Teresa EdgertonRecensioni

For me this was the weakest of the three books. Edgerton gives an unsatisfying ending which bypasses the expected showdown and instead gives us a bit of Harlequin Romance and a fairytale resolution. However, I did appreciate the way she prefaced each chapter with passages from (fictitious) history and mythology which augment the main story.

All the usual plot devices are here: the young wizard wannabe, the dashing knight, the evil princess, a forsaken birthright... But Edgerton's very loose retelling of the King Arthur saga somehow still seems fresh and dynamic. I just wish she'd ease up on the faux Celtic names because after a while all I see is Tryfnndd Mcgrllwgynnt and Ctsall Morgrgwwdff.

While the waxing moon brings out plagues of goblins in the city of Thornburg, an alchemist searches for the secret of life, a fairy godmother conspires against her ward, and a masked man disrupts the meetings of secret covens.

Goblin Moon possesses fabulous atmosphere and wooden characters. Which is a shame, considering the novel's wryly ornate prose ("Chained to the seat beside him was a sad-faced miniature indigo ape with a jeweled collar"), chapter titles ("Chapter Ten: Which the Sensitive Reader may wish to Omit, but Ought to be read, nevertheless"), and the possibilities of the hero (a masked neurotic in the tradition of the Scarlet Pimpernel and Francis Crawford of Lymond).

A bit disappointing. The writing was fine with the exception of plot and pacing, which is a bit of a problem. One set piece was pulled off semi-successfully, the rest rather fell flat, they was a super-abundance of characters and sub-plots and the book would have benefited greatly by having about half the amount. Most of the book felt like set-up, and when I realised (I was on an e-reader) that I had about 10 minutes left, I was stunned--thought I was maybe 60% of the way through--but no, it all wrapped up in a very perfunctory, rushed manner.

I'm giving it an extra star for promise, and because the sentences themselves read well, but the sum was less than the parts: it could have been so much better. Hopefully the author improves her pacing in future volumes.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)

The sequel to Goblin Moon and wraps up the story. The editing process seemed to be better - I didn't spot any stray hyphens.

The heroines and heroes have apparently escaped their enemies by travelling to the New World and are residing there. However, the Duchess is still bent on her revenge and tracks them down... We see more of troll and gnome society (having been introduced to human and dwarf society in the earlier novel), and are introduced to a race of hobgoblins who are more advanced and civilised than their cousins in the old world in Euterpe. The story ends with a double wedding, the raising of a sunken island, and with the death of the Duke, the Duchess looses her taste for revenge...

The book includes 3 short stories - Rogue's Moon, The Ghost in the Chimney, and Titania or the Celestial Bed. The first 2 are set in the same world as the Mask and Dagger series, the last is not but matches the world stylistically. Not owning a paper version of this book (unlike Goblin Moon), I can't tell whether they are bonus material or not.

What Georgette Heyer might have produced had she written fantasy as well as Regency romance. The series is not set in the same world as the 2 Celydonn trilogies; instead it's set in a fantastic Europe-like world where there are other races and magic seems to work. The ebook version suffered a bit with stray hyphens, but was still eminently readable. I wonder if it was an influence on Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and Galen Becket's Mrs Quent trilogy.

A bit slow to get going, and the style is rather mannered (very reminiscent of Georgette Heyer!), but worth the read. Starting with a couple of river scavengers finding a floating coffin, the main thread of the story deals with the tribulations of a pair of cousins, an alchemist, various members of the aristocracy, dwarven merchants... Yes, they are all connected - sometimes the shifts in PoV can be a bit much. Enjoyable.

This one was a bit frustrating. The main characters are rather tiresome : one is a little grey mouse wishing to be ignored (she succeeds), the other is convinced he's sinful, unworthy of his knighthood, etc. Not my kind of pals. It was difficult to get engaged in the plot even though the political and religious situation is rich and well developped.

Generations ago, goblins ruled humans impacably and mercilessly. They were overthrown, and all but a few of the former rulers (the Maglore) are destroyed. The few that survive are driven into hiding where they have remained for centuries, until all but a secret sorcerous order, the Specularii, have been convinced the Maglore were but legends. Now, the time is ripe for the Maglore to reclaim their lost thrones and crush humanity once more. Even as they subvert the current human kings and steal the various Goblin Jewels (really magical mechanical devices), no one but the Specularii and Wilrowan Blackheart even believe they exist, let alone stand in their way. The Maglore are great characters, and I love the world Edgerton has created, but Wilrowan’s clichéd romance with his sometime-rival Lilianna of the Specularri is horribly boring. The two main characters (Wilrowan and Lilianna) drag the story down; it’s an enticing adventure but for their presence.

I acquired Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton recently in E-book format. I found it to be entertaining.

If you are a fan of Dumas, Dickens, and Tolkien. You'll love this. Add a bit of Shelly and you round it out.

The richness of description of the world of the Goblin Moon are reminiscent of Charles Dickens. While the lead Female character would be likened to Little Dorrit. The depth of intrigue is similar to the work of Alexander Dumas. The Male lead is in someways like the Count of Monte Cristo. Throughout is a thread of theme which is like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Toss some Dwarves and Goblins into the mix and you'll have trouble putting this one down.

One problem I had with this especially after reading it a second time was that the characters tend to lack something that helps a person get into their head and actually feel for any of them. There were no moments for me when I was truly concerned about what might happen to any of them.

Child of Saturn is set elsewhere – almost – and elsewhen, but it's a place and time where there is Christianity (Michelmas and Christmas and All-Hallows, christenings and crucifixes) and something not quite like the faerie that once walked this world (or so they say).

There are some beautifully unique characterizations here. The evil princess, Diaspad, is beautifully evil, not content with following all of the stereotypical paths an attractive wicked woman usually sticks to. Her coterie is an assortment of varying strengths, from a vapid son to a maid who might just have a backbone; it's a little scary to think what could have been accomplished by this lot if they were all clever and competent. The king, her half brother, is neither a great ruler nor a terrible one, but a rather capricious mediocre one – such as probably sat on many thrones throughout the centuries. He is, however, possessed of a Diaspad-shaped blind spot, and she has him trained so that he will not hear anything against her. His queen is brave and beleaguered, and not stupid, which is refreshing: so often a lady in her situation takes comfort where she oughtn't, which makes everything worse.

The two main characters acting against this background are the two most unique and fascinating (happily). The king's wizard, Glastyn, disappeared many years ago, leaving his very young and nearly invisible half-trained apprentice Teleri to fill in – which she does when pressured, preferring to remain invisible in her tower trying to complete her education with books that only open when certain circumstances are fulfilled. What she knows she knows, and does, well, but she has no confidence, no security. And to add to her lack of stability, the queen's champion, Ceilyn, intrudes on her life, and he isn't altogether the parfait gentil knight he appears to be and tries so hard to be …

The upshot is that very few characters behave as I expect them to – and in a library full of clichés and well-filled pigeonholes, that's tremendous. The writing is superb; the plot is engaging; the characters live and breathe. Wonderful stuff, not to be missed.½

A fun read. Will appeal to those who like fantasies about magic, although this book has a little bit of everything. Goblins, dwarves, pirates, cadavers, and high society. The author's detail for description of place, person, and costume (love the descriptions of dandies) is what draws you in; you get a vivid picture of the world she creates.

The dialog is witty and crisp. The various plot lines converge nicely and you are in for a few surprises. Paranormal books these days are so chock full of sex and violence (you can feel the efforts to out-shock the last book) that this was a refreshing break back to the STORY and CHARACTERS. Remember those?

This is a good "fantasy primer."

I hate Arthurian fantasy. Why? Because I love Camelot. Go read Le Morte de Arthur. Read Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Read T.H. White’s The Once and Future King. And you’re done; everything since has been a King-Arthur-with-a-twist or a flat-out deconstruction. Don’t get me started on the movies.

So imagine my surprise when I got sucked into an Arthurian-like epic that takes place in a Welsh-Briton setting. Perhaps that was the point; although it was clearly drawn from the Arthurian epic cycle, it wasn’t Arthur’s Camelot–it was imperiled but not doomed. Even more interesting, the story began at the end of the cycle: it began with the narrator telling us of Glastyn the Wizard’s disappearance.

“He left behind him: a whimsical, inconsistent king; an order of jaded, disillusioned knights; and a realm slipping slowly back into the chaos from which he, Glastyn, had rescued it some fifty years before.”

Celydonn’s Merlin had disappeared into his tree (or wherever). Now what? The books are about the now what. It could be read as Camelot: The Next Generation–the heroes who fight to save Celydonn from collapsing “back into chaos” are the young knights and squires of the court, aided by Glastyn’s mousy and disregarded apprentice, Teleri.

There are six books in the series (which is really two trilogies). Just how good are they? I actually stumbled across the second book first, in a truck-stop of all places. A passenger on a road-trip, I was desperate for reading material and The Moon In Hiding was the only fantasy title on the rack.

That’s right; I started with the second book in the set. And even realizing right off that I wasn’t starting at the beginning and had missed a whole boatload of backstory, I was hooked. Teresa Edgerton’s prose is luxurious, lush, deeply descriptive, bordering at times on poetic–perfect for the heroic, mythic setting of the stories. She spends five paragraphs describing Teleri ni Pendarin, for example. They are not boring paragraphs.

When I got home I hunted the first book down, then waited impatiently as the rest came out one by one. Today they are out of print. Fortunately you can find them all through Amazon.com, along with Edgerton’s other excellent titles (I particularly recommend Goblin Moon). The chronicles of Celydonn are heroic fantasy at its finest.

(Note: the first three books, Child of Saturn, The Moon in Hiding, and The Work of The Sun, form The Green Lion Trilogy)

Many years ago there was a war, a war that ended in mutual destruction for both parties. This was a magical war. Now those who survived live with the aftermath. One of the new powers is the Empress Ouriana, proclaiming herself the Divine Incarnation of the Devouring Moon, using black magic to control her people and trying to control more and more of the world.

There's a prophesied one, who may be a young girl, who it is hoped will defeat the empress, but the empress knows about the prophecy and is determined to stop her. A band of heroes are determined to fight for the prophecy.

Yes parts of it were a bit predictable but I enjoyed the read.½

Beautiful but just a little disappointing conclusion to the trilogy. Ceilyn and Teleri manage to harness their powers and come to terms with themselves and each other. However, there are a few too many loose ends, neither explained nor excused by Edgerton's subsequent trilogy focused on Tryffin and Gwenlliant. Also, the final defeat of Diaspad is a literal anticlimax, as it both is weirdly undramatic and occurs when there's still a third of the book left.

Another gorgeously written story, in this second segment the focus shifts away from Teleri and Ceilyn toward Fflergant, Tryffin, and Garanwyn. Many exciting and portentous things are foretold; too bad most of them aren't fulfilled by the end of this trilogy . . . or even the end of the next trilogy.

Beautifully written, exquisitely characterized beginning to a panoramic story set in a stylized Celtic world. Teleri is one of the most unusual fantasy heroines I've ever read.

Honestly, one of my favorite books of all time. It has everything: action, romance, patches and powder, addiction, intrigue, Trolls . . .

A delightful sequel.

This is the sequel to Goblin Moon. I found Goblin Moon to be brilliant and this sequel was no exception. Edgerton is a genius at setting up worlds and really drawing you in. I would highly recommend Edgerton to anyone who enjoys fantasy!

I absolutley loved this book and just can't say enough good things about it! Very well written. The plot really clipped along. The characters were absolutley wonderful. The world that Edgerton creates is so fun and inviting. I have read several of Edgerton and this is definitly one of her strengths as a writer. She knows how to set her world up and draw you in. She is so brilliant at it that I wish that there was a higher rating then 5 I could give it! This is going to be one of the top ten reads of the year for me!

Apt that I'm listening to a welsh piece of music while writing this cause it has a lot of influence from welsh legend. The second book in this series this does develop the characters and bring them through some tribulations which developes them and leaves a lot of openings for the next book.
Both Gwenlliant and Tryffin find themselves in the otherworld, seperately, both in search of different things but finding that their paths have some parallels. It's interesting to see them develop as characters and I do want to see what happens next.

This author is a gem. Although things get disappointing in the end...a lot of stuff left unfinished. I think its because the author planned a sequel eventually. In any case its well worth the read. Edgerton creates a fantasy world that is so rich in detail and history. Her characters are very well drawn. This is an author to keep your eyes on!

A weaker effort than Edgerton's other quasi-Georgian novels (Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine), but enjoyable nonetheless. The characters are fun, though there are a LOT of them. It also seemed as though this one was being set up very heavily for a sequel that unfortunately never was written. Consequently, several storylines seem to be left hanging. Overall, an enjoyable storyline and an engaging cast of characters, especially for those who enjoy fiction set in the late 18th century.

It's so sad that this book is no longer in print, and that only seven people have reviewed it. That means there are A LOT of people out there who have never been introduced to the wonder that is Teresa Edgerton's Lord Skelbrooke!

I don't know how I first heard about these books- I probably saw them on someone's Amazon Listmania list, and then requested them off a bookswap service. But once I started reading Goblin Moon, I was sucked right in.

Is it epic fantasy? Not at all. Is the plot twisting and turning and totally compex? Nope. What it is is more of an adventure story than anything else, coupled with romance, science, hilarity and chaos. It is so ovious while reading this book that Edgerton enjoyed writing it. The characters come to life full-blooded, they enjoy living within their pages so very much, that it is impossible to read it and not enjoy their lives as well. Francis Skelbrooke steals every scene in which he appears, and Sera, too, is a heroine I'd love to have as a friend any day.

I highly recommend this book, and its sequel, The Gnome's Engine. Both are superb, and even if I came late to the game, I'm going to be cheering Edgerton on for a long time.