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Blue Moon Rising (Hawk & Fisher) |  | Author: Simon R. Green
Publisher: Roc
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Seller: greatbuybooks
Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 911979
Media: Paperback
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0451450957
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780451450951
ASIN: 0451450957
Publication Date: December 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this sweeping fantasy saga-a prequel to the sensational Hawk & Fisher series-a young prince wages a war against a demonic force of darkness spreading across the country....
Praise for the fantasies of Simon R. Green...
"Delightful."-New York Daily News
"Mr. Green turns fantasy... delightfully topsy-turvy. A bevy of fascinating characters...fantasy adventure readers will savor and enjoy for a long time to come."-Rave Reviews
"Intrigue and magic...interesting and well-conceived."-Science Fiction Chronicle
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
 Blue Moon Rising November 14, 2009
Ithlilian
Blue Moon Rising starts out as a stereotypical knee slapping style story as it goes though everything the jacket mentions. There is a sarcastic unicorn, wise dragon, and feisty princess. Not to mention the dark woods and demons. After the first 100 pages though, the story completely changes. What you thought was going to be simple quest based fantasy becomes character driven, and thoroughly entertaining. We get intrigue at the castle and multiple traitors, as well as funny goblins and an angry princess. The story behind the south tower, the high warlock, and the champion are all interesting, and every character in this story is realistic and believable. Blue Moon Rising was setting up to be a great story for me until it started to drag at around page 350. The final big fight was a bit uninteresting to me and overly detailed, but that could be explained by my taste. I'm not a fan of 10 page long battle scenes. If you take the last battle out, then I'd give the novel 4 stars. Don't judge this book by the cover or jacket, it is more in depth and multidimensional than it seems. There is just the right amount of humor, drama, quests, and character development to make this a well balanced, well developed fantasy.
Well-Shaped, but Not Literature March 21, 2009
Harkius (Laramie, WY)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Overview:
The story is a light (generally), fun (mostly) read that had some interesting elements. The story is not original, instead being a pastiche of hackneyed crap from other fantasy novels that has been rearranged and reworked into something cute, fun, and amusing. Fans of the Myth Saga of Aahz and Skeeve by Robert Aspirin should take note here. This is in a similar vein, albeit a little bit darker. Despite the darkness and the death and the doom and the gloom, it's a fairly light read, really.
A. Plot
The plot of the book was really its driving force, even if it is not entirely new. This is not surprising; it is fantasy adventure, not literature. The second son of the king is sent (to die) to find a dragon and prove his worth. Instead, he comes back with the dragon and a princess, who was supposed to marry his older brother, until she was sacrificed to the dragon (who wanted nothing to do with her). He fails to die, so he is sent on another quest with the same goal. Surprisingly, he still doesn't die. Instead, he keeps being a nuisance, right up until the end of the book.
The plot is well done, overall. The conflicts are a bit obvious at times, and nothing here treads new ground. The traitors in the castle are obvious, none of the plot twists are really twisty (although some obvious ones are left out). Despite this, I give it good marks. Why? Because this is fantasy. It's not supposed to be complex, deep, and full of pathos. Rather, it is supposed to be escapism, and it is that, pretty well, too. So, I give it full marks. Just not a lot of stars. The intentions were not high enough to justify any more, despite fully meeting all of the author's goals.
B. Characters
The characters in the book were fun and engaging. None of them are stereotypical characters, but they aren't so opposite as to be just as meaningless. For example, the dragon does not hoard wealth, but butterflies. He is not a philanthropist, though. He eats people, occasionally. The unicorn is not bravely charging into battle, nor is he cowardly avoiding it all the time. Instead, he bites down, is sardonic about it, and goes with Rupert. Similar things could be said about the other characters, but don't need to be. If you like fantasy, just read it instead of this.
None of the characters really develop and grow in the book, though. They are pretty much the same at the end as they are at the beginning. But, on the other hand, this is just a fatasy novel. Having higher expectations for it puts it in the realm of literature, which this isn't.
C. Setting
Set in the Forest Kingdom (such an original name!), the settings include such typical fantasy fare as a castle, a forest, a tower, a dragon's cave, etc. There isn't anything really novel about the setting, other than a dark forest that is spreading its borders into the rest of the kingdom.
D. Theme
Darkness! Angst! Despair! It's like an emo kid's diary. After a while, it gets a bit annoying.
Treachery! Corruption! Betrayal! It's like a soap opera. After a while, it becomes tedious.
E. Point of View
The point of view is entirely third person, limited omniscience. For the beginning of the story, we mainly follow Rupert in his quests. Not too long after, we are exposed to others as the center of attention, alternating between Rupert and Julia, with occasional forays into other characters mindsets. The perspectives are not problematic, but they are not novel, either, contributing little to the book.
F. Aesthetics
The aesthetics in the book are negligible. The descriptions are brief in general, despite others' reviews. The text is not overly flowery; the sentences are generally brief, although the chapters are quite long (almost 100 pages for some). Again, not causing enough problems to distract, but not enough to write home about.
Conclusion:
I would eagerly recommend this to people who enjoy fantasy. It has some depth in addition to the interesting characters. It isn't literature, but it wasn't intended to be. It is supposed to be good, light fun. And, for the most part, it is. There is some dark, angsty, badness, but it doesn't overwhelm the remainder of the fun.
B+
Harkius
 One of the Best Fantasy Novels Ever March 24, 2008
John A. Castilla (San Antonio, TX)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is simply one of the best fantasy books that I have ever read. Simon R. Green creates a world that makes the reader anxious to revisit time and time again. I just wish he would write more books in this series.
 Good concept poor follow through February 27, 2008
Andrew Gray (Minnesota)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green is a fantasy novel set in a world of Mr. Green's creation. This is also a stand-alone novel so that allows the reader to jump right into this novel without having to have read any previous novels. This is the first book I have read by Mr. Green so I really went into this book with an open mind.
The plot of this book is riddled with clichés, I think this was done intentionally to play off those clichés and almost build a story around them. The plot centers around the second son of the king, who since he is the second son doesn't really matter much at court. He is told to go kill a dragon, once he leaves the kingdom (hopefully to die says the king) a series of events that lead to somewhat interesting consequences. There is an undertone of a more serious event that may take place. This book seems to be written in sections, or acts if you will. I realize that other books are written in this manner, but it has rarely seemed this obvious to me. It almost feels as though his is a novel written with successive short stories. The overall plot of this book is passable, but nothing really that stands out to me.
The characters of this book are again riddled with clichés. From Rupert to the rescued princess to his noble mount (a unicorn none-the-less). To me when reading this book, almost every character seems one dimensional and flat. The characters did not do anything that made me connect with them, nor wanted me to connect with them. There re several times in this book where a character will launch into a two page (or more) diatribe on varying subjects. I don't mind a speech here or there, but some of them didn't seem to make much sense. The characters have a ton of potential, but the actual execution of those characters and tapping the potential falls flat.
Some of the things I didn't really care for about this novel.
I love humor in fantasy novels, when done correctly. It adds a different element to the story. Through the first 100 pages of this book the humor was entertaining. However, it seemed that after the 100 page mark, the humor was the only thing carrying the novel and it quickly becomes stale. The adage of too much of a good thing can ruin it, certainly applies here.
I don't mind if an author intentionally writes a parody of sorts and uses time old clichés, but some imagination and just better development of both plot and characters would have been beneficial.
Also, I don't know if this is a Mr. Green tendency or not, but there seems to be too much description. Those large descriptions seemed to halt the story and made it become a plodding experience.
I do believe that this could have been a good story, and the characters could have been solid and interesting. However, the end result was just bland and uninteresting. It's a shame, because I really wanted to like this book.
For fantasy fans looking for a book that is riddled with clichés and uninteresting characters that can kill a couple hours of boredom, I would hesitantly recommend this book. For all other fantasy fans, you may want to avoid this book as there are much more interesting novels out there to be discovered.
Just One Thing After Another January 20, 2008
Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Blue Moon Rising (1989) is the first novel in the Blue Moon series. It is also a precursor to the Hawk and Fisher series.
In this novel, Prince Rupert of the Forest Kingdom and his unicorn are hunting for a dragon. His father King John IV has sent him out on this quest in hopes of him taking off and never coming back. But Rupert feels duty bound to find the dragon.
Rupert is searching for the Night Witch, whose home is within the Darkwood. They encounter a huge cobweb, a demon and goblins in the Tanglewood even before entering the Darkwood. Within the Darkwood, only blue phosphorescence lights their way in their trek to the Night Witch's cottage.
Luckily for Rupert, the Night Witch was in love with his grandfather. She presents him with a map to the Dragonslair. Rupert continues through the Darkwood to the other side. He keeps feeling like someone -- or something -- is watching him.
When they break through to the light again, Rupert heads toward the Dragonslair. The mountain is too steep for the unicorn, so Rupert goes on alone, over scree and up almost vertical slopes. Finally he reaches the mouth of the cave where the dragon dwells.
Rupert calls out to the dragon and the creature comes forth. The dragon is thirty feet from snout to tail, with dozens of very sharp teeth and wickedly clawed hands. Unfortunately, the dragon isn't interested in any fighting that day and invites Rupert back into his lair. There Rupert discovers that the dragon's hoard is a huge collection of preserved butterflies.
Rupert also encounters the princess who is staying with the dragon. Julia is not quite what Rupert expected in a princess. She has a strident voice and an overbearing manner. The dragon is hoping that Rupert will rescue her just to get her out of his cave.
In this story, the dragon agrees to return to the Forest Kingdom with Rupert and the princess. After they reach the bottom of Dragonslair, Rupert calls the unicorn, but he doesn't want to come out where the dragon can see -- and catch -- him. Yet Rupert finally coaxes him into the open and they head back to the Darkwood.
Rupert hesitates before entering the Darkwood again, but still goes on. This time, however, the demons are waiting for them. They have to fight thousands of the demons. Finally, the dragon performs some magic to allow Rupert to make the Rainbow Run. He runs and runs and finally reaches a clearing, where he finds a magic sword. He returns to his companions with the sword and calls the Rainbow.
The Rainbow not only kills demons, but it melts away their bodies. Moreover, it heals the companions wounds and returns life to the unicorn. But it doesn't restore his horn.
Upon returning to his home castle, Rupert learns that the Darkwood is spreading. Demons are raiding villages and surrounding the castle every night. Something has to be done and Rupert is selected to do it.
This story relates the maturing of Rupert. He has always been known for doing his duty, but he is now acquiring a degree of cynicism and a much greater skill with the sword. His brother Harald used to be able to defeat him with ease, but not any more.
Julia is also maturing. She now can go for weeks without punching out some wisecracking courtier. Of course, some of that comes from her new reputation, but she also has developed a degree of patience.
The unicorn begins to display a trace of bravery, but maybe that comes from being raised from the dead. On the other hand, the unicorn doesn't have much choice in the matter, since it is fight or die . . . again. His coat is beginning to look like a much repaired garment from all the scars, not to mention the stub of the horn.
The story has a degree of humor as well as violence and betrayal. The unicorn and Rupert have an ongoing discussion about honor and duty, with the unicorn disparaging Rupert's attitude. Julia and Harald also have an ongoing discussion, but about marriage; she keeps saying "no" and punching him out.
The story has more twists and turns than a mountain road. Moreover, it has a well foreshadowed, but surprising solution to the Darkwood problem. The ending is also surprising, but not quite unexpected.
Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of magic, close combat and political intrigue.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
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