The Underground Moon

By: Melissa K. Magner

Narrated by: Marissa DuBois

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Summers in Tennessee are unfamiliar to fifteen-year-old Rosella Gill, who spent her life growing up in Oregon. But after a traumatic event with her mother that left their family in shambles, Rosella doesn’t plan on seeing her old home again any time soon. Together with her mother and seven-year-old sister Hettie, Rosella finds herself ripped from her old life as they move in with her aunt. Though she doesn’t mind Tennessee, the town they live in is rural and stagnant. Things get surprisingly more interesting, however, when she and Hettie come across a well hidden in a nearby forest and a staircase that descends into it. Underneath, they find a moonlit lake and a forest with trees boasting intricate carvings of children’s faces. Above it all shines an underground moon, which grows a little fuller every time they return.

After meeting a man with a haunted past, Rosella begins to realize that the world is not as innocent as it seems, and it has a particular target: her sister.

©2020 Melissa K. Magner (P)2020 Melissa K. Magner

Great book and great narrator!

Really good book. Great characters and an exciting but creepy plot. Kind of reminded me of Coraline! The narrator did a good job with the characters and emotion and I really enjoyed listening.

Suspenseful and entertaining

I don’t often listen to audio books as I tend to stray off, but this book kept my attention nonstop. A YA novel written for all ages by an up and coming author. Melissa Magner develops the plot such that just when I thought I new what was going to happen - poof she surprises you. Very well done and highly recommended.

Enchanting novel

Enchanting book that intrigues you right away. Geared toward young adults but interesting and engaging to all audiences. I enjoyed both the author and the narrator.

Wonderful Read!

This is a wonderful book by this young author; it is well written, engaging and suspenseful. She brings a level of realism to the characters and their challenges that draws you in and pulls you from one chapter to the next. Very well done and highly recommended!

Keeps you guessing

A mystery that I had no idea how it was going to end. The author, with her descriptive words, takes you right into the "other world".

Highly original

This is an interesting one. While I know I'm older than the target audience, I read a lot of YA dystopia. (This is NOT a YA dystopia.) This is sort of in a class of it's own. It's kind of a horror/dark fantasy/mystery. The story centers around a teenager and her little sister living in a town that's got a very different and dangerous world right in the midst of it that most are unaware of.
It's written well, narrated well.
The narrator is very pleasant to listen to and she does a great job with the voices and perspectives.
There were a few mispronunciations, "admirable" is one that quickly comes to mind. And I'm not sure if the author wrote this or if the narrator read it incorrectly, but I heard "all the sudden" twice. (cringe)
All in all, it's an interesting book for teens, though not the kind of book that crosses easily from YA to adult readers. This book would really be best enjoyed by someone in the 13 to 17 age range.
I was provided this book to listen to in exchange for providing an honest review.

Impressive dark fantasy

The story was not only gripping and eerie, but inspiring and very imaginative too. I love the dark fantasy genre and this one was unique and extremely well done. The writing was fantastic, and the narrator was good too; she did an impressive job with emotions. I didn't hear any mispronunciations, (I saw a review saying "all the sudden" was said twice but I did not hear that), the only thing I noticed was that some words sounded very Californian, but that did not bug me. I will be keeping an eye out for more by this author. :) I got a copy of this book and left this honest review voluntary. Story: 5/5 , Narrator 3.5/5. What a read/listen!

Interim review

Circumstances right now prevent me from writing an extensive review. I will update my review as soon as I am able.

Well-written story & amazing narration

A great, well-written book and a talented narrator. DuBois does a fantastic job conveying emotion, making an already haunting story that much better.

Totally recommended for YA and fantasy readers ✨

So surreal and so familiar at the same time. I’m usually not a big fan of fantasy books but this one looked really promising so I definitely wanted to give it a try.

The underground moon is a YA fantasy book about an underground world. A perfect world. The characters constantly go from the “real world” to the underground world, which makes it very interesting. The real world contains topics such as mental illness which is a really interesting thing about the story for me. I went from “I totally relate to this” to “I can’t imagine” at least 91 times during the entire book. It has so many different aspects and so many plot twist that it really caught my attention and didn’t let it go. The book is so beautifully written.