I thought since it was inspired by Russia and the Romanovs, it would be intriguing. It felt so bland and felt like it went nowhere. I thought it lacked anything really exciting. I was definitely let down. I will continue with the next book, though, because I at least want to know the ending.

Involving fantasy from a Finnish writer As I'm attending the SF Worldcon in Helsinki, I wanted to read some Finnish fantasy and science fiction. Otherwise I wouldn't have chosen to read this book - it seems aimed at young adults. However, I'm glad I did - the author is obviously talented, and I will look out for her future books.It is loosely based on the fate of the Romanov's after the Russian revolution, but with an injection of fantasy elements, and an invented society based on Moon worship.

3.5 stars. This story, inspired by the story of the Romanov children and the Russian Revolution, is slow-moving, with complex characters. I didn’t fully understand the magic system using soul beads, but I still liked the slow-build tension.

This book has a creative lore. It was not fully developed, but I enjoyed the descriptions of the Crescent Empire, and the setting of this Russian-inspired magical society.Because The five daughters of the moon is based on the history of the Romanov family and their fall down from grace, you can anticipate what is to come in this fantasy retelling.I overall enjoyed the aesthetics of this novel but I thought that the story was poorly structured. Each of the five sisters has a POV explored in rotat...

The Five Daughters of the Moon is the first book in the fantasy duology The Waning Moon. The sequel, The Sisters of the Crescent Empress, will come out this fall.I decided to pick it up because its setting - the Crescent Empire - is inspired by Imperial Russia and the Russian Revolution.This novella follows five sisters: Alina (six), Merile (eleven), Sibilia (fifteen), Elise (sixteen) and Celestia (twenty-two), the daughters of the Crescent Empress and the Moon. There are two chapters in the PoV...

Hard to rate as is slow n writing can be awkward- perhaps this is a translation? Stops dead in the middle of the story.........

> 3.5 stars This book is really hard to review because it has really interesting parts, but they were dimmed down by some not as good things. In short: the novel taking loose inspiration from the Romanovs was something I loved. The worldbuilding was also really interesting in its presentation of an alternate fantasy version of Russia. The writing was also gorgeous, and I think Likitalo has really nice prose. However, I really do think this duology should’ve been released as one book. I think the...

I learned about this little known new release from an article that compared this to Catherynne Valente's Deathless. Apart from the pseudo-1917 Russian setting, the two books have little to nothing in common.The Five Daughters of the Moon, first in a duology by novice Finnish writer Leena Likitalo is essentialy a YA novel that follows the 5 princesses of the Crescent Empire, which ressembles - although rather vaguely - Revolutionary Russia.Now I know a thing or two about the Russian revolution, b...

A fantasy retelling of the Russian revolution and the fate of the Romanov sisters. Here, the Crescent Empress is wedded to the Moon, who is the symbolic father of her five daughters: Celestia (the empress-to-be), Elise, Sibilia, Merile, and Alina (the youngest). The Crescent Empress has pushed to expand the boundaries of her empire, rather than attending to the needs of her subjects. The peasants are toiling for nothing, the men dying in far off wars, and revolution brews in response. The gagarg...

I had so high hopes for this book. In parts I really enjoyed this book. I think it had a pretty strong start, and pretty interesting ending, however between around the halfway-point until the last couple of chapters, I was a little bit bored. I probably will read the last book in the duology to figure out how it all ends up, but this did not exactly meet my expectations fully.

Oooh this was good. I wasn't sure such a short book could successfully handle five first-person narrators, but Likitalo did it super well. The narrative voices felt distinct, and the multiple points of view - in addition to the time skips - brought a great sense of fragmentation to the book, which I think really underlined the theme of breaking up of empire. Likitalo uses unreliable narrators really neatly, too. I love stories with sisters (being part of a three-sister family myself), and Likita...

I struggled to rate this one. It's beautifully written and the five POV characters are nicely distinct. I didn't necessarily love all the characters, but that's fine. Plus, even only getting two chapters a piece, most of them have good character growth. My problem is that this does't feel like a complete book to me. I've enjoyed a lot of the Tor novellas, but I think this one should have been published as a full length novel. I see that it's planned to be a duology -- so why not publish it all t...

Mon avis en Françaismy link textI admit that I am always intrigued by stories regaring the Romanovs. How not to be? There are so many mysteries surrounding them. A tragic story that continues to haunt us today. As soon as this novel was announced, I confess that I was very impatient to see what the author was going to propose us. How can we resist the paranormal and historical mix proposed? The cover also immediately charmed me. It is really beautiful !Each chapter follows one of the sisters tha...

First off: if you’re like me and don’t pay enough attention, you might miss that this book is the first of a duology. It very much just comes to a stop, and will require the second volume to become a full story. You might want to hold off until you have your hands on both of them to start reading, because they’re the same story.Anyway, The Five Daughters of the Moon is a historical fantasy based on the story of the Russian revolution. If you know the story of the Romanov sisters, you know there’...

This is such an interesting world! Both immersive and incredibly surreal due to the parallels with real historical events. As described, it takes inspiration from the Russian revolution, the five daughters being the heirs to the Crescent Empire. The villain is really well written. I disliked him a LOT and found myself rooting hard for Celestia to kick his butt. I look forward to 'soul beads' being explained more in the sequel (out in November '17 I think) as the concept really grabbed me. I'd re...

2.5 stars. Not the best read but I'm curious enough to read book 2 of the duology since I already own it.

The first in a duology, The Five Daughters of the Moon is a fantastical reimagining of the 1917 Russian Resolution. The Crescent Empire is threatened by insurgence and rebellion but one of the daughters might be at the heart of it.This was a very unique book, beautifully written. The cold world of snow and danger leapt off the page with vivid descriptions. The magic in the world , the power of naming days, the stealing of souls, the peril of mesmerization all made for the creation of a wonderful...

Of all the Romanov-related and Anastasia-inspired books, this one is possibly my favourite. Exactly because it takes the inspiration, but not the exact story, and the parallels are not obviously drawn, neither forced into every page. I loved that the author captured the sense of looming threat and danger that can be felt, even if it is not understood in its true magnitude (or even detailed origin). There is a sense of isolation and loneliness, as well as palpable relationship ties between the ch...

This one was hard for me to rate. While I love Russian folklore, and reading about the Romonovs, this was not my favorite. I thought it was beautifully written, but the characters just weren't very likable. I didn't really like the magic either. I liked the writing style, but not enough to continue with the series. Like I said, I had trouble with this rating. I'm feeling generous.

Started slow, but I loved how it was structured & it ended up being quite compelling. Looking forward to the sequel.