after your first review! Gosh darn it. This reminds me of how I felt reading A Clash of Kings. The book opens with all sorts of new characters and plots we never addressed before… I just want more dragons and direwolves, gosh darn it!
Either way, I’m glad this book made you want to keep reading the rest of the trilogy. Is there something in particular which kept you reading? characters or plot or world building or some such?
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Great review, Cap! I think I enjoyed this one more than you did, but sadly I haven’t read the third book, yet. I missed out on getting hold of the arc and it is far too expensive to buy as an ebook, but I’m hoping to get hold of it from the library.
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Sorry the 2nd book wasn’t as good for you as the first. I agree with a lot of what you said as I was reading and remembering it. I think I had a lot of the same issues, but I tend to be more forgiving when the book ends strong. Looking forward to your thoughts on book 3!
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Always a joy to read your book reviews Captain! You have a wonderful way of critiquing a story without giving out too much of the plot and spoilers. Sounds like a fascinating trilogy! Thanks for the share – Neek
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I plan on starting this series (sooner or later… hopefully sooner…) so thanks for the heads up that the second book is a bit different from the first! It still sounds interesting, though knowing that favorite characters aren’t in the beginning will mean I’m not disappointed when they’re not there right away. 🙂
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