Renaissance Moon: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: An absorbing and intricate occult / mystery story
Review: "'Short, bloody, sexy, and fascinating'" a minor character says of heroine Selene Catcher's writing. The same could be said of Renaissance Moon, Linda Nevin's novel. While the story is at times visceral and vivid, it never stoops to sensationalism in place of a well-developed plot and fascinating characters. The novel follows Selene Catcher, the intellectual, indulgent heiress via the account of Giovanni Corio, the charming and self-effacing Jesuit priest. Both are remarkably involved and admirable characters. Selene is a scholar of the mysteries of the Renaissance, but she is also a secret priestess of the triple goddess Artemis, whose stages of cerebral maiden, merciless huntress, and unearthly crone evolve Selene throughout the story. The ending is much forshadowed and has a heavy sense of inescapability, but readers will want to read on to see what panache Nevins carries it with. I truly enjoyed the two major settings of the story: the bustling and pretentious historic villas of Italy and the dark winter woodlands of the northern United States. Both played a great part in giving the novel its fantastic and remorable aura. In addition, the book itself is lovely and elegant. I have read it many, many times since I bought it and would recommend it to almost anyone.

Rating:
Summary: An absorbing and intricate occult / mystery story
Review: "'Short, bloody, sexy, and fascinating'" a minor character says of heroine Selene Catcher's writing. The same could be said of Renaissance Moon, Linda Nevin's novel. While the story is at times visceral and vivid, it never stoops to sensationalism in place of a well-developed plot and fascinating characters. The novel follows Selene Catcher, the intellectual, indulgent heiress via the account of Giovanni Corio, the charming and self-effacing Jesuit priest. Both are remarkably involved and admirable characters. Selene is a scholar of the mysteries of the Renaissance, but she is also a secret priestess of the triple goddess Artemis, whose stages of cerebral maiden, merciless huntress, and unearthly crone evolve Selene throughout the story. The ending is much forshadowed and has a heavy sense of inescapability, but readers will want to read on to see what panache Nevins carries it with. I truly enjoyed the two major settings of the story: the bustling and pretentious historic villas of Italy and the dark winter woodlands of the northern United States. Both played a great part in giving the novel its fantastic and remorable aura. In addition, the book itself is lovely and elegant. I have read it many, many times since I bought it and would recommend it to almost anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Not Nearly As Good As I'd Hoped
Review: Ms Nevins starts out with an interesting idea, but her Greek mythology is flawed. I would expect more from a scholar. After finding her errors in mythology, I kept reading to see if the mistakes could be overlooked for the quality of the writing. Instead, I find that she makes Pagans looks like blood-crazed madmen and -women. I grant you, this is a work of fiction, and so portrayals of characters in the book should not be taken as the way modern Pagans really are, but there are an awful lot of folks who think Harry Potter is teaching children witchcraft...

At best, this is mediocre fiction. The main character is not terribly likeable, and that makes it hard to care what happens. At worst, this book paints an ugly picture of Pagans, which should not be believed under any circumstances.

Rating:
Summary: Worst I've read in a long time -- avoid!!
Review: Not to waste valuable time on this book, but it was quite awful. The depiction of Pagans, in particular, is skewed and extremely negative. A "bloodthirsty" Goddess-worshiper? I am not Pagan, but I have friends who are, and I know quite a bit about the subject -- and Pagans are in no way bloodthirsty (or psychotic, as Nevin's heroine, Selene, seems to be!). They are gentle worshipers of the earth and the cycles of nature. I can only guess that this author must have been lazy and never made a study of modern Pagans at all. The story is fairly boring, too. Annoying scholarship, and a snooze on top of it all!