Half Moon

by Dale Renton

Raffin Andelaran's comfortable life as a Master of the Parran Guild of Mages is interrupted by a plea for help from his long time friend, Duke Permen of Orse. What Raffin discovers in the tiny Duchy is an ancient evil that he and his fellow Mages had believed could never threaten their people again.

Raffin, accompanied by the Sothrasin War Master, Iain Neoran, the beautiful, knife-wielding Countess Esselaria Mespita and Raffin's remarkably incapable apprentice, Lendel, must journey to the remote and mysterious High Plains. They need to find and enlist the aid of Orvil, greatest of living Mages - the only man who might save the Kingdom of Parr and ultimately, the world. But the rising evil has already corrupted the Parran Guild of Mages. Raffin and his companions are pursued by a fanatical enemy - and the High Plains are already under threat by the forces of darkness.

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dale Renton lives with his family in a pleasant suburb of Melbourne, where he is often seen walking in the company of a large, hairy dog called Xena.

Dale's latest novel is "DART" - (SF Action/Adventure with more than a touch of humor). You can find it as an eBook in all popular formats. It can also be ordered as a paperback or hardcover through Amazon.

Half Moon (Epic Fantasy, again with a touch of humor) - second edition - is available as an eBook from all the major outlets and as a paperback from Amazon. In response to reader feedback, this new edition features a map of the lands where Half Moon is set (drawn by Dale) and a complete list of characters for ease of reference.

Reviews

[[ J o ] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acquired this book through GoodReads as a part of their First-Read giveaways, Half Moon combines war with magic in a tale that combines run-of-the-mill fantasy with an original twist to it.

One of the main enjoyable aspects of this book is the way it keeps groups of characters seperate for much of the book. This isn't something you find in most books; usually you get a few main characters who meet by chance at the beginning and thus begins their tale together. Instead, we have around four groups who have their own tale to tell, but are all interconnected. It was also not full of annoying terms and names that fantasy writers create just because it's fantasy and therefore must be different - it was easy to read in this aspect, and also wasn't challenging to read in purely linguistic terms. Good English. (The least you expect from writers but you cannot deny that there are some who clearly weren't meant for it...)

The ending was... it was not anti-climatic, but it felt rushed after all the trouble that had been put into getting there. I believe that more could have been gotten out of the ending rather than what was there, though by all means this should not put you off. The ending is hardly guessable, particularly since often you are found to be guessing what might become toward the end.

One thing that did annoy me a lot was the use of breakers (marked with the ~ symbol). I thought these were overused and often in places that they didn't necessarily need to be used, which broke the story slightly inthose places and often left you wondering why such a breaker was used.

[Mark Reeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dale Renton's debut novel is a great read for fantasy lovers. He has created a haunting world of struggle against forces which threaten to tear families, clans and entire tribes apart. It explores the darkest depths of evil and the highest pinnacles of good in a plot that could easily pass as a metaphor for our own 21st century. Do not pass this book by. Read it, then buy another copy for a friend.

[Cristyn]

Won this on Good Reads giveaway...can't wait to review it.

[Punnany De · Rating 5 out of 5]

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GREAT BOOK TO READ AND I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN! MY HANDS ARE STILL SHAKING FROM THE ENDING!
I GIVE THIS BOOK TWO PAWS UP AND THIS READ WILL HAVE YOU BARKING FOR MORE! WOOF WOOF