The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim: A captivating tale about family and magic

Hello again, dwellers of the labyrinth! Welcome back to a new post—today, I’m gonna be reviewing one of my anticipated releases of this year, The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim.

I first came across The Last Fallen Star about 2 years ago, right when it was announced. Sometimes, it still feels like yesterday when I opened Graci Kim’s website (which was really minimalistic back then), waiting for any news on her new series. And here I am, super excited about reviewing the middle book in her Gifted Clans trilogy.

synopsis

For Riley Oh, life as the Godrealm’s last fallen star is not all it’s cracked up to be. Her new divine heritage doesn’t even come with cool magical powers; half of her friends and family (including her parents) can’t remember her; and to top it all off, the entire Gom clan is mad at her for killing the Cave Bear Goddess and stripping away their healing abilities.

But when their anger boils over and a group of witches curses Riley’s home, she knows it’s up to her to restore magic back to her clan—even if it means sneaking into the Spiritrealm.

Luckily, Riley has some backup. Along with her sister, Hattie, Riley meets Dahl, a heaven-born boy with shockingly white hair and a fondness for toilets who might not be telling the whole truth about who he is. Together they’ll fight vicious monsters, discover dark underwater worlds, and race to save the land of the dead from a fate that no one could have foreseen.

And this time, Riley won’t let anything get in her way. Because she can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is coming their way—and the gifted community is going to need all the powers they can get.

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review

Rating – 5 stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“Our choices define us, but it’s our actions that define our choices.”

It’s been a couple hours since I finished The Last Fallen Moon and I must say that this novel has all the family feels and I’m not even sugarcoating it! There were albeit a couple ( more!) times I teared up while reading because the relationship and portrayal of love was just so close to home. Going into the book, I definitely had high hopes for this since The Last Fallen Star was one of my favourite reads last year, and though the book starts off paler in comparison to the rest of the story, the plot picked up soon after and I wasn’t able to put the book down!

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“I’ve always loved keys,” he murmurs. “Each one holds the promise of adventure. You don’t know what’s hiding behind a door until you find the right key to open it, you know? One could be the path to a whole new realm. A whole new world. A whole new life!”

This year has really been such a great year for middle grade novels and I will not stop saying so! One of my main reasons for growing out of middle grade fantasy (other than actually growing up, of course) is because after a certain point, I felt like all the books just blurred into one single story recycled repeatedly. The Last Fallen Moon does not fall into that, thankfully! A perfect blend of exploring emotional relations and Korean mythology, Graci Kim creates a truly magical world for readers to get sucked into.

This novel follows our protagonist Riley Oh after finding out that she’s the Godrealm’s last fallen star. It picks up about a couple months after book one. Riley’s loved ones now have no recollections of her and Riley is a shell of the person she initially used to be. Things get worse when she recieves threats from unknown witches, leading her into the Spiritrealm, in hopes of restoring peace to the Gifted Clans, where she also meets new characters and creatures.

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“When mortals ask for help, I don’t send them a miracle packaged nicely in a box and tied with a ribbon. Instead, I provide them an opportunity they can use to help themselves.”

Also if you’re asking me to pick a favourite character relationship, let it be known that I just can’t! That’s how beautifully it’s written in here—Riley’s sisterly bond with Hattie and her unconditional love towards her parents and friends is just so heartwarming!! Starting off, to be honest, Riley was a teeny bit annoying but it was all worth it because her charcter arc goes through a huge development, especially with her befriending more people and figuring it all out slowly but steadily.

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Finally, I hope you enjoyed reading this review because you very much need to pick up this series! For fans of Percy Jackson or even people who are just looking for more diverse voices in middle grade fantasy, this is the book you and I hope you’ll find this book enjoyable! Have you read The Last Fallen Star? If not, are you planning on picking it up someday? Feel free to reply in the comments below!

THANK YOU FOR READING!