Blood and Moonlight is a fantasy/thriller/mystery novel set in a medieval-esque town. When a serial killer starts killing women, one young woman, Catrin, has a unique ability that may be the only thing to stop him. Teaming up with a crime analyst/profiler type character, Simon, the novel follows them as they try to puzzle out the mystery.
Oh, and there's a fantasy subplot, too. As it says in the summary, Catrin discovers that she has a "supernatural sight granted to her by the moon." Supposedly, this is supposed to help her solve the mystery. But honestly, it really doesn't. They definitely could have solved the murder without it. The whole fantasy side plot doesn't fit in great with the rest of the novel and I almost wish that it wasn't included. However, without the fantasy element, this book would have been VERY similar to "Stalking Jack the Ripper" by Kerri Maniscalco. Even with the magick, it was still comparable. Basically, this is that book set in a medieval setting.
Furthermore, I'll be honest: when first reading the front cover, I was super confused about the plot. From what I understand, Catrin's "superpower" has nothing to do with building cathedrals. However, the front cover says: "Catrin, an orphan girl whose unique skills serve the Sanctum's master architect––for she alone can spot the building's flaws in construction before they turn deadly." I thought her magick had to do with that but if I'm understanding correctly, it's just because she's able to climb high up in the building and look for flaws and no one else is able to? Is this because she's small? Or more agile? It's not exactly clear. But her magick is only discovered about halfway through the novel and it's more related to moonlight and blood than building construction.
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. As a medieval enthusiast, I loved all the details on how a cathedral is built and the technical language. The murder mystery was pretty well done, too. And it was cool to see schizophrenic representation in some of the side characters. While I can't speak to the quality of the representation or if it was harmful or not since I do not have schizophrenia, I applaud the author for the effort of including the representation.
Overall, I would give this books 3 stars. It's not the best I've read nor the worst, and while it does have some repetitive and confusing elements, there were also good parts of it that I enjoyed reading.
Oh, and there's a fantasy subplot, too. As it says in the summary, Catrin discovers that she has a "supernatural sight granted to her by the moon." Supposedly, this is supposed to help her solve the mystery. But honestly, it really doesn't. They definitely could have solved the murder without it. The whole fantasy side plot doesn't fit in great with the rest of the novel and I almost wish that it wasn't included. However, without the fantasy element, this book would have been VERY similar to "Stalking Jack the Ripper" by Kerri Maniscalco. Even with the magick, it was still comparable. Basically, this is that book set in a medieval setting.
Furthermore, I'll be honest: when first reading the front cover, I was super confused about the plot. From what I understand, Catrin's "superpower" has nothing to do with building cathedrals. However, the front cover says: "Catrin, an orphan girl whose unique skills serve the Sanctum's master architect––for she alone can spot the building's flaws in construction before they turn deadly." I thought her magick had to do with that but if I'm understanding correctly, it's just because she's able to climb high up in the building and look for flaws and no one else is able to? Is this because she's small? Or more agile? It's not exactly clear. But her magick is only discovered about halfway through the novel and it's more related to moonlight and blood than building construction.
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. As a medieval enthusiast, I loved all the details on how a cathedral is built and the technical language. The murder mystery was pretty well done, too. And it was cool to see schizophrenic representation in some of the side characters. While I can't speak to the quality of the representation or if it was harmful or not since I do not have schizophrenia, I applaud the author for the effort of including the representation.
Overall, I would give this books 3 stars. It's not the best I've read nor the worst, and while it does have some repetitive and confusing elements, there were also good parts of it that I enjoyed reading.