Day Moon

Author: Brett Armstrong
Genre: YA/SCI-FI/Fantasy

A.D. 2039, a prodigious seventeen year old, Elliott, is assigned to work on a global software initiative his deceased grandfather helped found. Project Alexandria is intended to provide the entire world secure and equal access to all accumulated human knowledge. All forms of print are destroyed in good faith, to ensure everyone has equal footing, and Elliott knows he must soon part with his final treasure: a book of Shakespeare's complete works gifted 

him by his grandfather. Before it is destroyed, Elliott notices something is amiss with the book, or rather Project Alexandria. The two do not match, including an extra sonnet titled "Day Moon." When Elliott investigates, he uncovers far more than he bargained for. There are sinister forces backing Project Alexandria who have no intention of using it for its public purpose. Elliott soon finds himself on the run from federal authorities and facing betrayals and deceit from those closest to him. Following clues left by his grandfather, with agents close at hand, Elliott desperately hopes to find a way to stop Project Alexandria. All of history past and yet to be depend on it.

Reviewer: Camille Murray

I really enjoyed Day Moon. In an age of action-packed stories, it was refreshing to find something with more realistic reactions from the characters—they make mistakes, get discouraged, jump into things too hastily, and experience doubt. The characters are all very different from one another and have different motivations and goals that make for a complex story.

I enjoyed the descriptiveness up to a point. About halfway through the story, however, I started to skim or even skip areas of description to get to the interesting part.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable read. Very thoughtful, and thought-provoking—something that is often lacking in YA literature.

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Reviewer: Eva-Joy Schonhaar

​I was intrigued by this book's premise and it delivered in some ways, but not in others.

To begin with the good, I have to say that I found the world of Day Moon to be interesting and well thought out. Project Alexandria is a big part of the book's focus, and I think it's pretty neat, the way that there are so many layers to it: the name means two different things and it has both good and bad uses and, yeah, it was cool. I also like that this book was set in a not-so-distant future, so everything seemed a little more realistic than other dystopias I've read.

As for the Shakespearean element that first interested me in Day Moon, I really enjoyed the way Brett Armstrong used quotes from different Shakespeare plays to begin most of the book's chapters. And how Romeo & Juliet was one of the catalysts to Elliott figuring out something was wrong with Project Alexandria. Very nice.

So why am I rating this book only 2.5 out of 5 stars? Well, there were two major things about it that I didn't like: the writing style and the characters. Though the plot was mostly interesting, it was also a slog at times and at the end it didn't seem like too much had happened in the book. There are a lot of words to wade through, a lot of 'purple prose', and a lot of metaphors that sounded like they were trying to be clever instead of actually being clever.

And I didn't particularly like/connect to any of the characters, and that'll usually kill my love for any book. Elliott, the main character, seemed to overreact to so many of the situations he was faced with. Lara was the typical feisty, vaguely annoying action girl/love interest. John was probably my favorite, if I have to pick a favorite, just because he seemed to have a richer backstory and deeper emotions than any of the other characters.

Overall, I would say that while the worldbuilding and worldview in Day Moon were interesting, the poor writing and character development spoiled my enjoyment of this book. And that's unfortunate, because I was really hoping to enjoy it.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

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