The Constellation of Moon

Moon Reads: Notorious Sorcerer

Posted on April 17, 2026

Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans

Rating:

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I have no idea how I stumbled upon this book, but I was delighted when I finally picked it up to read.

This is the beginning of a trilogy and at the time I am writing this book, I have only read the first two books, and will probably pick the third one soon enough because I need to know how it ends.

Notirous sorcerer follows Siyon Velo, who dreams of becoming an Alchemist, a user of high magic, but instead just does errands and causes some fights and chaos to try to scrape enough money to actually have enough lessons of alchemy/magic. But he is more capable of magic than he knows, so he accidentally (because he has a good heart) manages to do something that is technically impossible alchemy wise, which plummets him into high society, and well, poor man has no idea what he is doing yet somehow everyone thinks he does or expects him to now be the one saving the day every time.

We also follow two sisters who end up heavily embroiled in Siyon’s world, Zagiri and Anahid. Anahid is a high society lady, in a loveless marriage to a very famous alchemist who is using her as a way to hide his love and relationship with a man (who has a lot of secrets). And what Anahid is trying her best to do is not ruin her reputation or the chances for her younger sister for when she decides to debut. Zagiri on her own side isn’t too keen to debut, she wants to be part fo the Dockside world, of the clans that patrol it and of the “fun”.

To me, the city of Bezim was a bit vague and was not fleshed out very well, the world building was sometimes a bit like it was floating just above ground but had no tether, so it made the first chapters hard to grasp and get into. So, why did I rate this so high?

Because damn, the characters carry this in a refreshing way.

Siyon is a mess, and he knows it, and is desperately trying to balance the fact he wants to achieve his dream and that he probably never will. Part of his plot puts him in a “what if you achieved your dream right now and it wasn’t exactly what you thought it’d be?”, he is inducted as an Alchemist, but then all hell keeps breaking loose and somehow the adultier adults keep looking to him to fix it. So he keeps finding ways to put a brave face on and try to make it work. He only really shows the reality to Zagiri and Anahid (partly, not fully) and Izmirlian, a curious high society man who wants to achieve his own dream and hopes Siyon might be the key to it.

Anahid starts off slow, trying so incredibly hard to align with the rules of her own class and the expectations of her circle, but making society think your relationship is perfectly fine when it is just a relationship in name is heavy on her shoulders, alongside her love and care for Zagiri and hoping that she can do better than she did. As we go through her story in the first book she starts to find ways to bend the rules or at least find some breathing room. Her question is more of “what do YOU want? how about being selfish for once?”.

And finally Zagiri, she represents a more spoiled high class kid who goes to play in the world of the lower classes, playing but always having a “way” out of some of the bad parts of the lower class challenges. And yet, she starts noticing that maybe neither world fits her. Her own path is less intense and less explored in this book, but is asks the question, “what if you saw your privilege? what would you do with it?”

I also really enjoyed the magic system and the planar worlds, it reminded me a little of the world building Sanderson does for Mistborn, and so, yes, it is a bit different than usual but was interesting and I ketp wanting to understand more as Siyon himself kept learning of it.

I do want to warn that the pacing suffers a little so you’ll breeze through some chapters then get lost in bad pacing and then come back to better pacing. I wish it had a little bit more editing and a little bit more effort on setting the world nicely so Bezim feels more alive and real.

Still, fi you enjoy swashbuckling, magic systems that are physical and planar, interesting various ages of main characters and two female ones, alongside some queerness, this may the series for you.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Darkly Decadent Illumicrate

Posted on April 14, 2026

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Darkly Decadent, June 2025

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box that usually features fantasy and sci-fi, and curates a wide range of books, including both young adult and adult fiction. It usually contains a new release and several bookish goodies.

Darkly Decadent sounds like a luscious theme choice, even if for some reason today typing “decadent” just has not worked out well for me (I’ve made every typo possible on it somehow). And I think the theme was done pretty well, so let’s see what the box had, starting from the top and going clockwise:

A picnic blanket inspired by House of Hollow, this one lives in my car, and hasn’t been used much purely because I haven’t had many outings that are picnic material (most of my use of the car is commuting style rather than leisure drives along the countryside, maybe I should do that more…)
The monthly leaflet. I admit that I wish the theme was less vague icons, I miss more detailed theme images (though I do like that they’re very good hints of the book inside and I really appreciate that).
One of the gorgeous mugs by RosieThorns88, these are almost always a keeper (unless a friend wants one or the image is not really my thing). This one is inspired by The Last of the Flower Bride which I have on my TBR.
Hungerstone inspired recipe cards. This was probably my favourite item because I have several binders of recipes and I also have a recipe card box so this fits perfectly with it.
A spoon rest that is super gorgeous, inspired by This Ravenous Fate.
And finally the featured book, A Treachery of Swans by A. B. Poranek, which is still on my TBR, and a very pretty edition.

So I think this is a competitor to best box of the year for Rival Realms (April 2025), and probably just a tiny bit higher on the list, but it is a tough fight. Everything but the leaflet has a use and some are actively in use, and they are all useful items that aren’t just gathering dust. I change my spoon rests and just enjoy a good cup of tea/coffee. I think the only sad side for both boxes is I have yet to read both books.

Nested Soul Mug, inspired by The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, artwork by RosieThorns88
The Darkness Within Picnic Blanket, inspired by House of Hollow, artwork by Kristin Heldt
The Saint Empire Spoon Rest, inspired by This Ravenous Fate, artwork by Adrianne Bresijn
For What Do You Hunger Recipe Cards, inspired by Hungerstone, artwork by Julie Reinhart

Book Review

Moon Reads: Rune The Tale of a Thousand Faces

Posted on April 7, 2026

Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sánchez

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Last year I saw this book in the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize selection and decided to read it since it looked interesting.

The first thing I will say is that it has deaf representation and the “made up language” is based on sign language, which was suer interesting to have in a graphic novel and I enjoyed this.

Our story follows Chiri and her best friend Dai, they both live in an orphanage next to a deep dark forest. While they scavenge for ingredinets for Chiri to make a new culinary experiment, they get plunged into a secret kingdom called Puddin’. This kingdom is suffering under the Thousand Faces Monster, from which Chiri and Dai will try to help the kingdom and defeat the monster.

As all graphic novel’s for kids in a magicla secret kingdom, this one follows a series of small quests and puts our friends to the test, and we get to meet some allies to help. And the artwork for it was delightful, alongisde the fact that the secret kingdom has a lot of focus on food and magic, which is perfect for Chiri and Dai, even if Dai is not as brave as Chiri. But it is a cute read and I can understand why this was selected as a nominee for the prize. It was a delight to read and it was quite fun.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Paladin’s Grace

Posted on April 3, 2026

Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Rating:

I will start this review with two clarifications, this was not my first T. Kingfisher book (Nettle & Bone was and I enjoyed it very much), and that I did not read this on paperback but rather listened to the audiobook narrated by Joel Richards, who did an amazing job narrating the book.

The first thing we learn is that Stephen is a paladin, but of a dead god, one that died all of a sudden (and apparently the only one that has). And Paladin’s for different god’s do different things, and Stephen’s Saint of Steel was all about fighting and giving his Paladin’s the gift of basically becoming berserkers that do their holy duty and then leave a trail of blood and death once the job is done. Normally their job is to defend and collaborate with others. But now that their god is dead, the few leftover paladin’s are left broken since the majority died when their god died, consumed by grief and the berserker gift.

Stephen’s doing his best to cope by helping the Temple of the Rat (another god who doesn’t have paladins but that welcomed them and makes use of them to help everyone), and it is while finishing one of his duties for them that he finds Grace in an alley and they witness an assassination attempt go wrong. And somehow, the chance encounter becomes a repeated meeting due to circumstances.

Now they need to navigate a web of politics, treachery and a killer who seems to love separating bodies from their heads.

The novel is delightful, Grace is a perfumer trying to make a life for herself, and Stephen is a sweet man trying to do his duty and be kind, and he’s slowly falling in love with her while they try to investigate the assassination and the murders that keep happening in the city.

I don’t even know how to describe the story, but I loved all the bits, including Stephen knitting socks to pass the time, and the introspective of trying to find a purpose after his god died (how do you live and make a life when your purpose died suddenly. It is a lovely romance but it is also a murder mystery and there’s politics and intrigue, everything to make a good book.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Sad Girl Hours

Posted on March 31, 2026

Sad Girl Hours by Anna Zoe Quirke

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I can’t remember the exact reason I bought this one, but it felt like it’d be my kind of book. A good dose of cuteness, some sadness and lots of emotions. And I was right, this was a delight to read (despite dealing with heavy topics) and it felt like a warm hug or eating a nice apple pie fresh from the oven (not at burn your mouth temperature but at good temperature).

The story has two points of view, one from Saffron who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) who is dreading autumn and winter coming. She had to take time off the previous year from uni and can’t afford to do it again or it will make becoming an astrophysicist difficult or impossible. And also she’s somehow managed to keep it secret from all her friends and the people online that follow her for her short bubbly videos on astrophysics in a way that is easy to understand. She’s scared that if people know, they’ll dismiss it like her family does or they’ll stop liking her. And then she meets Nell.

Nell is our other point of view, who is proudly autistic, studying to become a poet, and a lover of autumn and winter and all the coziness they can provide. So she becomes determined to show Saffron that they’re not bad seasons with a bucket list of things to do to showcase how good it is to have the seasons come.

Of course as they start doing things like jumping on piles of leaves or lighting candles and having a cosy day in, Saffron and Nell both slowly start to develop feelings for each other but neither is sure of what exactly is going. And they both are trying to balance their own personal issues with having a fun time, becoming better friends and university.

There is a lot of fun but also some seriousness on caring for yourself and also how others care for you. I think this was a lovely little book to read and I’d recommend it as a nice autumn read. Do be mindful that it discusses SAD, family not taking this into account and being mean and not helpful, and obviously the spirals that can happen in your head about it.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Ancient Artefacts Illumicrate

Posted on March 27, 2026

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Ancient Artefacts, May 2025

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

It amuses me that usually after a really good box (for me) the next one is a bit of a miss. And so I am not surprised that this is the case, but let’s start with the background an then go left to right clockwise:

A satin pillow case which is all slippery and interesting, but did you know satin is a weave rather than a material? So it is not the same as a silk pillow case (if your aim is to protect your hair and your skin). But I do not expect Illumicrate to be giving us silk pillowcases, this is more a random fact that came to mind. I am not crazy about satin or silk pillow cases as they are a bit slippery for me and a bit too cold. But the design is lovely!
The main book which was A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde, and honestly this is a book not on my radar and not super interested in it, not sure I will read it or maybe I will someday.
A replica bow, to be a difference from the daggers which I thought was cool and pretty.
The monthly leaflet with contents, the photo challenge and more info on the book.
A “Buy a Book” decision coin, I love the idea of it, which is pretty fun.
And finally a cute little plant pot inspired by What The River Knows.

Overall I can appreciate the contents, and probably will use the plant pot and the coin but the rest is a bit of a miss so it feels a bit weak. I am probably feeling that after the box from April blew me away. Still, decent content and a read that I wouldn’t always pick, making me read outside of my usual sometimes.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Trident and The Pearl

Posted on March 24, 2026

The Trident and the Pearl by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Rating:

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I am not a big follower of romantasy, mostly because I do like my romance and my fantasy but I don’t always want romance to take over the fantasy part. However, this sounded pretty interesting and made me curious.

I will start by saying that the actual rating is 3.75 not 3.5 but I do not have a way to make it that number via fox rating. The reason it gets this rating is more or less because of how the book declined the closer it got to the end.

Our story starts strong. Queen Coralys says goodbye to her husband who is going to try and save people during a hurricane/storm that is about to end their island and reign. She then goes to make a deal with her god, which according to her she doesn’t actually believe in, and gets an interesting bargain. Her people will be saved, but she will have to marry the first person to touch harbor and become their profession and life, so more or less it is a “sacrifice your Crown for your people” and she’s willing to do this. Now, we find out that her husband dies during the storm and she’s grieving, which odd request from the god, but oh well. And then we learn about her customs of her island etc. Which to be fair, end up being pretty irrelevant to the story, which was a bit sad.

Somehow the first person to arrive is a fisher man who has a horrible wound, god given, that won’t close. Coralys is still grieving but she gives the impression of being a superb queen and not spoiled and not your regular main character for a fairy tale or a romantasy. Sadly this lasts about a third of the book and then we get the trope of they can’t communicate.

Her new husband is a fisher man indeed who says he is the Fisher King, and Coralys is thick as bricks and has no imagination so she doesn’t figure out who her husband really is until extremely late, after every single piece of evidence has slapped her repeatedly in the face. And this is part of the reasons the book didn’t get a high rating.

The world building is incredible, how gods work, what makes a god a god, what causes gods to war against each other, and how the people can communicate with them and all that interaction, fascinating. Oke, the fisher king and Coralys’ new husban, also incredibly awesome. He is trying to allow her to grieve, give her space so that being husband and wife is not a responsibility and a burden for Coralys. Like he is a cinnamon roll who is sparing Coralys from a lot of things. And Coralys is anything but the Queen she supposedly was. The Coralys we get has convenient grief for the plot (always incredibly convinient and never comes around if the plot doesn’t require it, and yes I know grief is funky and so forth but in this case, it is too noticeable to just accept it as grief is a beast), is thick as bricks, has no idea what communication is (despite being a Queen and having been married before and had counselors, etc), and mostly lets the plot happen to her, which felt a waste of Oke and the actual plot.

The plot is interesting if Coralys wasn’t such a puppet of it. The romance is not really there at all. Well, we can see Oke being nice to her, trying to give her space while doing his many responsibilities, making sure to make time for her too amongst everything else, etc. And then Coralys is adamant on revenge for her dead husband, but you also can’t believe she is blinded by it, because she only cares when it is needed for the plot.

Still, plot was cool. I think the book needed another pass or two on edits to make Coralys actually be more fleshed out as she’s pretty much a blank puppet who says she is something but doesn’t really make sense at all with her actions or motivations or anything. She genuinely is just there to let the plot happen.

Would I read the second book? Yes probably, since I do like the world and I am curious to see what will happen. Would I say everyone should read this book? No, but if you enjoy romantasy and want a cool world with gods and chaos, and a nice male main character, this is a good one to have.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Eat The Ones You Love

Posted on March 20, 2026

Eat The Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

Rating:

I think Griff (Sarah Maria Griffin) is one of the few authors that can get me to enjoy horror. I don’t read a lot of it and it is not a genre I pick, but for me, her books remind me in some ways of Latinamerican authors (I know, I know she’s Irish) with that magical realism, but with an added dollop of creepy (and thankfully without the misogyny).

Eat The Ones You Love is about malls that are dying, and about plants and loving others. I remember when I was a teenager there weren’t enough malls initially, the only one to hang out was an old one made for more “adults” with shops that were more utilitarian, like camera equipment, and haberdashery and so forth. And then they opened a new mall with a cinema and all fancy shops including a Sears and a Liverpool which were like fancy department stores. It was the place to hang out during your weekends or Friday’s after school. All the cool ones did. And then there came a third mall, that was in the rich part of the city, which meant a majority of the shops were high end so as a teen you would go and dream of being rich in them. But, many years later, I’ve back to all 3 malls and they’re not as busy, shops closed and it feels more like ghost town.

Why am I telling you all about my teenage mall adventures? Because I remembered them while I read this book. It was a piece of nostalgia, it was going to the cinema and coming out late once everything had closed and wandering the mall half lit and so quiet to get to the entrance. And maybe some readers will have no idea what that feels like, but then please read this book because that feeling was captured here incredibly well.

Now, I have never been a florist and I am not that good at keeping plants alive, but a family member was, and I have seen her make bouquets, so I cna also say that the flower shop was wonderful to read about.

So, now that the nostalgia revival has gone through, what is the story about? We have Shell who has “failed” at life and has to start again and so the possibility to work in the mall and the flower shop open her to knowing Neve, whom she finds very attractive. But she also finds the flowers and the life in the mall to be a good change for her. But there is something else lurking in the mall and the flower shop. Baby. Baby is an orchid with a taste for human flesh and also their feelings. It almost feels like hungry to be loved, hungry to feel and to feed on those feelings.

The story is creepy and intoxicating and it is interesting to read. If you’ve read previous works of Griff then you will know the type fo emotion heavy writing that makes you feel things intensely and so be prepared for it.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Book of Fallen Leaves

Posted on March 17, 2026

The Book of Fallen Leaves by A. S. Tamaki

Rating:

When Orbit announced this book I was in a Ghost of Tsushima mindset preparing for Ghost of Yotei, so of course I had to read it and review it. The description of it felt like it suited my gamer mind and would fit anyone else who enjoyed the games (yes, it is not actually anything to do with them, but I feel like they are a good match in how they approach Japan and Samurai with some mysticism and magic).

I haven’t written a review for Ghost of Tsushima or Ghost of Yotei, which are both games on Playstation. I mostly don’t have a review because I don’t have screenshots to share, but I loved the first game and also the second one. So if you as a gamer, enjoyed them, then the quickest review I can give you is, that this is a similar feeling to playing through the Ghost games but as a book and you have more character points of view.

If you are not a gamer and your eyes are glazing over why I would recommend this book, I am sorry, I will now review it as a book lover. The Book of Fallen Leaves follows Rui, who is a commoner, a no’in, and Sen who is the surviving son of a clan lord that tried to rebel against the Emperor and was caught. Both of them in their own ways feel a little bit at a loss on their purpose and life, and there’s something tugging at them that “there’s more than this provincial life” for them. Circumstances put them into the path of a civil war and various schemes that are political and some that involve the gods too.

Overall I did enjoy the book a lot, however I will say that the introduction or prologue is superb and then it just doesn’t measure up for the first third of the book. That first third is slow, it is doing a lot of trying to set up the politics and in some ways it over explains things while trying to keep a sense of mystery (which fell a bit flat for me after the start, maybe if the start hadn’t been such a punch, this wouldn’t have been such a contrast).

You are also introduced to a bazillion characters and each of their points of view, which again, felt slightly a bit too much without giving enough significant story, just a lot of backstory and setting each side character into their position for the real story to start. I do understand we needed a view into the Empire, the Capital and the factions brewing, but I feel like this could’ve happened in a different way and maybe be a little bit better. It ended up feeling slgihtly repetitive or dragging out certain chapters.

But, once the pieces are in the right places and we introduce Jobo, we go at better speed and then it is a chaotic adventure and I enjoyed the ride a lot. My favourite characters where Jobo, Rui and Sen’s sister (Sen to me was actually pretty boring over all, sorry!), because you get a delightful balance of politics, intrigue, mystery, magic and samurai life.

Overall, it was a fun read and I am curious to see what the next book will bring since the ending left a lot to ponder. And I recommend this if you like politics, Japan and samurai inspired books, and obviously magic martial arts (I would even say it gave me the vibes of Drunken Master Jackie Chan even if that’s not exactly what is going on here, but it was that type of fun chaos).

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Rival Realms Illumicrate

Posted on March 10, 2026

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Rival Realms, April 2025

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

This was such a purplebox and I really like purple sp automatic love of it, but let’s see what it had inside, and starting differently today at the botoom and going clockwise upwards:

A Gorgeous tote back which is super spacious, it is a favourite for conventions since it has a zipper (the only other better bag than this is a very similar one that I got at a convention, same design but it had two pockets inside). I’d love more bags like this one.
Cosmic Fray Suncatcher stickers. You basically put these on your windows and they are like shimmery sun catchers making the sun make pretty glass reflections inside the house, like the effect of having stained glass on your windows, but conveniently in a sticker. I have not stuck them because I am renting but I can’t wait to put them up!
A puzzle for Velaris, I love their puzzles so no complaints here.
The Raven Scholar, which I admit I haven’t read yet but it is on my list.
And the usual leaflet for the box

Overall I think I basically loved everything from this box and the only thing not really yet defined on is the book, but it looks like it is the right book for me. Probably best box of 2025 so far.