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The MoonQuest: The Q'ntana Trilogy #1
IN A LAND WHERE FEAR RULES AND STORYTELLING SPELLS DEATH, ONLY ONE BARD'S IMAGINATION CAN END THE TYRANNY...
As black-clad armies terrorize the Q'ntana countryside, one young bard must come out of hiding to embark on The MoonQuest, the long-prophesied journey to end the tyranny...a journey guided only by stories...a journey that blurs the line between vision and reality. Only by trusting himself can Toshar rekindle the spirit of the land. Only by trusting his imagination can he reignite the light of its darkened moon.
A gripping and epic adventure rich with universal truth.
• Five-time award-winner
• Book I of Mark David Gerson's Q'ntana Trilogy
• Soon to be a major motion picture!
"An exceptional, timeless novel."
~ Mindquest Review of Books
"Mesmerizing. A spellbinding tale."
~ Gary A. Wilson, author of Marshal Keller and the Blackheart Gang
"An enjoyable journey into a wondrous world that will leave you yearning to return again and again."
~ Judy Smith Adams, Springfield, Missouri
As black-clad armies terrorize the Q'ntana countryside, one young bard must come out of hiding to embark on The MoonQuest, the long-prophesied journey to end the tyranny...a journey guided only by stories...a journey that blurs the line between vision and reality. Only by trusting himself can Toshar rekindle the spirit of the land. Only by trusting his imagination can he reignite the light of its darkened moon.
A gripping and epic adventure rich with universal truth.
• Five-time award-winner
• Book I of Mark David Gerson's Q'ntana Trilogy
• Soon to be a major motion picture!
"An exceptional, timeless novel."
~ Mindquest Review of Books
"Mesmerizing. A spellbinding tale."
~ Gary A. Wilson, author of Marshal Keller and the Blackheart Gang
"An enjoyable journey into a wondrous world that will leave you yearning to return again and again."
~ Judy Smith Adams, Springfield, Missouri
- GenresFantasy
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Mark David Gerson
30 books61 followersMark David Gerson is the bestselling author of more than twenty books. His nonfiction includes popular titles for writers, inspiring personal growth books and compelling memoirs. As a novelist he is best known for The Legend of Q’ntana fantasy series, coming soon to movie theaters. When he’s not writing, Mark David coaches an international roster of both first-time and seasoned writers to help them get their stories onto the page and into the world with ease.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 25, 2021
I wasn't too sure what to expect from this book but it actually ended up being a very pleasant surprise. It has many classic elements of a fantasy story: a quest, a young somewhat reluctant hero being pushed onto a path he is uncertain about, magic and a prophecy. There are gods and goddesses as well plus some very strange creatures. And what is a story without a nasty villain who has a marauding army? And something about this story made me think of some old fantasy movies from the 1980s, ones like Beastmaster and Conan the Destroyer. Both of those involve quests and creatures and magic and sword fights just like this book.
The main character in here is a bard...but he is a bard with powers! He sees things through visions and dreams. And he can hear the mental voices of some wildlife too. He never really asked for these gifts and he is unsure about his abilities but he is the one chosen to go on this quest to save the world from darkness. Before it is too late.
This is very much an adventure story. There is much traveling and all sorts of dangers. And not all of the dangers can be defeated by a battle. Sometimes wisdom is required. I think that adds to the story too. And the doubt that the characters face make it seem more real.
I do believe this book is about finding the courage to face your fears, whatever those fears are. And about love and being kind to others. At the same time the book also has huge bloody fights too...armies clashing against each other like in Lord of the Rings. And when it comes to the fears there are some thrilling scenes all right! The best one in my opinion is about a very tall cliff as I have the fear of heights! Scary!!
I also enjoyed the many smaller stories inside the larger story. As a bard Toshar was always telling stories. These stories would just come to him from somewhere.. He was not taught them as a bard would be in most other settings. It is almost like he is a prophet having a vision of the future because of his gift.
I admit to reading this because of the two horses on the cover. These are magical horses and they can move incredibly fast & have other unique abilities too. And yes, they really are those colors! Rykka is the sky blue horse that Toshar rides and Ta'ar is the purple horse the color of the sky at dusk that Yhosi rides. The horses are not in every scene as often the characters travel to places that horses can't go. But they do keep reappearing throughout the story. And Rykka is in some very pivotal scenes. This is not really a horse story - its a fantasy adventure that includes some magical horses.
I don't understand why more people haven't read this? It certainly is an excellent story. It's very readable and fast moving. Lots of action. And it has heart too. It's about fellowship and trusting each other and restoring freedom to the land. And that you have to carry on and not quit just because things look gloomy. You have to believe in the others (on your team).
I think I was very lucky to find a copy of this book!
The main character in here is a bard...but he is a bard with powers! He sees things through visions and dreams. And he can hear the mental voices of some wildlife too. He never really asked for these gifts and he is unsure about his abilities but he is the one chosen to go on this quest to save the world from darkness. Before it is too late.
This is very much an adventure story. There is much traveling and all sorts of dangers. And not all of the dangers can be defeated by a battle. Sometimes wisdom is required. I think that adds to the story too. And the doubt that the characters face make it seem more real.
I do believe this book is about finding the courage to face your fears, whatever those fears are. And about love and being kind to others. At the same time the book also has huge bloody fights too...armies clashing against each other like in Lord of the Rings. And when it comes to the fears there are some thrilling scenes all right! The best one in my opinion is about a very tall cliff as I have the fear of heights! Scary!!
I also enjoyed the many smaller stories inside the larger story. As a bard Toshar was always telling stories. These stories would just come to him from somewhere.. He was not taught them as a bard would be in most other settings. It is almost like he is a prophet having a vision of the future because of his gift.
I admit to reading this because of the two horses on the cover. These are magical horses and they can move incredibly fast & have other unique abilities too. And yes, they really are those colors! Rykka is the sky blue horse that Toshar rides and Ta'ar is the purple horse the color of the sky at dusk that Yhosi rides. The horses are not in every scene as often the characters travel to places that horses can't go. But they do keep reappearing throughout the story. And Rykka is in some very pivotal scenes. This is not really a horse story - its a fantasy adventure that includes some magical horses.
I don't understand why more people haven't read this? It certainly is an excellent story. It's very readable and fast moving. Lots of action. And it has heart too. It's about fellowship and trusting each other and restoring freedom to the land. And that you have to carry on and not quit just because things look gloomy. You have to believe in the others (on your team).
I think I was very lucky to find a copy of this book!
July 27, 2007
Even before I started reading The MoonQuest, I kept feeling called to pick it up and open it at random. Every time I did, what I read was perfect, telling me what I needed to hear in that moment. Now that I'm reading it all the way through, it's awesome. I can't put it down!
August 26, 2021
I was caught up in the beautiful, lyrical writing of this fantasy story. Early on, the main character, Toshar, a bard in a land where being one is punishable by death, wonders what is dream and what is reality. When he lets his dreams guide him and his three companions, they achieve what they must, to bring M’nor, the fabled lost moon of old, back to the night sky. Each of the four has a character arc, but foremost is Toshar’s physical and mental journey to become Elderbard, to defeat the evil Fvorag, the king who banished all bardic tales from the land, and to save the other residents of Q’ntana. Highly recommended for those who love gorgeous storytelling.
July 23, 2007
This mystical true fantasy is a well-crafted journey to an oddly familiar place (for a fantasy!)where you grow along with the main character. It will make you want to tell your
story!
story!
Want to Read
June 19, 2015Author's guest post at my blog:
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2015/06/...
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2015/06/...
December 19, 2023
I loved The MoonQuest, and am happy to know it is the first book in a trilogy, so I have more to look forward to!
The hero Toshar is a great character. As I read about his many adventures, I felt like I got to really know him. There's plenty of detail about his personality, doubts, and motivations. The other major characters are detailed as well, with enough unique traits to easily keep everyone straight.
This is a fantasy adventure. Toshar is a bard in a world where storytelling is forbidden. Luckily, he is the chosen one destined to defeat this evil regime. He has some magical abilities, as well as a team of cohorts to help him. Something exciting is always happening on this quest. There are plenty of battle scenes, but also challenges where the group has to use their brains and common sense to overcome the obstacles. I liked this mix, and that the entire quest couldn't be finished just by being a good fighter!
I really enjoyed Toshar's stories. As a bard, he's often telling them (despite their being forbidden). I enjoyed the breaks from the main action to just enjoy a good story via Toshar.
There's also plenty of positive messaging about trying your best, doing what is right, and generally trying to be a good person.
I LOVED this book, and can't wait for the next installment.
Thank you to The Review Crew for connecting me with this great author and providing me with the chance to review this book. (If other readers would like this opportunity: https://groups.io/g/ReviewCrew).
5 stars!
The hero Toshar is a great character. As I read about his many adventures, I felt like I got to really know him. There's plenty of detail about his personality, doubts, and motivations. The other major characters are detailed as well, with enough unique traits to easily keep everyone straight.
This is a fantasy adventure. Toshar is a bard in a world where storytelling is forbidden. Luckily, he is the chosen one destined to defeat this evil regime. He has some magical abilities, as well as a team of cohorts to help him. Something exciting is always happening on this quest. There are plenty of battle scenes, but also challenges where the group has to use their brains and common sense to overcome the obstacles. I liked this mix, and that the entire quest couldn't be finished just by being a good fighter!
I really enjoyed Toshar's stories. As a bard, he's often telling them (despite their being forbidden). I enjoyed the breaks from the main action to just enjoy a good story via Toshar.
There's also plenty of positive messaging about trying your best, doing what is right, and generally trying to be a good person.
I LOVED this book, and can't wait for the next installment.
Thank you to The Review Crew for connecting me with this great author and providing me with the chance to review this book. (If other readers would like this opportunity: https://groups.io/g/ReviewCrew).
5 stars!
December 2, 2023
What if the world you lived in didn't allow stories? And that same world was ruled by a tyrant? That is the world that Toshar knows but it fated to change. With Fynda, Yhoshi and Garan becoming the power of four as one, Toshar has a quest that can save the world. Getting help from Goddess and visions the foursome make the journey doubting themselves and others. A coming of age and a quest story Moonquest allows you to escape our world into a world that is different in some ways and not so different in others. With a world so well written you can see it, and characters that are relatable Moonquest is escape fantasy at it's best. Join the Moonquest and restore the stories
November 20, 2023
Toshar and his three companions embark on a quest to save their homeland. The reluctant hero, Toshar, meets three traveling companions, each with a story of hardship and overcoming all odds to escape their situations. The strength of the four enables them to escape near death and continue their quest to end the evil reign of King Fvorag and restore the moon to their world. I enjoyed the journey of the four and learning more of their lives before the quest. I would like to see another novel showing what happened to each of them after they finished the quest.
March 4, 2016
I picked up this book after seeing various tweets from Mark David Gerson that made the book look appealing and I thought the premise of a bard having no voice to be a great book idea. Thus, I bought the Kindle version and began reading.
I will say I enjoyed the beginning pages because they were full of descriptive and rich language, however I soon felt lost in the plot as I read further. At the beginning Toshar and his friend Yhoshi set out on a quest, but they have no idea where they are going, beyond a vague "find M'nor" and "restore Q'ntana". Thus, Toshar is called to have a vision, since he is a bard, to guide them forward. The following pages that detail his vision were so psychedelic that I had difficultly following them. And at the end of this "vision-journey," Toshar suddenly ends up in a new place and his friend is miraculously there waiting for him. This lack of plot progression exists throughout the book so that it is difficult to follow and piece non-existent clues together. I suppose you could say that this book is supposed to be like this, since Gerson's spiritual and New Age philosophies seeped through the pages in contradictions. I felt like the mantra of the entire book is: "There is a purpose to your quest, but you should accept that you won't know that purpose or understand it. Accept the contradiction" and this isn't satisfactory for me. Also, these confusing events do not stop with the beginning, but happen often within the plot, where the characters magically (literally, with magic) escape the bad guys who somehow show up everywhere they go. I will call this convenient plot escapes, and even within the realm of fantasy, it was too much to swallow for me.
Another major disappointment I had when reading this book is character development. At the end of Toshar's first "dream-travel," they meet another female character named Fynda who is abused by her father. I would say this is a spoiler for the book, but literally within pages of meeting her, it is revealed she has been sexually molested. You would think that a sexually molested woman wouldn't reveal her pain to men she just met, but she literally info-dumped this to Toshar and Yhoshi without a convenient, "I don't know why I'm telling you this but…"
This is just one way that Fynda seemed unrealistic, but I also have another major SPOILER that makes me think Gerson may need to read Mark Twain's 18 rules of writing. SPOILER: Gerson felt the need to detail a RAPE DREAM to the audience towards the end of the book. I mean, GRUESOME detail of a Rape that DIDN'T happen. I skimmed through most of this because I was disgusted, however, I read enough to know that this was way too much detail. This unnecessary dream is, I believe, supposed to be an example of how Fynda frees herself from her past and becomes a better person. However, Gerson did not connect the dots for the readers and left me feeling disgusted instead of sympathetic towards Fynda's dream. As a writer, I think that Gerson should have showed Fynda's emotional scars more than he did to make this dream effective. He should have made her more shy around the three men she traveled with, and unwilling to assert herself throughout it. Instead, Gerson had Fynda stripping and swimming nude before the men without a care in the world, and unafraid of any man she came in contact with. Is this really the behavior of someone who has been abused? I think not. Fynda is just ONE of the characters that are flat, and I would also assert that Yhoshi and Gara, other supporting characters are flat as well. But for brevity, I think I will just stick with my analysis of Fynda to prove my point.
This may be a scathing review, but it is honestly said because I had hoped that this book would deliver more than it did. The beautiful descriptions Gerson gives are wasted on inadequate plot and character development. Instead, I would want Gerson to take his fables, which are incorporated throughout the book as Toshar's "visions" and make them into short stories. I'd enjoy reading them much more than this book.
For more book reviews, please look at my site, www.marieelrich.com
I will say I enjoyed the beginning pages because they were full of descriptive and rich language, however I soon felt lost in the plot as I read further. At the beginning Toshar and his friend Yhoshi set out on a quest, but they have no idea where they are going, beyond a vague "find M'nor" and "restore Q'ntana". Thus, Toshar is called to have a vision, since he is a bard, to guide them forward. The following pages that detail his vision were so psychedelic that I had difficultly following them. And at the end of this "vision-journey," Toshar suddenly ends up in a new place and his friend is miraculously there waiting for him. This lack of plot progression exists throughout the book so that it is difficult to follow and piece non-existent clues together. I suppose you could say that this book is supposed to be like this, since Gerson's spiritual and New Age philosophies seeped through the pages in contradictions. I felt like the mantra of the entire book is: "There is a purpose to your quest, but you should accept that you won't know that purpose or understand it. Accept the contradiction" and this isn't satisfactory for me. Also, these confusing events do not stop with the beginning, but happen often within the plot, where the characters magically (literally, with magic) escape the bad guys who somehow show up everywhere they go. I will call this convenient plot escapes, and even within the realm of fantasy, it was too much to swallow for me.
Another major disappointment I had when reading this book is character development. At the end of Toshar's first "dream-travel," they meet another female character named Fynda who is abused by her father. I would say this is a spoiler for the book, but literally within pages of meeting her, it is revealed she has been sexually molested. You would think that a sexually molested woman wouldn't reveal her pain to men she just met, but she literally info-dumped this to Toshar and Yhoshi without a convenient, "I don't know why I'm telling you this but…"
This is just one way that Fynda seemed unrealistic, but I also have another major SPOILER that makes me think Gerson may need to read Mark Twain's 18 rules of writing. SPOILER: Gerson felt the need to detail a RAPE DREAM to the audience towards the end of the book. I mean, GRUESOME detail of a Rape that DIDN'T happen. I skimmed through most of this because I was disgusted, however, I read enough to know that this was way too much detail. This unnecessary dream is, I believe, supposed to be an example of how Fynda frees herself from her past and becomes a better person. However, Gerson did not connect the dots for the readers and left me feeling disgusted instead of sympathetic towards Fynda's dream. As a writer, I think that Gerson should have showed Fynda's emotional scars more than he did to make this dream effective. He should have made her more shy around the three men she traveled with, and unwilling to assert herself throughout it. Instead, Gerson had Fynda stripping and swimming nude before the men without a care in the world, and unafraid of any man she came in contact with. Is this really the behavior of someone who has been abused? I think not. Fynda is just ONE of the characters that are flat, and I would also assert that Yhoshi and Gara, other supporting characters are flat as well. But for brevity, I think I will just stick with my analysis of Fynda to prove my point.
This may be a scathing review, but it is honestly said because I had hoped that this book would deliver more than it did. The beautiful descriptions Gerson gives are wasted on inadequate plot and character development. Instead, I would want Gerson to take his fables, which are incorporated throughout the book as Toshar's "visions" and make them into short stories. I'd enjoy reading them much more than this book.
For more book reviews, please look at my site, www.marieelrich.com
March 14, 2017
I don't usually read fantasies. I couldn't tell you the last time I read one, but THIS book... is wonderful.
It reminded me why I used to love fantasies once upon a time. The author managed to spin a quest tale that's true-to-form at its core, yet new and fresh in its imaginative spin on the details. Plus, the writing itself is stellar. What's not to love? This book may not be... old... but it's worthy of being called a classic.
It reminded me why I used to love fantasies once upon a time. The author managed to spin a quest tale that's true-to-form at its core, yet new and fresh in its imaginative spin on the details. Plus, the writing itself is stellar. What's not to love? This book may not be... old... but it's worthy of being called a classic.
August 20, 2009
A great book filled with fantasy, like a science fiction movie, bold, daring, exciting, fascinating, creative, eye-opening. Congratulations to the author for his marvellous creativity.
irene brodskt
teacher of poetry at Vrooklyn College
author of Poetry Unplugged (Outskirts Press)
irene brodskt
teacher of poetry at Vrooklyn College
author of Poetry Unplugged (Outskirts Press)
July 11, 2010
Gerson creates an interesting world -- the story is easy to follow and has wonderful spiritual overtones - undertones? I have enjoyed this story.
July 3, 2012
The best fantasy novel I've EVER read!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews