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Review of MAGIC MOON by Wolfgang & Heike Hohlbein
TokyoPop, October 2006
Kim spends his life playing videogames and reading science fiction. When his sister falls into a coma, a strange man approaches him and tells him of a 'magic moon' where his sister often came. Now Kim's sister is being held captive, and only Kim can cross the inpenetrable mountains and save her. After somehow summoning up a spacecraft, Kim travels to the magic moon. Once there, though, a mysterious force pulls him off course--and forces him to make a crash landing far from his new friend.
The land of the magic moon is divided between two rulers--one who seeks union with nature, one who seeks destruction. Like Darth Vader, Borass, the evil ruler, intends that Kim's anger and hatred will poison Kim to the extent that Kim turns to the evil side.
Even escaping from Borass seems pointless. Borass's armies are far stronger than those of the old man who brought Kim to the magic moon--and it appears as if the entire magic moon will be destroyed. Although a prophesy does say that something can be done, the quest it proposes seems impossible.
Authors Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein build on a familiar young-adult fantasy--that of being uniquely needed to solve a problem even the powerful cannot touch. After a slow start, the epic quest itself has some nice twists and surprises as Kim learns about both himself and the world he lives in.
Magic moon is definitely high-potential stuff. I liked Kim's experience with the Black Knights, his reaction to killing, and the idea of the heroes being held in a sort of lotus-eater land. Sometimes clunky English (probably introduced in translation), the trite spacecraft scene, and the perhaps too-cute ending weakened it for me. While far from perfect, magic moon is worth the read.
Two Stars
Reviewed 8/23/06
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