The Moonflower by Kim May

Getting into a Parisian art school was a dream come true for Ariana, but night terrors are disrupting her sleep, making it nearly impossible to complete her coursework, and now she faces expulsion.

When a mysterious woman gives her a pendant, promising it will solve her problems, Ariana is desperate enough to try it.

Instead of sweet dreams, it transports her to the Demos Oneiroi – the dream world of the ancient Greek gods – and thrusts her amidst a war between the gods.

Now Ariana must choose to let the gods fight amongst themselves, or risk everything to keep their feud from spilling into the real world.

I read this as part of SPFBO 6 judging. We received a free e-copy as part of the process. Unfortunately, this book will not be considered as a semi-finalist for the Inn.

To start out with something positive, I think the premise and idea of the story was done really well. While stories of Greek gods/goddesses have been done before, I felt that this was a unique twist on the trope. That it focused on the lesser talked-about deities was also a plus.

Where this book shined was in two particular scenes, both of which take place in the dream world. The moment we first enter this world, you can really picture yourself there. The book did a great job of portraying it. Secondly, near the end there’s a major fight scene. The tension in this scene and the pacing in it was really good.

And that’s unfortunately where my enjoyment ends. I found the characters to be incredibly one-dimensional and in some cases, caricatures. Ariana as a main character exhibits little to no agency, except where it’s convenient for the plot. There are multiple instances of her not wanting to do something, only for another man to tell her she should do it anyway. The majority of these scenes make the man come across as emotionally manipulative, even if that wasn’t the book’s intention.

One thing I felt bothered by was the description of a Black character as have “chocolate” or “chocolat” skin. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Though to be clear, I don’t think the book was trying to be offensive. Describing someone’s skin in relation to food or objects, I feel, only objectifies the person. Again, this clearly wasn’t the book’s intention, but I felt I should point it out all the same.

The biggest issue I had was with the pacing. As a whole, the book felt disjointed and stitched together. The scenes in the real world seemed pointless, especially the plot in the art school that seemed pretty much forgotten. (I also personally don’t understand how someone could be expelled for potentially failing an art class. Or why a professor would give a final that involved drawing a subject who can literally just walk out in the middle of you drawing them. I never took an art class in university, but…)

Overall, while this book had a couple of great moments and a unique premise, I just didn’t like it. I won’t be continuing on in the series either. However, should the author release another book in a new world/series, I might consider picking it up. This book really did have potential, but it was brought down by a number of factors.