A Killing Moon by Rith Miranda will be released tomorrow! I’ve had the priviledge of reading an ARC of this dark tale, and what can I say? There’s a reason why Miranda is an auto-buy author for me.
Let’s discover it together!
The opening scene is gut-wrenching, a slap in the face that shoves you into a world of horror and pain that you’ll soon learn is normality to these characters. Night and Rhodri both know abuse, they live through it every single day and struggle to heal in different ways: Night by fighting and seeking revenge, Rhodri by shutting himself down. They don’t understand each other, because they’re too different and react to things in opposite ways, but at the same time they’re drawn to one another.
Night sees a younger version of himself in Rhodri, and while on one hand he wants to protect him, on the other he’s full of anger toward him, because he doesn’t see him react the way he thinks is “the right way” and feels like he’s given up. Night is sometimes terrible to Rhodri and every time a side characters tells him he should stay away from him, I can see where they’re coming from. The truth is, these two should probably stay away from each other, if only they could.
Rhodri’s presence triggers the worst memories in Night, but he can’t leave him alone. He pushes through to learn, to understand, to “see” the real Night, until he does. All of these while fighting his own demons, that are still very much alive and threatening him to ruin his peace. I loved this character, so hurt and lonely, but so incredibly good at heart.
There is cruelty in this story, so much of it, and I’d recommend checking the trigger warnings carefully before reading, but it’s never cruelty for the sake of it; it’s food for thought. Because the situations these characters are in are not unrealistic. They exist, and they might be closer to us than we think.
This book made me reflect on how hard it is to recover from trauma, how important it is to have someone who understands you by your side. Near the climax, I thought that there’s no way this was ending well. But the author gave us the most fulfilling ending that I’m really grateful for!