Review of Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance

Hunt the Moon


Book #5 of the Cassandra Palmer Series


by Karen Chance


Published: June 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 432 (paperback)


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Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)

Summary
Cassandra Palmer recently defeated a god, which you’d think would buy a girl a little time off. But when your job is being Pythia – the world’s chief clairvoyant – you don’t get a lot of R & R. Cassie is busier than ever, discovering her power, figuring out her complicated relationship with the enigmatic and sexy vampire Mircea, and preparing for the upcoming coronation.


But someone is dead set against Cassie’s becoming Pythia, and will go to any lengths to stop the coronation ceremony from happening – including making sure that Cassie is never born.


Now Cassie has to save herself – and the world, if she can find the time…

The Good
The most important way I base whether a book is bad, good, or awesome is how many times I could put it down. With Hunt the Moon, I only put it down as it fell out of my limp hand as I passed out from exhaustion.


Karen Chance has done it again. The continuation of the Cassie Palmer series was a thrill-ride from start to finish. It had action, romance, and mystery.


In this book, Mircea and Cassie's relationship starts to--ever so slowly--blossom. We get insight on how Mircea truly feels for Cassie and how Cassie decideds to handle his controlling ways.


There was a little less Pritkin throughout the whole of the novel, but the parts he was in were freaking-fan-tastic. The sexual tension was so hot it steamed the pages. I am truly starting to love the embarrassing reluctance that has come out of Pritkin as his feelings for Cassie become more apparent.


I loved the building mystery behind the invisible entity continuously trying to kill Cassie. Its ability to possess and its immunity to Pirtkin's potions made Cassie's survival more surprising every attack.


I love that Cassie's mother made an appearance in the book, even if it was in the past while Cassie and Mircea fought for their lives. I hope to see more of her mother's involvement in the future because I think Cassie as a character needs some kind of connection with the mom she never knew.


Oh, and we can't forget Marco, Cassie's bodyguard. His character really shined in this book. We get to learn more about him, and I must admit, I now have a little crush.


The Bad
What lost the one star was the incessant action that droned on page after page. I rarely am a page skipper, but Hunt the Moon turned me into one. Both the fight and chase scenes quickly become monotonous and boring. I am not sure what Chance was thinking. At some points, I was just lost. There was so much information all at once that I no longer understood who was where, what they were doing, and why the hell they were doing it. But this was only a small part of the book, so its negative effect was small in comparision to how well written the rest of the book was.

The Snuggly
Moderate. There were a few sexual scenes. They were written beautifully. I love the playfulness with Mircea and the unexpected intimacy with Pritkin.


Overall
I would recommend reading this book as well as the whole series. I think each character adds something special to the wonderful world Karen Chance has created. The concept is original, and the action is exciting (most of the time anyway).

"Don’t Describe Your Novel to Death"

Writing description in fiction, how much is too much?  

I can already see the objects being thrown at me as I begin to talk about description in fiction. My critique group has had a “fun” time trying to kick me of my habit of too much description. It is a common mistake, especially among first-timers, for writers to fill a book with description. And if anyone understands these kinds of writers, it’s me. It’s the fun part. You get to be creative and craft a unique picture for your readers. It has also been the death of many a manuscript.

First of all, yes, an abundance of description was popular way back when. People didn’t have televisions, films, and photographs to help them visualize the many aspects of our earth, architecture, and culture. So authors like Jane Austin had to create a detailed world using large amounts of description. As modern authors, we no longer have to establish such a picture. We all know what the Eiffel Tower looks like. We know what the average forest, desert, and skyscraper look like. There is no longer the need to describe such things in great detail.

I know what you’re going to say, “But Stephen King uses a lot of description.” Yeah, well you’re not Stephen King. If you are trying to get published for the first time, don’t assume what you think makes you unique will fly with most publishers and agents. Stephen King is established, he can do whatever he wants, even if most editors no longer find certain techniques acceptable.

Okay, that’s out of the way. So let’s go over the few basic guidelines I have been taught from creative writing teachers and authors alike.

The biggest thing you need to remember: Description is meant to move the story along. An effective description will create a picture for the reader but will leave some room for interpretation. It should establish an atmosphere using sensory detail without boring the reader with too much description or disorientating them with too little. Finding a balance is the challenge.

When deciding on when and how much you should describe, try to stick with arbitrary or unique things. Describe when you want to establish something is distinct about a character or scenery, subconscious details. These are what drives the characters, makes them real. Everyone wears shirts, but not everyone wears them inside out. What would that say about a character?

Description can also slow down a scene. Try to avoid page after page of just description. Strive to intertwine it between dialogue, it makes it less tedious to read and mingles better with the story. Some say to integrate it with action as well.  But I have also seen that it can slow down the action’s momentum. I think it comes down to experience. I have seen writers effectively describe during action where others have failed miserably. If you are going to describe during action, make it short and relevant.

Avoid the overuse of adverbs and adjectives. Yes, they sound pretty but editors will mark your manuscript red if you abuse adverbs and adjectives. And don’t use too many descriptive words ending in –ly, it is considered telling, not showing.

Steve Jurvetson

A good rule of thumb to follow: a scene should not include more than three of the five senses—taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound. An overabundance of senses can over-stimulate the reader’s own sense, causing them to skip ahead to the action.

Avoid the useless kind of information. We don’t need to know every detail on what a character is wearing or how his hair looks today, just what’s pertinent. Describe when the description serves more than one purpose, when it advances the story and helps characterization.

One author told me to try and follow the three sentence rule. Most description should be no longer than three sentences. And if you are going past a paragraph, then you are veering towards too much information.

Not everyone follows these rules, but if you try to stay as close to them as possible, then you are on your way to writing a great piece of fiction. If you are ever in doubt on your balance of description, have an avid reader go over your manuscript. Ask her if she skipped any parts. If so, then I bet you nine times out of ten it was because of too much description.

Early on in my writing career, I had people tell me they didn’t really start reading one of my chapters until page ten because I bogged it down with chunks of description. Learn from my mistakes. Find a balance and spread out your description so that you’re story continues to move.


References: Most of this information is from discussions with the author Brenda Hill, information from writing workshops, and http://deniserobbins.com/articles_description_in_fiction.html also has similar topics.

What to Expect from This Blog

I'm new to the blogging world. I just started a Twitter account, too. http://twitter.com/#!/JenniferBielman I have read too much and have learned too many great tips on writing to not share my knowledge with the rest of the world. After graduating from the University of Redlands, I had this need to read for fun. I wouldn't allow myself to read recreationally while in college because I knew what would happen. When I get into a book, I am lost to the rest of the world. So I finally got to indulge myself after graduating. I might have gone a little overboard though. I started reading three to four books a week. I didn't get much sleep. Only passed out three times from exhaustion. Good times.

After my need had settled down some, I finally started getting six hours a sleep per night and only read two books a week. This pattern still continues.

But as I was indulging myself with hundreds of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance novels (I read other genres but these are my favorites) I started to get the writing bug. As I read, I would always think of the things I would change in a book to make it more appealing. How I would of written the protagonist. How I would have ended the novel.

So during my nights of staring into the never-ending abyss that lived behind my eyelids, (I have insomnia, my brain apparently thinks it's funny to never shut off) I started creating my own story in my head. After about two months of mentally adding onto my story every night, I realized I had to write it down. So being the obsessive and anal person I am, I researched everything there was about becoming a writer. I did better this time, I only passed out twice during my late night-early morning hours of research. Solid improvement.

So I finally started writing this story as best as I could. But along the way I began joining and attending writing events. First was the Inland Empires California Writers Club http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/iecwc/, where I met amazing published and unpublished writers who have great insights on the writing world. I even attended some writing classes taught by members. Then I started attending the many events that had authors and publishers teach me the fine art of "doing it right" when it came to writing a novel and getting it published. I didn't pass out at these events, yay me.

Finally I found a critique group run by a published author. This was what really changed me for the better. I started to learn the many technical parts of writing that every writer needs to know.

Currently, I am attending the Inlandia Ontario and Riverside workshops that start September 28th. http://inlandiajournal.org/workshop/  I figure you can never have too much knowledge, so you will often see me at these sort of events.

I am still working on my book, so I am not published. I have no insight based on a published writer's experience, but I have learned a lot over the years, and I hope my knowledge can help any other writers that hope to be published one day.

Join my blog if you also want book suggestions and reviews in the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres.

Can't wait to get started.