fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsfantasy book reviews Jonathan Carroll Bones of the MoonBones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll

I know Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll has gotten really good reviews, and is supposed to be the source material for the Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman, but 50 pages in to the story, I didn’t care about any of the characters and the only fantastical thing that had happened was the main character, a self-involved woman named Cullen, started having weird serial dreams about a talking dog and a young boy named Pepsi.

Not caring about any of the characters is bad enough, but I also didn’t care enough about the setting — switching back and forth between a sterile New York and an idyllic Europe that felt like a pretentious foreign film starring the kind of people that like pretentious foreign films. I also had a problem with Cullen having an abortion for reasons of convenience, which is just an issue of mine that other readers may not have problems with.

Taken together we have flat characters and a boring setting with a complete lack of magic — both metaphorical and literal. Life’s too short to read bad books, and this one got sent back to the library unfinished.

 

The Answered Prayers (Rondua) — (1987-1993) Publisher: Cullen James is a young woman whose life dictates her dreams and whose dreams control her life. In her first dream, she found the perfect man and the same thing promptly happened in life. Now, she has begun to dream of Rondua, a fantasy world of high adventure. And slowly her dream world is spilling over into her reality, and beginning to threaten everything she loves in life. Her friends are gathered to help he rbut even her newfound courage may not be enough.

Jonathan Carroll Rondua Answered Prayers Bones of the Moon Sleeping in Flame A Child Across the Sky Jonathan Carroll Rondua Answered Prayers Bones of the Moon Sleeping in Flame A Child Across the Sky Jonathan Carroll Rondua Answered Prayers Bones of the Moon Sleeping in Flame A Child Across the Sky

Author

  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.