Moonshine: Path of the Raven

by Max Shippee, Alice Kuo Shippee (editor), Tim Byrne (cover_art)

Come with ten year old Sam, as he journeys from loss to transformation and learns what it really means to grow up. A life-changing event forces Sam to follow a stranger hundreds of miles to an unfamiliar but magical place. Will Sam choose to stay with a new family, or will his killer instincts lead to his fatal downfall?

Get ready to enter a world of captivating characters, where witches and werewolves carry legendary spirits across the ages into early 1900’s America. Sam’s adventures and coming of age are the makings of a new classic. Moonshine: Path of the Raven is just the beginning of Moonshine: The Series!

362 pages, Paperback

Published December 21, 2024

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows a character on hid jounry to a life he never kenw could be. Yes, ther are werewolves, transformations, witches, the loss of family and the twists and turns of moving forwartd without a clue as to why. It paints the werewolf community ina different light, more of a natural honor part o fht eworls and less an accident. Rather a well planned community. The character developement and the way the story unfolds keeps you captivated trying to figure out "what next?" for each character.
New author on the scene... wow...I have a question, what is next for Sam, Arebella, Stew...? Very well written, I can't wait to continue on this journey all these amazing characters.

Spice rating: zero
Age level: middle school and above
Book genre: fantasy
Who should read: everyone!!!!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very creative, entertaining book! I like the new twists in a familiar mythology, and lots of likeable characters and action to quickly bring you in. Where do I get a Pelt???

[Linna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam is young boy who learned the value of hard work. His kindhearted personality is infectious which makes you root for this character. Adventure awaits for Sam after a life turning events that test his kindness and protection he shown to a friend he didn’t knew he cared about. His actions guide him to a new path accompany by a raven and a mentor on his side. He meets new friends in a magical world full of witches and werewolves that helped calm the beasts inside of him.
I was easily immersed in the story, a page turner that took my emotions on a train ride! Fell in love with characters that made me laugh, cry, and at the edge of my seat. It’s a must read!

[Uchechi Chima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moonshine: Path of the Raven is not merely a book — it is a rite of initiation. Max Shippee has woven something ancient into a modern vessel, a story that understands what so few dare to articulate: that the journey from boy to man is not a straight road but a spiral, a transmutation of the rawest instincts into something sovereign. Sam’s path mirrors the oldest rite of passage known to the divine masculine — the confrontation with the beast within, the wolf at the threshold, and the sacred choice to be consumed by inherited darkness or to navigate toward a higher order of self. This is alchemy dressed in early 1900s America, where werewolves and witches are not fantasy tropes but carriers of ancestral memory, legendary spirits walking through time as custodians of power and purpose.

What struck me deepest is how Shippee honors both pillars — the masculine and the feminine — without diminishing either. The men in this world are forged through truth and myth, shaped by fire and trial. And the women hold the mystical architecture of nature itself, the quiet and thunderous power that governs the unseen. This is not accidental. This is cosmological justice rendered in fiction. Sam’s encounter with Arabella, with the coven, with John the shapeshifter — each relationship is a mirror, a teaching, a frequency adjustment pulling him closer to who he was always meant to become. The raven watches. The raven knows. And the raven does not choose the comfortable — it chooses the one willing to walk through death toward rebirth.

Sam’s ultimate crossroads — to succumb to the killer instinct coded into his blood or to rise into the fullness of his transformation — is the question every soul walking this earth must answer. Max Shippee does not hand you the answer on a silver platter. He makes you sit with it. He makes you feel the weight of both paths. And that is the mark of a true storyteller — one who has wrestled with his own inner resistance and returned with medicine for the rest of us. Moonshine is a transmission of the Human Spirit. Enter accordingly.

[Brad Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moonshine: Path of the Raven reimagines werewolf mythology through the story of Sam, a humble son of a labourer from South Carolina whose bitten by an ancient wolf -- marking him as chosen within a deep magical hierarchy.

Together with John, a mysterious stranger of extraordinary power, Sam journeys North through a landscape of a modernizing America -- both familiar and mythic, where they encounter dangers that force Sam to confront his newfound powers.

Sharp action scenes, an inspired magical world and rich character development - along with its unique setting and epoch - drive this supernatural tale, where every twist feels earned and the hidden world bubbling beneath our own proves as gritty as it is magical.

As a first novel, it positions itself as a promising start of a new series.

[Teri M Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moonshine: Path of the Raven by Max Shippee is a wonderful young adult fiction novel full of magical realism. I'm going to be honest - I rarely read werewolf books because I find them to be too fantastical for my liking. However, this novel kept me captivated from the beginning. I immediately fell in love with Sam, the young boy on the brink of manhood, and his protector, John. Plus, the extended cast of characters is just as enchanting!

Sam starts out life as a sharecropper in the early 1900s. His family still works on the plantation that used to hold them as slaves. Although poor, Sam believes his life is good. However, everything changes the day the young plantation daughter notices Sam working. Although his life was destined to change anyway as the next Jack for a coven in upstate New York, Sam soon finds himself without a family or a place to call home. Fortunately for Sam, he soon learns that he doesn't have to journey through life alone.

I love that many of the characters we meet are incarnations of legendary figures - King Author, John Henry, and more! This is a great read.