Rating: 
Summary: Be seduced
Review: Leaving her protective parents to go away to college, Sweeney Cassidy goes wild. She skips classes, stays out all night, and basically spends her first semester constantly drunk. Into this haze come the ethereal Oliver and the seductive Angelica, who become her best friends, and with both of whom Sweeney falls in love. The only trouble is, the school is controlled by an Illuminati-esque secret society; Angelica is a chosen avatar of a vengeful goddess; and Oliver is marked as her first sacrifice. This situation plays out tragically, and a shaken Sweeney transfers to another school, where she gets her degree and settles into "normal" life. Then, eighteen years later, her college ghosts come back to haunt her, as old friends come out of the woodwork, and Angelica prepares for the final denouement with the secret society. Sweeney is suddenly back in the mysterious world she glimpsed as a teenager. Mixed in with this hypnotically written story is a political battle between the Matriarchy (represented by Angelica) and the Patriarchy (the secret society); between the Goddess and the world that has ignored her for millennia. One of the best touches of Hand's book is that she doesn't really take sides, except maybe to hint that the fault of both philosophies is the extremes they go to. Even when Sweeney makes her decision at the end, she makes it for personal reasons and not because she agrees with either side. This was the book that got me investigating Goddess mythology several years ago, and it's also a fever-dream of a story, with a sympathetic heroine and a unique style. I've read it a gazillion times.
Rating: 
Summary: FANTASTIC
Review: I purchased this book by mistake. I got Hand mixed up with another author. What a lucky accident for me! I loved this book. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I usually reserve that for, say, Dostoevsky and the really great ones. Once I started this story of 3 young people just starting college, their meetings with magicians, angels, and an ancient secret society, not to mention the sleeping moon goddess, I could not put this book down. I read it straight through till I finished at 3am. And the next morning, I ran out and bought her other books. This book is perfect example of great urban fantasy. Having said all that, I believe the author's fine detail work with her characters should be mentioned also. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: A friend of mine told me to read this book, that it was one of her favorites. She went on to say that it was "You know, secret societies, witchcraft and Minoan things." I thought, okay...I have to give this book a try! Let me just say that it was absolutely mesmerizing! Sweeney is a great heroine with plenty of flaws to feel completely real to the reader. When I finished reading this, I turned to the picture of the author and saluted her. I mean, rarely do you find a book that just delivers on soooo many levels. My one and only complaint is the switching of first person/third person perspectives. It's not that I found the third person perspectives boring or somehow "less" but Sweeney and her view of the Divine is just so enthralling that you don't ever want to leave her. But, I realize there is so much that takes place in the book (especially later on) that we could never know if the author didn't do that, so I forgive it and usually tell people that "Waking the Moon" is as close to a perfect book as one can get.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite book of all time
Review: I'm serious. If anyone asks me what my favorite book is, this has consistantly been my answer for the past four years. My own copy is so dog-eared and underlined and filled with scraps of relevant matierial....I refer to it as the "annotated copy." Reading it was a startling look into my own past...not that I frequently summon goddessy powers, but the interaction between Sweeney and Angelica and Oliver reminds me so much of my own friends when I was younger. And the end? With the taxi? Tears *everywhere*. Dylan's a great guy, but he ain't Oliver. That always kills me. This is my one item on a desert island. This is what I first grab when my house is on fire. This is my forever favorite. This is what I do if the planet explodes tomarrow. I love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Mystical Girl Power!
Review: I was amazed at the power this book held over me after picking it up at a wholesale book shop on vacation. It was captivating from start to finish. I am a lover of myth & legend, so this was a real treat for me with all the "Moon Lore". The female leads, Sweeney & Angelica, were fantastically strong-willed, seductive and imaginative! The settings were amazing; especially the desert house owned by Angelica. I could almost feel the heat and taste the desert air. Bravo for Elizabeth Hand. It reminded me a bit of Clive Barker's "Everville", which I loved so very much.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The book is well written and a fast read. Mrs. Hand's descriptions are wonderful and draw you into the book. Plot is quick and has very interesting turns of events. A good book for horror/gothic fans.
Rating:
Summary: This book had the right kind of ending!
Review: This is the first book I've read by this author, and I enjoyed it so much I've just started on another one. Waking the Moon is a captivating narrative which drew me in from the beginning and held my interest throughout. The plot became a bit tedious in a couple of places, to the extent that I withheld recommending it to a friend until I could see how it ended; but the ending was gripping and the overall book was thoroughly enjoyable. Definitely a "thumbs-up" to anyone considering it!
Rating:
Summary: Great style and plot, but ....
Review: Some parts are a little underdeveloped, while some are a little overdeveloped. The characters are all rich and 3-D, but their relationships to one another could use some fleshing out- like why Sweeney and Dylan can make such a perfect couple. Some parts of the narrative are a little too ambiguous- it wasn't till I'd read the novel a second time that I understood some of the subtler connections. And I'm still not entirely sure exactly how we're supposed to feel about the various and sundry supernatural powers at the end of the novel. Overall, a great read- who knows, it just might change the way you see the world!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping plot, vivid descriptions
Review: All things considered, this was one of the best books I have ever read. Sure, the writing was awkward at points, and the narrative could be confusing, but the plot, the imagery, the characters and the obviously extensive research more than made up for any shortcomings. Waking the Moon tells of Sweeney Cassidy, a college student caught up in a battle between a patriarchal order of scholar/magicians and a reawakened Indo-European goddess. When Sweeney's best friend unwittingly inheirits an artifact of the goddess's original cult and becomes possessed by the ancient deity, Sweeney spends the next twenty years protecting those she loves and, in the end, all of humanity, from the goddess's power. Anyone interested in archeology, feminism, fantasy or simply a good read should definitely pick up this book!
Rating:
Summary: Long Live the Goddess, in all Her many Faces
Review: Being a Pagan, one would think I'd be appalled to read a book that considers Goddess-worship dangerous or connects modern Paganism (aka Wicca) to the ritual sacrifice of humans. However, since I was a child, I always felt connected to the dark, angry Goddesses like Kali, rather than the happy, loving Mother Goddesses, so when I read this book about a modern priestess of Cybele... let's just say I felt really empowered ! If you can't accept the dark side of female nature, this is not the book for you. On the other Hand (hee-hee)if you've ever thought about sticking your husband in a wicker man...
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