Review: Refreshingly Repulsive (In a Good Way, 4.5 Stars)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2014
I was kindly asked by the author to read "The War of The Moonstone" and provide an honest review.  This review covers Part 1 and Part 2. The story (five second version) revolves around Gilgaroth's quest to retrieve the Moonstone in order to facilitate his quest to bring down the Crescent Alliance and rule all lands with impunity.There were two main protagonists in the story, Giorn and Raugst, with a very strong supporting cast of benevolent and malevolent characters including Niara, Vrulug, Saria, Gilgaroth, Fria and numerous interesting creatures. The pace of the book picked up steadily as the story evolved. The author's writing style is very descriptive and engaging. There were a lot of twists and turns that kept the story fresh. I particularly enjoyed Niara's dilemma and how she resolved it. The battle scenes and acts of debauchery were well thought out. The book was also properly proofread, which is often lacking from many indie authors.This book in my opinion is really only intended for adults due to the very vivid and graphic descriptions of violence and to a lesser extent sex perpetrated on and to countless humans of both sexes. At times the book is quite visceral. These scenes are spread sporadically throughout the book, but when they come, it's a gut wrencher to say the least. Some reviewers have stated or implied the author over did it with the violence. Personally, I felt the author used the violence and grisly carnage effectively for the purpose of conveying to the reader that these malevolent entities really lived for this stuff. He really was quite inventive with ways to torture someone.For me, "The War of The Moonstone" cleansed my palate in an unsavory sort of way, compared to the the countless other fantasy novels I have read. Make no mistake, as the reader, you can't help but cringe when you read what the Borchstogs, Vrulug, and Saria did to all the humans. The horror the humans went through (including young kids) made for really uncomfortable reading at times, but yet the story seemed very realistic and was ultimately why I ended up enjoying it. I think sometimes you need a story like this to take you out of your comfort zone and, rest assured, this will. The author created a solid storyline with a dynamic plot and engaging characters (good and bad) that were interesting.Spoiler Alert (Just in case)There were some detractions from the book. As many reviewers have stated, this book needs a map badly. The story was constantly evolving and moving through different regions and kingdoms. A map would definitely benefit the reader. For example: The bridge over the pit of Eresine. This is where a map would have been helpful. The Borchstogs were the ones who originally destroyed it to keep the humans at bay and at the same time, they had to rebuild it in order for their larger army to invade. This made no sense to me. Why destroy it to begin with if in the bigger picture, the larger army was on its way.  A map depicting all the kingdoms or regions (including Gilgaroth and his minions) would have made life so much easier to figure out where all parties originated and were located in relation to each other.Also, a lot of things had to happen in very short order for Raugst to attain his ultimate goal throughout the story (from choosing his staff to planning meetings with enemies and compatriots). As the story was really rolling, it seemed to all come together very quickly and it just did not seem very realistic for Raugst to have the foresight (let alone time) to make all this stuff work, since the situation was very dynamic and changing. He would of had to have runners traveling all over the land in a hostile environment to arrange meetings and form alliances. It all seemed to come together for him, but again a map would have been helpful to see where one kingdom was situated in relation to another.As the battles raged on and more kingdoms were razed and ransacked, there seemed to be an endless supply of priestesses that succumbed to the Borchstogs wherever the battle ensued. I was questioning how many could there be and how did they all have amulets (especially where they came from). I am pretty nitpicky, so I want to know all the details. Why is it that all the Borchstogs were male? I know they are soldiers and not human, but don't they reproduce on their own or are they just magically created by Gilgaroth? No females or children Borchstogs are ever mentioned in the story. How are they created as there seemed to be an endless supply of them. What did they do in their homeland when they weren't invading, waging war, or thinking of new ways to torture someone.Lastly, because of the visciousness of the Borchstogs, I felt at times the author didn't effectively convey to the reader the sheer helplessness and extreme fear most of the humans including soldiers had to be experiencing as they approached their kingdom's doorstep. I would be scared _hitless if I knew what awaited me after hearing about it from word of mouth or seeing it with my own eyes. Some of the actions the people were doing prior to invasion or immediately after just didn't seem very realistic in light of the sadistic enemy they faced.All in all, the detractions noted were minor and did not take away from the author's effective storytelling. The book kept my interest throughout. Overall, "The War of The Moonstone" is a very engaging book and I'm glad I read it. I look forward to the sequel "The War of the Black Tower".Jeffindieproofreader@gmail.com