Lynne Ewing

Daughters of the Moon — (2000-2007) Young adult. Publisher: Vanessa, who has always had the special power to become invisible, discovers that she and her best friend Catty, a time-traveler, are goddesses of the moon who must fight together to overcome the evil Atrox.

Night Shade: Not recommended

I’ll put it bluntly: I don’t recommend this series. Granted, I’m no longer in the demographic that Daughters of the Moon is targeted toward, but I was when I first read Nightshade and I wasn’t impressed even then.

The premise of Daughters of the Moon is that young girls who are delivered by the goddess Diana are infused with magical powers that they must use against the ancient evil Atrox and his various minions. It's the girl-power meets evil-bashing type of book, a ploy that usually works, but to be honest — there’s better stuff out there that covers the same ground.

The “goddesses” themselves are typical stereotypes: Serena is the leader, Jimena is the bad girl, Catty is the shy one, and Vanessa is the…extra? Each book is written from a particular girl’s point of view, and in this case the protagonist Jimena is awfully dense. When her boyfriend Veto turns up, she never once questions the fact that he’s back from the dead and suspicions as to any possible misdeeds aren’t even considered, even when he breaks into her apartment in the middle of the night.

Most characterization seems to be based on clothing. In fact, a LOT of the exposition of the book is based on clothing. So, here goes:

Minions of Evil will be modeling “a stretchy black capris with a low-cut black tank top and too much silver jewelry” or “a skimpy black dress and shiny black boots.”

I guess you can tell they’re evil because they have no fashion sense.

Forces of Good however, go for the brighter look, such as: “red cowboy boots and a lacy sundress,” or “a pink slip dress and beaded slides” or “a split tube top that showed off the piercing in her belly button and a pink hip-hugging skirt with an asymmetrical hem.”

Actually never mind, the good guys don’t seem to have much fashion sense either.

No one ever said these books were high-class literature, but some of these quotes reveal the level of style at work:

"She yearned for the sweet kind of love she had known with him."

"He reminded her of a lizard, the way his beady eyes darted up and down her body with frank sexual interest."

"If this is true, it is very bad for us because it means that she has come up with an evil plan."

Just…no. —Rebecca Fisher