The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill(Goodreads Author)
4 out of 5 stars
The good witch Xan is confused when a neighboring town abandons a helpless baby in the wilderness at the same spot every year. She rescues the children and feeds them starlight until she can find adoptive families for them in other towns. But one time, Xan accidentally feeds the baby moonlight instead of starlight, and the child absorbs the magic. So Xan adopts the baby herself along with her Swamp Monster friend and a tiny Dragon, and together they name the baby Luna. When the child grows to be thirteen years old, her magic erupts in unpredictable ways.
The magic system was fascinating! There are a lot of magical threads from different people that come together with a mystery from the past, and I loved seeing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together at the end. The most fascinating thing was when the magic would go wrong in unexpected ways and throw off the plans of whoever cast the spell. Sometimes long-dormant magic would suddenly come alive again, and the characters are just completely confused!
The writing is beautiful, very atmospheric and lyrical. The plot is slow and fairly simple, but sometimes I like a slow plot. It’s more about the character development and the relationships between people. There is not much adventure, but a lot of mystery and imaginative weird magic. If you are a plot-driven reader, you might not like this one.
Different chapters are told from the perspective of different characters, but they all have really unique voices and so I didn’t mind the multiple POVs. I really loved Luna’s character! She’s kind of wild and strange. She’s full of power that she doesn’t know she has, so she carries it lightly, taking things in stride.
Xan is an interesting character because she has this long past of centuries of life, but she has forgotten a lot of her youth, so we are missing clues to those ancient mysteries regarding her magic.
There are a ton of great supporting characters that are memorable and amusing, especially the tiny little Dragon who insists that he is actually of humongous size, when really he could fit in your pocket. He really made me laugh! He was so cute!
