Thank you to Hear Our Voices tour and Entangled Teen for early access to The Moonlight Blade.

Tessa Barbosa weaved a story so captivating that I couldn't put it down. Narra's humanity throughout the story kept me enthralled and wanting to know more while also fearful of the ending. There was not only family, friendships, love, betrayal, but so much more. Yes, some of the twists were predictable, the way they were written still made it surprising. There were quite a bit of characters I wanted to punch and characters I just wanted to hug.

I think that's what made me truly enjoy this book is the humanity both good and bad that was shown.

Thank you to Hear Our Voices Tours and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC and finished copy in exchange for an honest review!

This fantasy adventure follows Narra Jal, a cursed girl who must enter high-stakes competition to save her mother. There’s magic, plot twists, and world building, with a steady cast of characters who complement each other with their contrasts. The romance is subtle, as to not overpower the story, but still definitely there! If you’re looking for something fast paced, this one is for you. There’s always something going on, right from the very first page. Although I’m not typically a fantasy reader, I was so excited to see a YA book rooted in Filipino culture…and I was not disappointed. The Moonlight Blade is unapologetically Filipino; it’s been so long since I’ve seen Filipino food so casually mentioned in the pages of a book so this was refreshing to see!

This had a lot of potential but unfortunately it wasn't executed well. The writing was very choppy and so much was going on. At times, I was very confused on what was going on. I think the glossary and the character descriptions should have been included in the book. It would have helped in understanding the mythology better. I was initially excited about this but ended up being disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could see that this story had a lot of great ideas, but the writing was choppy and I had a hard time following. I also couldn't understand the worldbuilding or the characters. DNF

4 Stars

The Moonlight Blade is a fast action-packed fantasy filled with well-developed worldbuilding, complex characters, and past lives as Narra works to save her mother while unraveling the truth about herself. The story takes place in Bato-Ko, a world filled with magic and the place Narra’s mother told her never to go. To save her mother, Narra enters the Sundo, a bloodthirsty competition filled with violence, lies, and deceit that may lead to the very end of her life.

Narra was an intriguing and complex character as the reader follows alongside her as she unravels the web of mystery behind her past lives. The one clue she has to those lives is Teloh who she feels an inexplicable connection to. The Moonlight Blade does a stunning capture of Narra’s inner battle between her own fate versus free will.

Alongside this inner conflict Narra goes through, she experiences prejudice from those around her due to the birthmark on her neck signifying to others she is “cursed.” Barbosa does an extremely impressive job of adding this extra depth to Narra’s character showing readers the extent that this affected her own self-worth and how others viewed her, even her one loves. Narra, because of this, believes that there is something truly wrong with her believing she deserves this; trauma that takes years to undo.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I wanted more from the worldbuilding. At times, I felt that it was a little too vague and came off as confusing at times. The lore behind this world was super intriguing and full of detail, but I just wish I had some more clarity in regard to the layout and power hierarchy of this world. I’m not entirely sure if The Moonlight Blade will be a series, but I think there is definitely the opportunity to flesh the world even further in potential sequels.

I've been such a big fantasy girly since I was a kid - and being able to read more fantasy novels from Filipinx authors has been so AMAZING. And on top of that, to read a fantasy novel heavily based on Filipino culture?? Honestly, my little 10-year-old lil pinay self would never believe it. I've read so many books with Filipinx characters or, more popularly, mestiza characters (mixed race Filipinx), but there have only been a handful of books like this that really allowed me to picture myself as the main character and really relate.

This book held so much meaning - from the importance of family (Narra Jal risking to sacrifice her life to save her mother, and vice versa) to the significance of Filipino traditions, customs, and mythology (the food, the honorifics "ate" and "kuya," mano po, malongs, diwatas), and even the idea of past lives, reincarnation and whether you can truly escape your fate, or in Narra's viewpoint, her curse. I especially loved Narra and Teloh's storyline and seeing that unfold throughout the story.

Narra: "For us, change is inevitable."
Teloh: "But everything essential remains the same."

I wish the pacing was a little bit smoother and the world-building developed a bit more. I feel like there was just so much information and wouldn't have minded it being a little bit longer so we could fully grasp this world. Also, it was full of so many twists and turns that it can be hard to keep up, but I fully believe it's such a huge leap in the direction of more Filipinx representation in novels, and I can't wait to read future works from the author!

A heady brew steeped in Filipinx folklore! An orasyon-binding story for folks who love stories with past lives, long-lost loves, strong, rational female protagonists, and unbreakable fates.

This book is built on vibrant Filipinx mythology, but I think it's approachable for folks outside the Filipinx diaspora. Anything words that are untranslated or unexplained can be easily googled :)

This book brought so many concepts, folklores, and bits & pieces of Filipino-ness into its plot: Diwata, Baylan, orasyons, tapis skirts, LONGANISA, garlic rice, lumpia, “thank you po”, nipa huts, carabao, banig, kampilan swords, bahag… the list goes on and on.

I really cherish the chance to dive into a distant, magic-filled world, in a story that constantly nods toward the rich, vibrant Filipino heritage it is inspired by all along the way.

“Dying can hurt, but death does not.” I wipe the tears from my eyes. “But living is still worth the pain.”

I am so thrilled every time another Filipinx fantasy book is born into this world. I hope that the young Pinays are out there celebrating the wonders of finding themselves in the pages of this book, and many others.

Very different type of fantasy!

Narra Jal knew that her mother had left Bato-Ko for a better life for her and her sister Kuran making them swear never to go back. But that changed when they found out that their mother Inay Jal had been arrested and their only chance to save her was during the Sundo competition when Tigang selects the Astar, their next leader.

Narra had entered the Sundo under Kuran’s name because she was too young, no weapons or training and most people thought she was cursed because of her birthmarks. But the only person Nara can rely is herself and the memories of previous Astar’s that she has.

The Moonlight Blade is a different kind of fantasy where Narra just wants to save her mother but everybody is against her being in Bato-Ko.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Entangled Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Dying can hurt but death does not. But living is still worth the pain."

3.5 stars rounded to 4

I picked this book up because I always want to learn more about Filipino mythology and the competitor aspect seemed interesting enough to make me want to read the book. I have to say I didn't like this book at the start, I found the writing style a bit hard to get used to, that being said, once I did get used to it I was immersed into the story. The characters were written really well and so was the prejudice that everyone held towards Narra because of her marks. The affect the marks and supposed curse had on Narra herself and how even her friends were still hesitant was really interesting to read about. Another thing I loved was the addition of Narra's ghosts, constantly whispering in her mind, I also loved some of the side characters like the archivist and Reshar. The politics of Bao-Kato was also very well written and I love how you never knew what side someone was on. One thing I will say is that the plot was pretty slow, the competition was more of a backdrop to the story with the main focus being on discovering the MCs past life and the mystery that lied there. Once that plot did get rolling it was very interesting to read about but I think it took a bit too long to get to that stage.

Overall, I loved the exploration of Narra's past life and how her whole character changed when she found out who she was. The whole backstory was so intricate and I loved realising how everything fit together. This was a slow paced read, but once the plot got going I could not put the book down. This book is for you if you love books exploring reincarnation and past lives in a high stakes setting where everything is not as it may seem.

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Press for the eArc, this had no impact on my review and all thoughts are my own.

Every ten years, the people of Tigang welcome a new ruler. Volunteers from the city must survive the Sundo, a multitude of challenges designed to test if they can prove themselves strong enough to rule. To return to Bato-ko means breaking her promise to her mother, but Narra Jal has no choice. She doesn’t want to lead; she just wants to know why her mother was arrested under mysterious circumstances and hopes that she can free her from prison by winning. But there’s a reason why her mother forbade her from ever returning, and if she wishes to save her family, she must delve deep into her past.

The Moonlight Blade is a gripping and intense young adult fantasy set in a world where magic is both feared and revered. Narra impersonates her older sister to partake in the Sundo and quickly learns that her family history within the city is much deeper than she ever anticipated, spanning even into her past reincarnations and placing her into the path of the current Astar, an immortal turned mortal, who was sent to advise her nation’s people. Not only that, but she has also gained the attention of Astar’s right-hand man, Teloh, who is hiding secrets of his own. As Narra and Teloh’s path intertwines, they face unimaginable danger.

What I loved the most about this novel are the characters that just come right off the page. Narra worries that she is unlike her sister, who lights up the room, but she is a formidable person in her own right, gaining the respect of her competitors with her sharp wit and tongue. The way her relationship grows with her peers is what got me hooked right away. The supporting cast is well-developed, with complex and relatable motivations that add depth to the story. (Dayen and Virian, I will fight for you both, say the word, and I’ll be there.)

Barbosa has created a rich and detailed world full of complex magic and mystery that spans years of history to create a captivating and believable story. The story is wonderfully written, with vivid descriptions that bring the world of Tigang to life. For fans of Sabaa Tahir and Renée Ahdieh, The Moonlight Blade is a release that should be on your radar.

This book is pitched like many other YA fantasy competition books. There is a girl who enters a competition and this time her motive is to save her mother from persecution. The main character is Narra Jal. She has no magic, no training in weapons or magic. Entering this competition has its dangers but her mothers life is worth whatever risk the competition can through at her. This is a Filipino fantasy book with interesting world-building and a unique magic system that requires sacrifices to wield. Its a diverse, own-voices novel featuring star-crossed lovers, dangerous gods and forgotten memories of past lives.

Narra enters the competition under her sisters name (and blood) Reshar Jal, and it is immediately understood how much of an underdog she is. She lacks of magical powers or knowledge of the institution that runs the country and the people in charge which puts her in a stark disadvantage that is potentially life threatening. Narra isn't interested in being the ruler of Tigang, just the fact the competition takes place where her mother is being held. Narra ignores her mothers warnings about coming to the city of Bato-Ko and decides that entering this competition is the answer to freeing her mother.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the story isn't actually about the competition which is the reason I picked up this book. Most of the story revolves around the mystery of Narra's past lives. Narra can feel the rattle of ghosts in her chest and experiences blinding visions of the past. Visions that feature a notable figure, Teloh, the tall, dark and mysterious Guardian that is an assassin for the most powerful figure in the country. Narra and Teloh's fates are intertwined, meeting each other in past lives again, and again. These visions are the key to questions about Narra's intense connection with Teloh, her mothers future and the future of the Tigang. Narra is caught up in a web of lies and to unravel the mystery and save the people she loves she must remember her past lives but to remember is far harder than it sounds.

"I wonder how much I've chosen and how much is fated. My family, Teloh, even Reshar. We are tied together by some horrible truth that keeps our destinies spinning together like dancers tied at the wrists."

This book delves into the discussion of fate vs. free will. I came here for a fast paced dangerous competition with a romance subplot thrown in for fun. This was not that. I am not a big fan of past lives and their influence in characters future decisions. It's kind of ironic as I am a fan of fated mates, and fated chosen ones. When this story explored fate and past lives, I mentally checked out. I was uninterested in the story aspect, and wanted Narra to express a desire to be known and loved as she is not as she was. It feels like a trap, holding these expectations, and judgements about Narra's past lives but foisting them on to Narra, an entirely different person who doesn't remember nor made the same decisions. It feels unfair and it was emotional whiplash every time Teloh was around. Past lives is a hard concept for me to like, and for me to believe is done well. I didn't like the use and wish the story focused on the competition.

The other discussion about prejudice in the allegory about the birthmark Narra has on her neck, that many think it signifies that she is cursed. This prejudice follows Narra around like a dark cloud, where it affects her interactions, how people treat her and how she sees herself. It is not easy to let go of years of mistreatment, trauma and believing that there is something inherently wrong with yourself. Narra fears there has to be something wrong with her, that she deserved to be cursed.

"All my life, I have been shunned, when my only crime is daring to exist"

The depictions of prejudice and how people treated Narra was exceptionally done. The fact that even her friend was wary of her was hard hitting in depicting that even the ones we love can still hold these dangerous ideologies. Narra's self worth was tied to her 'curse', and how everyone around her treated her differently because of it. Every person she met or town she entered, she was in danger. The curse was one of the more interesting things about Narra, and gave her character the much needed depth. Her decisions are quite questionable within this book and I wish her self-worth was more a intrinsic character development within the book rather it being something that she simply cast aside because of other things occupying her thoughts (the climax fight). It fell flat and unfinished that she simply didn't care people suddenly could see her birthmark because everyone had bigger things to worry about like war and death.

Overall, my general feelings about this book was confusion. I feel like I was confused the entire time. It's not necessarily a bad thing to be confused but it became annoying when I was confused the entire time. It doesn’t mean I was have a bad time. On the contrary, I have lived most of my life confused, and it’s basically a default setting for me but reading is meant to make me not remember I’m constantly confused. I’m meant to escape it and find solace in the pages of books that don’t confuse me but intrigue me and leave me excited, reading stories unknown and trying to work out the plans of fictional characters. This story was interesting and detailed with an insane amount of lore. Ultimately, I felt the undercurrent of confusion through out, even during the big revelations.

I wish it was more clear in many aspects, the most obvious being the need for a map and a diagram of the power structure of the government. In other aspects, it needed clarity in the influence of the first families, the continent and the other countries within it, and if this is a standalone or not. Also the title of the book didn't even come into play until the last 90% of the book which is weird.

ARC REVIEW
This was a great story filled with tension and lore and magic! The competition is unique and i love the worldbuilding. I love that reincarnation plays a heavy part in this and that instinct in the "ghosts" of past selves acting as guides. I really enjoyed it and it was executed beautifully.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. A Filipino fantasy that I couldn’t put it down. I can’t want see what comes next.

It was not personally my favorite read it was very repetitive hard to follow along.it may be your thing but it wasn’t mine. I wasn’t fully understanding the history of it all.

The cover, first of all, is gorgeous. However, the book starts slow and gets even slower, to the point that it took a lot out of me to get to the actual plot of the story. I did appreciate our main character, and once the book got moving everything was fine, but the beginning bit is slow. Nothing revolutionary, but it was an alright read.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I felt for the main character and liked watching her relationships with other characters grow throughout. The premise was super interesting and fun - thing Hunger Games-esque. I really appreciated a strong, female lead and the great representation throughout. My only qualm was that it was a little hard to figure out everyone’s names and the hierarchy of their roles. Thank you Hear Our Voices, Tess Barbosa, and Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to the author for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this book because the blurb was intriguing. The writing felt choppy and disjointed with a lot of confusing plot twists. I had to dnf this because this was just not for me.

I received an ARC of The Moonlight Blade from Netgalley for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but it was not what I got. The story wasn't bad. It just wasn't everything I thought it would be. And let's not forget to mention that the synopsis tells you pretty much everything and nothing somehow, so I went into the story mostly blind.

Narra was an interesting character. She spent her whole life hiding the marks on her neck (which were just birthmarks) because the world they live in views birthmarks as a curse, a sign of bad luck. She has dealt with ridicule and hatred; unsurprisingly, that's made her jaded toward the world and people. When we start this story, her mother is leaving on a trip and doesn't return. Narra's whole journey is an attempt to get her mother back after finding out she's been arrested. For what? No one can tell her. But she's being held in the dungeons, and the only way Narra can even get into the building where the dungeons are is to enter the trial that's supposed to find a new ruler of some sort.

I'm going to be honest; I still don't understand the political structure. There are advisors with special names, a head person, another head person, and then a bunch of random people with special jobs running around. And everyone has a special name (along with their real name) that gets jumbled around in there with everything else, and I'm lost. So lost. I read the entire thing, and I'm still lost. Either I wasn't comprehending it, or it was just that confusing. Let me also not forget that, along with everyone's titles and names, they also all have past lives. And what does that entail? More. Names.

Despite my utter confusion throughout the book, I thought the plot was fun. I don't think I've ever read anything about past lives. Granted, that didn't come up much until later in the book, and I think it should have been incorporated much sooner, as it wouldn't have made the reveals as out of left field as many of them were, but I enjoyed that aspect. It was a cool way to see how the past interacts with the present and the idea that nothing we do is new. It also begs the question of predetermined fates, which the author could've done quite a lot with.

There was so much potential, but I think that a lot of it was wasted on things that didn't matter too much to the plot in the long run and could've been used to make this something entirely different. However, we did leave on a cliffhanger, so we'll see if this ends up being a series. If so, I might pick up the next in the series to see how the author will resolve that ending. If not, it was interesting, but I probably wouldn't read it again.

2.5 ⭐️

"The Moonlight Blade" was just not for me. I had trouble connecting with both the writing and the characters, and the plot wasn’t what I was expecting.

The writing is very disjointed in places, which left a lot of things in the plot and world unexplained and, at times, confusing. I still don’t understand why Narra’s plan to save her mother involved entering the trials. And partway through the book it gets revealed out of nowhere that everyone believes in reincarnation and past lives. The characters are also all very one-dimensional and I didn’t really care about any of them.

Had I known reincarnation was going to be a main plot point in this book, I wouldn’t have picked it up. I’ve yet to read a book where I’ve actually enjoyed how it was done, and I generally find it very predictable. I can get past an age gap between an immortal (fae, vampires) and their mortal love interest, but something about the relationship between a reincarnated person who doesn’t have the memories from their past lives and the love interest who remembers everything just really rubs me the wrong way. It also robbed me of any actual romance in this book? I honestly couldn’t tell you why the love interests like each other. They barely interact and their entire relationship is built on a past that we barely get to see.

The trials were also a huge let down for me. They were hyped up to be really dangerous and exciting, but the most dangerous things that happened were actually not even supposed to happen. This would’ve been fine if the trials were supposed to be calm and everything went off the rails, but I found myself wondering multiple times why these trials had such a dangerous reputation.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My very first Filipino Fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this eARC.

Okay, first of all, I just wanted to say that the idea and the concept was interesting but not interesting enough to make me feel satisfied. I keep getting lost while reading the book because there were too much is happening at one time and they definitely don't give Nara a room to breathe. She's just a teenager man. I feel like it was too heavy focusing on Narra that I don't really care about other characters even I don't feel empathy on her mission which is to save her mother.

Also, there were words in tagalog that I did not understand and there were no explanations to it. I guess that is one of the letdown while reading,,, but overall this book was, lack of details. I was confused all the time, I wish there were more details and explanations in world-building fantasy book.