The Silver Moon Story Book- Elaine Gunn

Illustrated by Megan MacPhie

Book Review By Gemma E McLaughlin

Earlier this week I received an incredible surprise. I came home to find a package addressed to me and upon opening I discovered it was the beautiful and magical Silver Moon Story Book with a lovely note from Elaine Gunn. This is the first time I have received a book to review and I can’t begin to express how exciting it was for me to be given this opportunity. The novel is visually stunning both inside and out due to the creative work of Megan MacPhie

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I was intrigued as I began reading the collection of feminist fairytales as I’ve never reviewed a collection of stories for this column. Although I was originally unsure how to proceed I feel that reviewing it will not be quite as different to reviewing a novel as I first anticipated. The fairytales are set out in a way that they all connect to each other in a poetic and intelligent fashion, making the reader feel as though they are reading one enchanting fairytale from every perspective.

What really impressed me was the depth of the characters. It is often found in shorter pieces that characters are a little more two- dimensional and there is more focus on the plot and as a lover of strong characters I have often struggled with this. Elaine Gunn manages to build a gripping plot for each story and every character is written with clear goals, ambitions and flaws which makes The Silver Moon Storybook a truly excellent find. Quality characters are something that I look for in every piece of creative literature I read and was pleasantly surprised by the uniqueness in every character portrayed, matching perfectly to the course of their plot.

The subject of feminism is prominent in every part of the book and something about it I was pleased was written so well. Every female character was written with her own sense of purpose and never depends solely on a male character, something that is used far too often in the context of fairytales. I was unsure when I heard that these were feminist fairytales simply for concern that the heroines only motivations would be feminism but was proven wrong once again and was ecstatic to see that the characters were not based solely around being a woman.

Although The Silver Moon Storybook is written about fantastical creatures and epic heroes it speaks with vivid honesty about real life and the struggles we face as humans and as a society every day. I cannot quite believe the knowledge and inspiration that these short, magical snippets of life in a different realm has brought me about my own life and assure you you will not regret picking up a copy for yourself