A Creature of Moonlight

Starred review from March 10, 2014
In Hahn’s polished, confident debut, the daughter of a runaway princess and a dragon comes of age. Neither a retelling nor a subversion of a familiar myth, this profound and original story feels like a long-lost classic fairy-tale. Its heroine, Marni, bewitches with her quaint, idiomatic narration and her core of stubbornness. She is knitting moonlight into a vengeance to destroy her murderous uncle, the king: “I lace it with the sharpest tip of a claw, the hottest flick of a flame, the empty nothing of a moonlit sky.” Her dragon’s blood increasingly lures her to the magical woods, even as its trees encroach on the realm. In an emotional journey full of twists and turns, Marni comes to doubt her own righteousness. She wonders, too, whether she belongs among humans or in the woods whose soul “will fold itself into you, and you will never know it’s there, not until you’re ten nights out and there’s not a thing that can bring you back again.” Hahn thoroughly examines the sorrows and beauties of both worlds before bringing the narrative to satisfying close. Ages 12–up.

April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Marni lives in a shack at the edge of the woods with her Gramps, where she tends flowers, as she's done for most of her life. Yet change is afoot. As she's come of age, more and more male visitors have come to sit on the porch with Gramps while Marni lingers in the shadows. Perhaps even more disturbingly, the woods have begun creeping in inch by inch into the surrounding villages-but notably not around their own hut. If there was ever a time Marni should ignore the siren call of the voices in the woods, it is now, but she continues to escape there. It was these woods, after all, that had lured her princess mother away from the castle. Her mother was not the only girl lured by the voices, but she was the only to return-carrying the illegitimate "Dragon's" daughter and ultimately ending her own life, thereby sentencing Marni and her Gramps to a life of exile. Unexpectedly, Marni is thrust into life at court, and she must fight desperately to keep her independence while unraveling the mysteries of the encroaching woods and her birth. This book's greatest strength lies in the vivid woodland scenes and the rich detail that describes the mystical pieces of Marni's tale. The plot, however, plods along a bit, and, in the end, readers might wish that a little more had lurked beneath the surface. Fantasy fans who enjoy reveling more in the vision of a fantastical land and its creatures than an intricate and fast-paced plot will find much to love here.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Marni is the daughter of a princess and the powerful dragon who presides over the kingdom's magicked woods. When she was a baby, her grandfather surrendered his throne to his son to save her life. Marni has grown up in relative obscurity with Gramps in a hut on the kingdom's outskirts. Now she is almost seventeen, and the woods are encroaching on the kingdom -- her dragon father's attempt to call her to him. After tragedy strikes, Marni (the king's only heir) leaves home to make a life for herself at court -- and to seek vengeance on her uncle for her mother's murder. But the king's increased fear and hatred eventually drives Marni to seek out her father. While in the woods, she finally chooses who she will be and where home truly lies. Full of court intrigue, family secrets, marriage proposals (several by a beguiling and bewildering lord), fantastical creatures, legends, and magic, Hahn's debut novel is first and foremost a journey of self-discovery. Marni, like Katsa in Graceling (rev. 11/08) and the eponymous Seraphina (rev. 7/12), is a strong, plainspoken protagonist who learns to embrace her uniqueness and power with newfound confidence and fierce independence. Hahn's poetic style gives the narrative depth and beauty with vividly rendered settings and sophisticatedly complex characters. It's an eloquent story about free will, the meaning of home, and love's varied forms. cynthia k. ritter

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)