Review::Goblin Moon:Mask and Dagger 1 by Teresa Edgerton

Goblin Moon: Mask and Dagger 1 by Teresa Edgerton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Goblin Moon: Mask and Dagger 1 by Teresa Edgerton

I read this novel a while ago and when I saw that the e-book was being re-released by a new publisher I thought I'd check to see if some problems had been taken care of.

This is an excellent read in many senses and it might be considered typical for what they refer to as GasLight Fantasy and GasLight Romance. And it has some very long sentences. I love long sentences and I especially love them when crafted well. This novel has plenty to whet the appetite and I shall show some from the first chapter that contain some of the problems I was looking at. Often the difficulty with long sentences is deciding how to punctuate them and sometimes that all boils down to style preferences. In this instance below the first paragraph seems okay but there was a glitch in my original copy in the second paragraph (that I had hoped would be fixed now), but it appears it made it through to this edition also.

In the paragraph that starts [For by river-wrack... ] at the word [floating] there is a period; which might be an intended semicolon or comma though I suppose that the following [with] might just be a new sentence with the capitol dropped by mistake; though this sentence works both ways and in a small way seems almost incomprehensible either way, unless you include the first paragraph, which is why I included it. Anyway at the very least I’m puzzled by the punctuation.
Quote::
Old Lunn, she was a capricious river, as Jed well knew: restlessly eroding her own banks, making sudden leaps and changes in her course, especially upriver in the country districts where there were no strong river walls to contain her. Swelled by a high tide or by the rains and snow-melt of Quickening, she swept away manors and villages, churches and farmhouses, crumbled old graveyards and flooded ancient burial vaults, dislodging the dead as ruthlessly as she evicted the living. No, the Lunn respected no persons, either living or dead, but the crueler she was to others, she was that much kinder to men like Jed and his Uncle Caleb.

For by river-wrack and by sea-wrack brought in by the tide, off goods salvaged from water-logged bales and salt-stained wooden chests, by an occasional bloated corpse found floating. with money still in its pockets, the scavengers gleaned a meagre existence year 'round, and— especially when the full moon brought high tides and other disturbances— were sometimes able to live in comfort for an entire season off the grave offerings of the pious departed.
Edgerton, Teresa (2014-09-02). Goblin Moon: Mask and Dagger 1 (p. 5). Tickety Boo Press. Kindle Edition.

The scope of these paragraphs and especially the second paragraph even if we split it seem to bring to mind that famous quote from Paul Clifford.
Quote::
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. Through one of the obscurest quarters of London, and among haunts little loved by the gentlemen of the police, a man, evidently of the lowest orders, was wending his solitary way.
Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Edward (2012-05-16). Paul Clifford - Complete (p. 9). . Kindle Edition.

I've never understood this to be purple prose; because if read in context it makes sense that it really is moving the story forward and the same holds true when you read each of the long sentences in Goblin Moon.

What I did find in my reading of Goblin Moon is a pattern that accompanied the paragraphs packed with long sentences. Often they contained what might be considered info dump in the form of character or scene description. So rather than have nine sentences it might become three very long and eloquent sentences. Or in some instances one paragraph-long-sentence.

But speaking of Paul Clifford one could draw more than style similarities with just a casual look. Both novels have a roguish man falling in love with young woman of some moderate station and having her inadvertently falling for the rogue. And both novels have a striking similar ending.

Goblin Moon might be described as primarily the story of Sara Vorder and Francis Skelbrooke; but it is also a story of the lives that intersect with theirs and perhaps a bit of a comedy of manners as they navigate the customs and mores of their society and try to save their friends.

Rich in descriptions; I still found Goblin Moon has a solid plot making a satisfying and entertaining read; even though it might be a bit light on character growth.

Great GasLight type Romance for fans of that type of fantasy.

J.L. Dobias



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