Woven in Moonlight

By: Isabel Ibañez

Narrated by: Ana Osorio

Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history.

“A lush, vibrant feast of a book.” (Margaret Rogerson, NYT best-selling author of An Enchantment of Ravens)

“A wholly unique book for the YA shelf.” (Adrienne Young, NYT best-selling author of Sky in the Deep)

“A spellbinding, vivid debut.” (Rebecca Ross, author of Queen's Rising)

Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.

When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.

She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princesa, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge - and her Condesa.

©2020 Isabel Ibañez (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

So good! Finished it in two days!

Not my usual genre but I loved the creativity and spanglish! You really care about the characters and towards the end the mystery and intensity are nail biting!!

Stepped out of my usual book genre

Enjoyed the fantasy story writing and references made to my indigenous ancestors. I did notice a couple lines/scenes I might’ve reworded, but overall a good story. I would read/listen to a sequel.

An Enchanting Listen!

I loved this audio narration. Ana Osorio is delightful. The story is fast paced and enjoyable, especially for Spanish-speakers. Take it all in lightly and just marvel at the magic that is present.

And original book with a few flaws.

I Didn’t think I would ever see a book based on Bolivian history and culture, but here it is. The story moves along reasonably quickly, enough to keep one listening. If you know some about Bolivian politics, this book takes on a new meaning.

That said, there are things that could have been done better. They are not enough to mess up the story in my opinion, but they are there. Saying much more would be giving spoilers.

If a sequel of this book were to come out, I would buy it.

Beautiful story

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator had such a lovely voice. Story was engaging and interesting. Would recommend!

One of a kind

Love the blend of fantasy and culture! Ibanez does a wonderful job of creating a new world while presenting Latine culture.

Not just a pretty cover

So I went in to this one totally cold. I am obsessed with the cover so I picked it because of that 🙈. I’m glad I did though because I really enjoyed this book!

It was refreshing to see a heroine change her mind about what was right and wrong halfway though the book. I really liked that part of things because she thought for herself. I also LOVED the addition of her weaving magic, it was so different and fun!

I liked the romance part of the story but I really could have used more of it and I wish I felt the connection more!

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I can’t wait to read the second book!

Spice: None, just Kissing

Read this if you like:
🌔 False identity
🌔 Enemies to Lovers
🌔 A strong minded heroine

Cool Premise, Terrible Execution, Meh Reader

The Good: a really cool magic system and setting. I loved the magical weaving. The premise sounded interesting in the summary

The Bad: Much of this story makes no sense and/or is repetitive. For instance, early in the book, the main character decides her mission is to find a magical item. Then about halfway through, she has an epiphany that GASP she needs to find the magical item. There is a lot of failed internal logic in this story. It really needed a solid developmental edit. The romance is tepid at best. And the main character seems unintentionally dumb. The plot and character development were just really disappointing.

The Meh: The reader for this book is just okay. She has a lovely voice, but there were weird pauses. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was speaking, if anyone. Also, there were several words she routinely mispronounced. Like "unbidden" was pronounced as un-bye-den. And that's just one example that came up several times. It seems like whoever edited the audiobook should have caught that.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed. I really like this author on social media, and I was really routing for this book to be good. But I have to be honest and say, I can't recommend it.

A lot of potential

The world that was created in this book was really interesting but there seemed to be more of an emphasis on politics than expanding on the fantasy element and magic within the world, which disappointed me. I would probably read another book by this author though and overall I thought it was pretty good.

Refreshingly different, wonderful debut novel.

This is a wonderful debut novel. It takes place in a world and culture not many get the opportunity to read about, so that was enriching. The descriptions and characters were well fleshed and I grew to care about them. The magic was also just enough to give the story some wonder and lightness.

My only cons are that many things were very repetitive (We get it, your parents died), some characters were lost and dropped very quickly towards the end but that happens even in the Harry Potter novels, and the romance seemed so slow and then so quick. But honestly, I've read far worse novels by authors who have written for YEARS.

This is a lovely and beautiful debut novel you will not regret reading. It's an easy and quick read as well, so no harm no foul if it's not your taste per say. At least you read a magical story about Bolivian politics and espionage (and there;s a llama!) :)