Circle of the Moon, Audio Edition

Circle of the Moon, Audio Edition (2019) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam

Nell is recovering from spending several months as flora instead of fauna.

The farm had seemingly figured out that if I was a tree, there would be no one to work the soil and it liked me around. Now, as I worked, the leaves on my neck and hands broke off and the vines fell free, a calming sacrifice to the land, not bloody and violent as other kinds.

She is also negotiating with her family for her sister, Mud, to come live with her, so she can be protected from the churchmen. But Mud has some ideas of her own about their future.

“You make more’n fifty thousand dollars a year,” she said, looking at her hands tightening into fists on the kitchen table. “And your living costs last year were around fifteen thousand. You being a tree for six months meant your income was less— due to you bein’ on disability and everything. But your cost of living while you were a tree was negalable so you came out ahead.”

I very much enjoyed Mud dickering with Nell about upgrades to the house and a greenhouse and the changes coming so Mud can live with Nell.

Occam is still recovering from the burns her received on their last case. The case where he died and Nell brought him back. But he also finally professes his love.

“I love you, Nell, sugar. I love you with no demands. Nothing held back. I love you to the exclusion of all others. I love you now, when you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I loved you when you were a tree. I will love you when you grow gray haired and your leaves are brittle and brown.

That Occam, he’s a keeper.

But something is wrong with Rick. There are magic circles that Rick seems called to, and he is aging unnaturally. But no one can figure out what is happening or why.

And this is where I think I still have issues with this story. The whole thing with Loriann still doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m going to get into spoiler territory here, but it’s been several years since the book was published.

I don’t understand why Jason wanted to destroy Rick. I get the stories Loriann told him, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. And I really don’t understand why he would want to destroy all the vampires. He was a blood junkie (not through his own fault, but he was) so gaining power over the vamps I can see, but destroying all the vampires for that makes no logical sense. Especially if he had to make a deal with a demon to do so.

The whole thing is illogical, which bothers me a lot. Plus, much of the story centered o Rick, and I still don’t like Rick, so that probably didn’t help. Yeah, he had a lot of terrible things happen to him, but most of his problems started when he had sex while he was undercover while he was dating Jane. None of that made a lot of sense, since she knew she’d get the death penalty for her actions. And Rick knew Jane had feelings about their relationship.

So I feel bad for Rick, but I’m not delighted to be reading about him.

Publisher: Audible Studios

Rating: 7/10

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