Marni is the daughter of a princess and the powerful dragon who presides over the kingdom's magicked woods. When she was a baby, her grandfather surrendered his throne to his son to save her life. Marni has grown up in relative obscurity with Gramps in a hut on the kingdom's outskirts. Now she is almost seventeen, and the woods are encroaching on the kingdom -- her dragon father's attempt to call her to him. After tragedy strikes, Marni (the king's only heir) leaves home to make a life for herself at court -- and to seek vengeance on her uncle for her mother's murder. But the king's increased fear and hatred eventually drives Marni to seek out her father. While in the woods, she finally chooses who she will be and where home truly lies. Full of court intrigue, family secrets, marriage proposals (several by a beguiling and bewildering lord), fantastical creatures, legends, and magic, Hahn's debut novel is first and foremost a journey of self-discovery. Marni, like Katsa in Graceling (rev. 11/08) and the eponymous Seraphina (rev. 7/12), is a strong, plainspoken protagonist who learns to embrace her uniqueness and power with newfound confidence and fierce independence. Hahn's poetic style gives the narrative depth and beauty with vividly rendered settings and sophisticatedly complex characters. It's an eloquent story about free will, the meaning of home, and love's varied forms. cynthia k. ritter (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Hahn's polished, confident debut, the daughter of a runaway princess and a dragon comes of age. Neither a retelling nor a subversion of a familiar myth, this profound and original story feels like a long-lost classic fairy-tale. Its heroine, Marni, bewitches with her quaint, idiomatic narration and her core of stubbornness. She is knitting moonlight into a vengeance to destroy her murderous uncle, the king: "I lace it with the sharpest tip of a claw, the hottest flick of a flame, the empty nothing of a moonlit sky." Her dragon's blood increasingly lures her to the magical woods, even as its trees encroach on the realm. In an emotional journey full of twists and turns, Marni comes to doubt her own righteousness. She wonders, too, whether she belongs among humans or in the woods whose soul "will fold itself into you, and you will never know it's there, not until you're ten nights out and there's not a thing that can bring you back again." Hahn thoroughly examines the sorrows and beauties of both worlds before bringing the narrative to satisfying close. Ages 12-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 9 Up-Marni lives in a shack at the edge of the woods with her Gramps, where she tends flowers, as she's done for most of her life. Yet change is afoot. As she's come of age, more and more male visitors have come to sit on the porch with Gramps while Marni lingers in the shadows. Perhaps even more disturbingly, the woods have begun creeping in inch by inch into the surrounding villages-but notably not around their own hut. If there was ever a time Marni should ignore the siren call of the voices in the woods, it is now, but she continues to escape there. It was these woods, after all, that had lured her princess mother away from the castle. Her mother was not the only girl lured by the voices, but she was the only to return-carrying the illegitimate "Dragon's" daughter and ultimately ending her own life, thereby sentencing Marni and her Gramps to a life of exile. Unexpectedly, Marni is thrust into life at court, and she must fight desperately to keep her independence while unraveling the mysteries of the encroaching woods and her birth. This book's greatest strength lies in the vivid woodland scenes and the rich detail that describes the mystical pieces of Marni's tale. The plot, however, plods along a bit, and, in the end, readers might wish that a little more had lurked beneath the surface. Fantasy fans who enjoy reveling more in the vision of a fantastical land and its creatures than an intricate and fast-paced plot will find much to love here.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Marni is the sole heir to a kingdom surrounded by a dangerous wood ruled by a powerful dragon and full of fantastic creatures, alluring magic, and trees whose seductive song lures young girls to abandon village life and run away to the forest. But instead of taking her rightful place on the throne, Marni is doomed to live in exile: her father is the dragon, and her mother was murdered for her transgression. When Marni's grandfather her sole protector dies, and she's sent to the court of her uncle, the king, she gets a taste of what a purely human life would be like. She can't resist the call of the forest though, and soon, despite diligently planning to avenge her mother's death, she seeks out her father in the woods. Told in a languorous, breathy first-person narrative, Hahn's debut novel follows tenacious Marni as she tries to find a home between two vastly different worlds. Patient fantasy fans will appreciate this lyrical, character-driven story about a unique girl learning to find her place in an inhospitable world.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2010 Booklist

CERTAIN FAIRY TALES ARE so ingrained in our consciousness that we have no memory of when we first heard them; there's a sense we always knew them. I had that feeling when reading Rebecca Hahn's debut novel, "A Creature of Moonlight." Though Hahn's story is new and wholly original, I immediately felt I had fallen into a dark and beautiful fairy tale, one that resonated like something important but long forgotten. A strange magic is at work in the kingdom. The woods are rapidly expanding throughout the land, sometimes swallowing up whole farms in a single night. Young girls who wander too close to the border may disappear forever. Marni, who lives near the woods with her grandfather, seems to be the exception. Ignoring warnings to stay away from the trees, Marni often ventures among them, summoned by their stories and secrets. She knows their language, which pulls her "step by step by step, out of the human realm." Despite her humble work selling flowers to noblemen, Marni is no ordinary villager. She is sole heir to the throne, currently occupied by the uncle who murdered her mother. There are also strange rumors of who, or what, Marni's father might be. And the call of the woods has grown louder than ever before. However, upon her grandfather's death, Marni makes the unlikely choice of requesting a place in her uncle's castle. As a girl of purpose and plans, she intends to seek "a vengeance" upon the king, one knit from pine needles and strands of moonlight. As the woods encroach even farther across the land, the king decides Marni is to blame. When he tries to kill her, as he did her mother, Marni is forced to confront the truth about her origins and choose her destiny. The fairy-tale world in "A Creature of Moonlight" is richly woven, laced with such delicate details that when you close your eyes it's impossible not to see the thin blue dragon flowers or hear the whispering leaves beckoning you into the thicket. This story engages every sense, and burrows into your imagination. Perhaps it is Hahn's dreamlike writing that makes her story so captivating. "The flowers are restless," Marni tells us. "I sense them, swiveling their heads toward me, quivering all along their stems. Only the faintest light still brushes the garden." Her words are lyrics set to the dark music of the story. Among a cast of well-drawn characters, including her lovable "Gramps" and the charming and handsome Lord of Ontrei, who offers Marni an alliance, Marni's distinctive narrative voice leaps from the pages. She comes from a simple existence, as evidenced in her description of visitors "who come too often for my taste" or in her promise that "I won't complain none." She is connected to nature, and finds magic in it everywhere. Marni doesn't need to tell the reader about her personal strength or willpower - it's obvious from the way she speaks, which readers will hear like a familiar song in their heads. But the strengths of this book may also be considered its weakness. Hahn explores her world so minutely the story loses any sense of urgency. When Marni comes to the castle seeking vengeance against her uncle, weeks and even months pass, time in which other than the occasional glare, he appears to be little more malign than a reluctant host. Once Marni's vengeance is ready, she still keeps it to herself, something that seems passive and at odds with her self-described "bitterness." Scenes that present the greatest opportunities for action - such as Marni's escape from her uncle's prison - feel hurried and are described in only a few paragraphs; Marni overcomes challenges with little difficulty. "A Creature of Moonlight" is a standalone book, which may be welcome news to readers who have felt overwhelmed by young adult trilogies lately. It will draw inevitable comparisons to Rachel Hartman's "Seraphina," and will most likely appeal to the same type of reader. While there is romance and intrigue, this is ultimately a coming-of-age story, Marni's quest to discover who she is and what she wants from life. Although the slower pace may frustrate some action-oriented readers, others will be happy just to linger a while longer within the fairy tale. Hahn's confident writing and moody setting certainly drew me in. JENNIFER A. NIELSEN is the author of the Ascendance Trilogy.

A dreamlike, poetic fantasy bildungsroman explores the power of choice and the meaning of home.Marni has lived 16 years in a hut near the magic-haunted woods, growing flowers for the nobility with her grandfather. But Gramps was once the kingbefore his daughter ran away to the woods only to return with a baby rumored to be "the dragon's daughter," before Gramps gave up everything to protect Marni from her murderous uncle. Now Gramps is gone, and the king's court has noticed that his only heir is an unmarried girl...and the woods are invading the kingdom, calling Marni to return. A fully satisfying fairy tale, this can also be read as an elegant metaphor for adolescence, as Marni is tempted in turn by obscurity, power, vengeance, romance and (most seductive) the freedom of eternal childhood. Her vivid narration is rustic and even coarse at times. She is bitterly resentful of her unjust treatment but also aching with loneliness and lyrically passionate about the beauty of nature and magic alike, and she is always perceptive, acute and honest. Torn between human and dragon, Marni (unlike too many otherwise "strong" teen heroines) fiercely maintains her own agency. Thoughtful readers will embrace the ambiguous conclusion and appreciate the triumph of Marni's commitment to keeping her possibilities open.Deliberate at first, Hahn's debut is cumulatively stunning. (Fantasy. 12 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.