Moon of the Turning Leaves

By: Waubgeshig Rice

Narrated by: Billy Merasty

“Waubgeshig Rice's stories are good medicine. Moon of the Turning Leaves is a restorative balm for my spirit.”—Angeline Boulley, New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter

In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout.

For the past twelve years, a community of Anishinaabe people have made the Northern Ontario bush their home in the wake of the power failure that brought about societal collapse. Since then they have survived and thrived the way their ancestors once did, but their natural food resources are dwindling, and the time has come to find a new home.

Evan Whitesky volunteers to lead a mission south to explore the possibility of moving back to their original homeland, the “land where the birch trees grow by the big water” in the Great Lakes region. Accompanied by five others, including his daughter Nangohns, an expert archer, Evan begins a journey that will take him to where the Anishinaabe were once settled, near the devastated city of Gibson, a land now being reclaimed by nature.

But it isn’t just the wilderness that poses a threat: they encounter other survivors. Those who, like the Anishinaabe, live in harmony with the land, and those who use violence.

©2024 Waubgeshig Rice (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

A Walking Sim in Post Apocolyse World

More adventure than thriller—the second entry of the Moon duology picks up over a decade after book 1. If you like games like Death Stranding you’ll like this contemplative travel novel—interrogating questions of family, duty, and finding one’s place in community.

Slow-Burn

This is one of my most anticipated novels but I feel like it didn’t deliver my lofty expectations I had from the first book. The slow-burn I didn’t care for in the first book really lasted far too long in the sequel and had me putting down the book a few times for a couple weeks. I wish we learned more about the other characters on the journey south like Tyler, Amber, and J.C. Although I am disappointed i was happy to learn about Anishinaabe cultures and traditions and hope Rice continues to write.

wonderful sequel

I've been looking forward to a sequel since I was halfway through moon of the crusted snow. I didn't know what to expect going into the story, but it was more than I could have hoped for. The further character development was amazing, and the story was so engaging that I sometimes was nervous to hear what would happen next when the scene was tense, and I did cry a bit at the ending.

Beautifully told story.

Nice flow to story to keep it a “page turner”. Love the thoughtful allegory told through the lens of a family’s story.

Entertaining and Unique Story

I loved everything about this, the storyline, the characters, the narrator. I do agree with a previous reviewer that it's more adventure than thriller but I actually appreciated that. I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure!!

Excellent second story!

The narrator is so likable and sounds like any uncle or grandpa I’ve known. Wonderful story with a hopeful ending

Meh

The first book was amazing and I have been waiting for the sequel wasn't worth the wait. I was good, but I did not live up to the standard of the first one.

Superficial

Story wobbles from great scene preparations and involvement to questionable actions by the players. Narrator reads like an old story teller around the campfire. Slow halting words. My biggest complaint is the suicide. I considered it out of context and a non-contribution to the overall story. That part could have been deleted and the story would continue. I am not a fan of this book nor of the details it provides. I do not recommend and will not read this book a second time.