The Seventh Moon

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: A good read. Turned on the heat right at the start and didn't let up for a minute. I found the characters believable and the war backgrounds convinced me, and I saw some of that with my own eyes. Even the bad guys were human, and I liked that.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Book!
Review: I didn't think Mr. Gabriel's MASK OF TIME could ever be topped, not even by him. SEVENTH MOON grabs hold of you from the very first page and is nearly impossible to put down. After reading the last page I immediately turned back to the first page and read it AGAIN, honest truth! Marius Gabriel is a master storyteller and brilliant writer. If you are looking over these reviews, trying to make a decision on whether to buy it... Just do it, this book is unforgettable!

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing entertainment
Review: I won't explain what this book is about because other readers have already done that on this page, but I wanted to say a couple of things. I had one thought throughout reading this novel -- what a powerful movie it would make. I think that comes really from the author's ability to create engrossing backgrounds and put compelling characters in them.

As a male reader, a book with two women at the centre is not one I would automatically choose, and the starting question, is-she-isn't-she-Ruth is not exactly a new plot idea. But this author took the whole story right out of the mundane and turned it into a brilliant historical novel with such conviction that in places it isn't fiction at all, it's history.

So I give this book top marks for entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and engrossing
Review: Not entirely a romance, not wholly a thriller or a mystery, THE SEVENTH MOON is a gripping mixture of all three that takes us from Singapore on the eve of the Japanese invasion to New York, Hong Kong and Laos in the early 70s in a tale about a woman's attempts to deal with the fate of her only child.

Early in World War II, as the Japanese overrun Malaysia, Francine Lawrence flees Singapore with her lover and her young daughter, Ruth. But Ruth is too sick to finish the dangerous journey, and Francine is forced to leave her with strangers for her own sake. After the war, Francine returns to find the child, but Ruth has vanished and the tribe she was with has been slaughtered by the Japanese. Thirty years later, the appearance of a young woman who may or may not be Ruth reopens all the old wounds. Sakura Ueda has secrets so dark and horrifying Francine can barely imagine them, and every reason to lie about who she is. Yet in the wasteland that has become Francine's heart, something is touched by the presence of Sakura, and Francine finds herself compelled to make one last, fearful journey in the hope of finding the truth and reclaiming her family.

THE SEVENTH MOON is a wonderfully well-crafted book, the sort that makes the actual physical act of reading a pleasure. It caught me almost from the first, and carried me straight through 300-odd pages without a hitch or a slow-down anywhere. The theme is universal: the love of a mother for her child, played out not once but twice, and framed by a pair of love affairs born out of need, and a hunger for some human warmth in a cold world. Gabriel, skillfully balancing these parallel histories, keeps his narrative tight, tense and involving straight through to the end. I never quite knew where he was going to go with this story, a quality which always makes me want to shout "halleluiah!" since so many genres have become numbingly predictable. If occasionally I found certain characters a little over-done, or perhaps a bit redundant in some situations, the problems were minor by comparison to the richness these characters brought to the narrative as a whole. Compelling in their weakness as well as their strength, they are entirely human and it's easy to identify with them. Their histories inform their characters, and exotic as they are, those histories feel genuine. There are few false steps here, and the ones I found seem unimportant by comparison to the vividness of the narrative.

Gabriel has the gift of telling a story of love and loss without resorting to pathos, the ability to describe terror without resorting to gore, and the knack for eroticism without vulgarity. THE SEVENTH MOON is a hard-to-put-down novel I would recommend to almost anyone who is looking for something more than just a little mind-candy.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is the first novel I have read by this author, believe me, I will be purchasing his other books. I could NOT put this book down and that is no exaggeration. This book grabbed me from the very first page and did not let go. He made me see the wars in a much more personal way. I felt as if I was there with Francine through the whole book. So many other books I read are good, so I give them 4 stars, but this book so outclasses other "good" books it's ridiculous. Highly, highly recommended. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is the first novel I have read by this author, believe me, I will be purchasing his other books. I could NOT put this book down and that is no exaggeration. This book grabbed me from the very first page and did not let go. He made me see the wars in a much more personal way. I felt as if I was there with Francine through the whole book. So many other books I read are good, so I give them 4 stars, but this book so outclasses other "good" books it's ridiculous. Highly, highly recommended. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Another must read!
Review: This novel had us from the first page. We couldn't put this one down. We couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what would happen to Francine-past and present. We found this book with some fascinating characters, always a story within a story. We would have liked to hear more about Francine's first husband, and what happend between Clive & Francine later on. Also Sakura is one tough woman! Like mother like daughter? Her story was so real and painful, you knew what she went through. Her & Clay are perfectly matched, but we won't give the story away, although it ended fast we highly recommend The Seventh Moon a must read for 2000. Mr. Gabriel has become one of our favorite new authors 4 1999. Can't wait 4 another Gabriel novel!

Rating:
Summary: Never read anything like this before!
Review: This was a very unusual book. I've never read anything quite so intense. I was completely swept away by the story, which covers the most exotic locations and events imaginable. But basically, the main issue is, what happens to a little girl abandoned in the middle of a raging war? Does she survive, and go on to become something her mother could never dream of? Or is that impossible?

This is the question Francine has to answer when, almost thirty years after the end of the war, a strange young woman comes along claiming to be her long-lost daughter. And Sakura is a wonderful character, whether you love her or hate her (I started out hating her and ended up loving her) The two characters are so very different you think they are going to tear each other apart, and the climax is just mind-blowing. It had me crying, and I NEVER cry over books or movies. I highly recommend this book if you're tired of reading the same old tired story every time!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written and heart-rending
Review: Two things struck me about this novel. One was the quality of the writing, which is very high, and the other was the amount of passion put into it by the author.

I had never heard of Marius Gabriel before. I purchased this book on the strength of an extract which I read here at Amazon, and I was delighted with my "discovery." He writes in a lucid, vivid style that makes reading a pleasure (I am very fussy) and with a depth of feeling that makes it hard to believe he is a man (no offense, but it is VERY rare to find a male author who can get so completely under the skin of his female characters). Reading THE SEVENTH MOON was like having a very sane friend tell you about a very insane world.

My only complaint is that the story was heart-rending. I won't give the ending away here, but all the characters have their lives turned inside-out by the time the last hair-raising page is turned. I was going to take off a star for all the tears I shed, but found it hard to punish this author.