Storytime Sunday - Blue Moon Rising By Simon R Green

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday; the day of the week where I try out the reviewing of a book, and then hope that I didn't spoil anything overmuch.

The book cover is probably the property of Simon Green or whoever published the book. I'm not sure which. (also, notice there's a unicorn in the art... Teehee.

As always, my want for adventure has me ever wanting to try new things. As a result, I decided I would like to do one of my typical informal reviews of the book "Blue Moon Rising" By Simon R Green, which was suggested to me by an absolutely wonderful person I met recently. I'll try not to spoil it.

Blue Moon Rising a medieval fantasy story written by Simon R Green which follows the story of the Prince Rupert, Princess Julia, A Dragon and the character that effectively sold me on this book, Prince Ruperts trusty  yet sharp-tongued unicorn steed in the lands of the "Forest Kingdom". (Seriously, a talking unicorn with a keen wit. What more reason do you need to read a book?)

First and foremost, I suppose I should say that this is actually is rather good book. I am a frequent reader of books, but am notorious for putting off my finishing of them if they do not interest me sufficiently. I finished Blue Moon Rising's 377 pages in roughly 3 days, beside all my usual blog writing and my other strange machinations. So take it that the book is fun, unique and original enough to keep my interest firmly held. (Seriously, when you say one more page at 11PM and find yourself reading at 3AM, it's probably a good book... or you're an insomniac.)

With that in mind, I'm going to attempt to describe the aspects I liked about the book, namely the aforementioned fun, originality and uniqueness. When Simon Green wrote this book, I find it highly likely that he was as tired of the same, worn out tropes in fantasy novels and stories as I am. Between pointedly discarding the idea of a perfect knight riding on a majestic quest to slay a dragon, to having a dragon who's horde is nothing more than a collection of butterfly's, it's clear that he was enjoying breaking all the tropes that are commonly found in stories which revolve around a character going on a quest to rid the land of evil.

Perhaps something that further lends itself to the book, the characters themselves are very much outside of what I would refer to as "Cookie Cutter" in terms of personality, with each character feeling well established and motivated. Perhaps a work of effort or talent, but no character feels like someone you would have read about or thought of in another story, lending an aspect of unpredictability to their actions which makes reading further all the more enjoyable.

And of course, creativity goes a fair way into making this book fun to read, while perhaps nowhere as complicated as reading The Tale Of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen, enough effort has been put into creating a new mythos and history for this book to use in it's world, making it that much more interesting to read as you learn about the events that made the land into what it is, and the characters into who they are.

As such, all in all, Blue Moon Rising is a fairly entertaining book with some interesting twists, a fair deal of fun and humour, a good style of writing that left little feeling under or overdone, and a talking unicorn. Despite some occasional pacing issues, Simon Green is sure to have you enraptured with this tale of magic, friendship, love, and more than a few cheeky nods towards common tropes in fantasy novels and stories. (And a smart mouthed unicorn. You cannot forget him.) I would highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys fantasy stories, or simply books in general.

In any case, I hope that you have perhaps found something new and fun to read now, or perhaps enjoyed finding out what I thought of the book. (Teehee) If you enjoyed the review, and would like to see me do more like it, make sure to tell me so in the comments section below, or over Facebook and Twitter as some like to do. If you have any bookworm friends who need something new to read, perhaps consider sharing this review with them so that they can perhaps also enjoy Simon Green's lovely stories (And the unicorn. Very important!).Of course, if you would like to see more articles like this written by me, be sure to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter so that you can get the latest articles, as I post them. Regardless of what you do, I thank you very much for taking the time to read this; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Farewell my friends.