David Neth’s new witching anthology series, Under the Moon, launches with this first volume about two sisters and their battle against evil.
Kathy and Samantha are white witches, the latter with two sons, Josh and Chris. When Kathy finally finds romance with Will, a former Dark Knight, the relationship puts a wedge between the sisters. Samantha fears that Will’s evil background will never leave him, while Kathy battles with the fact that her beau openly admits the same.
As the dark side begins to consume Kathy, her lust for power turns her against all that she once held dear, leaving Samantha to work out of Kathy has converted or been put under a spell.
The action is fast paced in this attention-grabbing thriller, but often to the point of feeling rushed. As Neth speeds along with his story, he skims over any real emotional depth, particularly in response to events which are tearing the sisters apart. The action is akin to a rollercoaster, offering a thrill ride worth having but ultimately not giving any lasting satisfaction.
His strength is in writing personalities, not deeper characterisations, because we never really get to feel their misery or believe in their angst.
With no disrespect to Nathan Weiland’s talent, he is an odd choice for narrator given the leading characters are both female. It puts him in the position of having to use soft or falsetto voices for the majority of the audiobook, which does get tiresome by the end. It’s a shame too, because his reading makes all the characters believable. He nicely realises all the unique personality traits, and he’s spot on delivering the naturalistic and often funny dialogue.
David Neth seems to possess a lot of storytelling talent. He’s written an exciting opening to his new anthology series, despite any flaws, and I’m looking forward to hearing future volumes.
The audiobook of The Full Moon runs approximately 6 hours and 57 minutes and is available now through audible.com.au.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 7
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