The Killing Moon

Dreamblood, Book 1

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman

From the multi award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes a captivating fantasy series of dreams, intrigue and forbidden magic.

In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe...and kill those judged corrupt.

But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, Ehiru - the most famous of the city's Gatherers - must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers in the goddess' name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh's alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill - or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

©2012 N. K. Jemisin (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group

Critic reviews

"Utterly enthralling." (Trudi Canavan)

"The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation...Jemisin seems able to do just about everything." (New York Times)

"Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold." (Entertainment Weekly)

Promising and intriguing start, but weak ending.

N. K. Jemisin has a wonderful skill for crafting introductions to new worlds and characters that makes me want to learn more. The gatherers are fascinating as are their beliefs, and the initial hint of conspiracy works well to pique interest.

Towards the middle, things begin to drag along though... and while there are spikes of interest, they quickly ebb out. It feels as if there's a lot of potential lost somehow, since the characters and villains she crafts are interesting, but I never feel like I get to know them well enough to really care.

I think my main complaint is that the Gatherers, being dreamwalkers, actually do very little dreamwalking in the book. I was hoping for a lot more vivid imagery, traveling into the dreams of more people and seeing twisted/wonderful mindscapes shaped by a life long lived, but we only get one in the entire book (and it's at the very start).

The ending feels very convenient and brushes over things very quickly, smoothing over matters I would've thought should have graver consequences for the people involved.

It's not a bad book by any means, a 3/5 overall is a solid for me. Narration was very well done, and I found a female voice worked well despite two out of three main protagonists being male. It suited the soothing, calmer temperament of the gatherers too.