About This Book:
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in Graci Kim’s magical and mysterious Gifted Clans trilogy.
“Graci Kim does such an amazing job of blending Korean mythology into the modern world, I am now wondering how I ever lived without knowing all this cool information.”–New York Times #1 best-selling author Rick Riordan
For Riley Oh, life as the Godrealm’s last fallen star is not all it’s cracked up to be. Her new divine heritage doesn’t even come with cool magical powers; half of her friends and family (including her parents) can’t remember her; and to top it all off, the entire Gom clan is mad at her for killing the Cave Bear Goddess and stripping away their healing abilities.
But when their anger boils over and a group of witches curse Riley’s home, she knows it’s up to her to restore magic back to her clan – even if it means sneaking into the Spiritrealm.
Luckily, Riley has some backup. Along with her sister, Hattie, Riley meets Dahl, a heaven-born boy with shockingly white hair and a fondness for toilets who might not be telling the whole truth about who he is. Together they’ll fight vicious monsters, discover dark underwater worlds, and race to save the land of the dead from a fate that no one could have foreseen.
And this time, Riley won’t let anything get in her way. Because she can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is coming their way – and the gifted community is going to need all the powers they can get.
*Review Contributed by Olivia Farr, Staff Reviewer*
delightful sequel
THE LAST FALLEN MOON continues Riley’s story with a new fantasy adventure. As we learned in the first book, Riley is the Last Fallen Star, a piece of the dark sun that fell from the Godrealm’s sky. Within the Gifted community, Riley has made some enemies, particularly of the Gom clan, and she is still feeling the effects of the compromises she made along the way, like the deal with a dokkebai that made it so that her family would not remember her.
When her family home is cursed, Riley decides that she must do the impossible. She will travel to the Spiritrealm and find a new patron to restore magic to the Gom clan. Luckily, she isn’t going alone, accompanied by the only person in her family who remembers her, her sister Hattie. They soon meet Dahl on their way, a boy who wants to help them and may have a more critical role than they could have expected.
What I loved: This was another fantastic installment in an engaging and fast-paced middle grade fantasy adventure series. The plot takes the reader through other realms and mythology that was well-constructed, lush, and fascinating. This expands the world of the first book with a connected but new problem, new characters, and further information about Riley and the worlds around her. While you do need to read the first to understand this, the key information is recapped early in the book, which is really helpful.
Riley remains a really genuine character, trying to find her place in the world and determine who she will be, much like the intended middle grade audience – though with some fantasy escalation. Hattie is also a really fantastic character, caring for her sister and bringing through the theme of family in a compelling way. Dahl, the new character, was absolutely delightful with his interest in toilets and heartfelt manner. Other secondary characters are also endearing and make for an unforgettable cast.
Themes around family, friendship, memory, finding your place, fixing your mistakes, and community make this a compelling story. The blend of humor along with action-adventure and heartfelt moments are sure to captivate readers. Much like the first, this is a book that readers will devour.
Final verdict: An engaging and heartfelt middle grade fantasy adventure, THE LAST FALLEN MOON continues a must-read series with a new quest and friends. Highly recommend reading this series!
