Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: After reading a preview rather like the one above, I was constantly afraid through the first fifty pages that she was going to trash the Goddess (I'd read Aestival Tide and should have known better). If you read for
depth of theme and lyric beauty, and you like serious action anyway, this is both an
awesome and thought-provoking read. Among other things, it inspired me to go back
and read _The_White_Goddess_.
I gave this book to everyone I know. One person felt that her vocabulary was too
noticably ornate in the first half, but I disagreed. The most cogent response I got was
from a dear friend and fellow wiccan, who agreed with my thought that Oliver's initial sacrifce was
to Venus Erycina; but later we wondered - who is Oliver (naming convention chosen to not give too much away) sacred to? My friend's other response was along the lines of
disappointment that the book ends with an apocolyptic flourish, and we do not see how
the Goddess remains in the world, except as an echo of the power of the narrative.
Nit picking! A great book
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: Elizabeth Hand has created one of the most realistic fantasy worlds I've ever encountered between the covers of a book. The characters have a certain depth rarely found in science fiction/fantasy works. Nowadays I find myself listening for the sound of angels' wings as I travel the streets of D.C
Rating:
Summary: Form your own opinion, but man.......was this good.
Review: I found this novel to be everything a novel should be-- entertaining. OK, so it's not exactly the highest standard, but when you come right down to it that's what I found_Waking the Moon_ to be. Sure, it was full of rich imagery, and descriptions of the fantastic that made you think you were seeing the actual events take place. Plus, Sweeney is a great protagonist. But all in all, the book was just a great experience. However, anyone who approaches it looking for a ghost story, or a horror novel, or fantasy, is going to be sorely disappointed. The book does not fit firmly into any genre, but stradles them all. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a "novel" read.
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: Please don't yell at me
Review: Once again I'm in the minority, left hoping people don't send me outraged emails just because I like what I like and don't what I don't.Sorry, but this is one of the worst-written books I've ever tried to read -- awkward, obvious, graceless. The sense of mystery generated by the synopsis and cover blurbs is destroyed by two or three pages in, when all the relevant signposts are all-too-clearly laid in place: startling, ubiquitous angelic statuary? Check. Centuries-old buildings hidden behind trees? Check. Archaeological expert wearing jewelry with unexplained missing piece? Check. Ancient order observing mystical signs? Check. And that's by, oh, page seven? What happened to leading readers, let alone characters, into your dark designs in an intruiging way? It certainly isn't something which, judging by this book (and in fairness, it's the only one of Ms. Hand's I've seen) the author is capable of. Even the title tells you exactly what's going to happen. Humbug.
Rating:
Summary: I don't know art, but I know what I don't like
Review: Sorry, but this is one of the worst-written books I've ever tried to read -- awkward, obvious, graceless. The sense of mystery generated by the synopsis and cover blurbs is destroyed by two or three pages in, when all the relevant signposts are all-too-clearly laid in place: startling, ubiquitous angelic statuary? Check. Centuries-old buildings hidden behind trees? Check. Archaeological expert wearing jewelry with unexplained missing piece? Check. Ancient order observing mystical signs? Check. And that's by, oh, page seven? What happened to leading readers, let alone characters, into your dark designs in an intriguing way? It certainly isn't something which, judging by this book (and in fairness, it's the only one of Ms. Hand's I've seen) the author is capable of. Even the title tells you exactly what's going to happen. Humbug.
Rating:
Summary: Ranks right up there with one of my best reads
Review: This book held me enthralled from the moment I picked it up, and as soon as I finished it I proclaimed to my husband that it was one of the best books I'd ever read. Ms. Hand's use of imagery is amazingly articulate, and I had complete pictures in my mind of each character as they were introduced. And the story itself... one of the best right up until the very end. My only single complaint, like someone else mentioned, would have to be the author's use of a number of old English or historical words and phrases that I found myself looking up in a dictionary sometimes to fully grasp the meaning of a particular passage. (Often after reading through a few paragraphs, I could often get a general idea of what a particular word meant, but sometimes, the meaning was totally lost on me without looking it up.) That said, I *am* an educated individual, just not very strong in historical subjects. But in a way, I felt I got a neat little history lesson review in that regard. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Trite and unconvincing
Review: I was quite aggravated that I spent a couple of days of my life reading this novel. At first, the style of the book was quite gripping but after part 1 this pseudo- literary attempt flounders. The characters are described effectively but one never gets to the heart of their personalities. Frankly, several elements of the story are laughable: the Benandanti, the romance of Sweeney and Dylan being just two. As a Goddess worshipper I was not delighted with the overall hostile tone of the novel towards Goddess spirituality; don't fool yourself into thinking this is is a feminist take on Goddess craft. Plus, some of her 'facts' about particular Goddesses are wrong. I would have liked this book more if Hand had not described everyone's outfits and faces in such mind-numbing ways. Many pages of this book leave you bored, bored, bored! Read this if you go more for style over substance.
Rating:
Summary: Worst thing I have picked up in years
Review: I dont know what I was expecting when I purchased this book, but I did not get it. The writing itself was passable, however there was no story. I waded through this unnecessarily lengthy novel, only to find that nothing ever happened and feeling as if I were sitting in the dentist office waiting a root canal the entire time. It took me about six months to pick my way through this, and I usually read novels of this length in a weekend, less if they are extraordinary. The characters are not memorable, the only thing that is memorable is the setting, a few times when the school is first described made me want to go there and see it. Just a few fleeting moments. The subject matter is very intriguing, but the author did not delve into it a fraction of what could have been done. There is so much potential and a great idea for a book. Too bad it was not written better. A big waste of time.
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.
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