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Claire Luana
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Moonburner: A Young Adult Fantasy (Moonburner Cycle Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Claire Luana (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,050 ratings
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Mulan meets Sarah J Maas in this thrilling tale filled with celestial magic, death-defying adventure, and enduring friendships.

Kai is a Moonburner—a female sorceress reviled by her people and normally killed at birth. Except Kai's parents saved her by disguising her as a boy—a ruse they've kept up for almost seventeen years. But when her village is attacked, Kai’s secret is revealed and she’s sentenced to death.

Thankfully, the gods aren’t done with Kai. Despite the odds stacked against her, she escapes her fate, undertaking a harrowing journey to a land where Moonburners are revered and trained as warriors.

But her new home has dangers of its own—the ancient war against the male Sunburners has led the Moonburners down a dark path that could destroy all magic. And Kai, armed only with a secret from her past and a handsome but dangerous ally, may be the only one who can prevent the destruction of her people...

Moonburner is Book One in the completed Moonburner Cycle, a sweeping coming-of-age fantasy series perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Alison Goodman, J.C. Kang, and Elise Kova. Scroll up and one-click to read today!

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  1. Book 1 of 3
    Moonburner Cycle
  2. Print length
    313 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    July 11, 2017
  6. File size
    4027 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Over 2 million Kindle Unlimited pages read!

"A captivating story that will hook readers from start to finish." -Booklife Prize for Fiction

"A promising start to a fantasy series that delivers a superb sense of fun and strong female characters who are both heroes and villains." -Kirkus Reviews

"[A] powerful fantasy world with a set of interesting characters and a page-turning plot in this enjoyable debut. ...Pick up a copy, you won't be disappointed." -Kat Stiles, author of Connected


"The plot is fresh and original, the characters are well-written and relatable, and the writing is so smooth and effortless..." Wendi Wilson, author of the Shadowed Series


"Filled with harrowing battles, trials of friendship, hilarious dialogue, and the dangers of falling in love, Moonburner is sure to thrill to the very last page. Claire Luana's writing is vivid and her world is beautifully imagined." -Amazon reviewer

About the Author

 Claire Luana grew up reading everything she could get her hands on and writing every chance she could. Eventually, adulthood won out, and she turned her writing talents to more scholarly pursuits, going to work as a commercial litigation attorney at a mid-sized law firm. While continuing to practice law, Claire decided to return to her roots and try her hand once again at creative writing. She has written and published the Moonburner Cycle and is currently working on a new trilogy about magical food. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and two dogs. In her (little) remaining spare time, she loves to hike, travel, binge-watch CW shows, and of course, fall into a good book.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073WDW49P
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Live Edge Publishing; 2nd edition (July 11, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 11, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4027 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,050 ratings

About the author

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Claire Luana

Claire Luana

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USA Today Bestselling author Claire Luana grew up reading everything she could get her hands on and writing every chance she could. Eventually, adulthood won out, and she turned her writing talents to more scholarly pursuits, going to work as a commercial litigation attorney at a mid-sized law firm.

While continuing to practice law, Claire decided to return to her roots and try her hand once again at creative writing. She has written and published the Moonburner Cycle and the Confectioner Chronicles and is currently writing a new fantasy series. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and two dogs. In her (little) remaining spare time, she loves to hike, travel, binge-watch CW shows, and of course, fall into a good book.

Connect with Claire online!

Website - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - Goodreads - Amazon - BookBub

Full List of Publications (in recommended reading order)

Moonburner Cycle:

Moonburner

Burning Fate

Sunburner

Starburner

Confectioner Chronicles:

The Confectioner's Guild

The Confectioner's Exile

The Confectioner's Coup

The Confectioner's Truth

The Knights of Caerleon (with Jesikah Sundin)

The Fifth Knight

The Third Curse

The First Gwenevere

The Faerie Race trilogy (with J.A. Armitage)

The Sorcery Trial

The Elemental Trial

The Doomsday Trial

Orion's Kiss

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,050 global ratings
Great read!
5 Stars
Great read!
I'm on Book 4 inside Moonburner! I've gotten so caught up in this book, it is hard to stop reading.
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Top reviews from the United States

LR
5.0 out of 5 stars Moonburner was so much fun to read that I didn't want to put it ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
Moonburner was so much fun to read that I didn't want to put it down. This was one of three books that kept me up late into the night this week just so I could finish.

The characters were wonderfully developed and unique. It was fun to have the slight Japanese twist for the clothing and food.

I loved Kai and her determination and her strength. She had a strong foundation thanks to her parents and I think that really showed once she was put into tough situations. Her strength of character not only made her easy to cheer for, but it made the other characters stand up and do what was right.

Quitsu was adorable and I just wanted to hug him!

My only complaint is that Kai didn't seem very distraught about her father's fate, or even her mother's until later. I get that at first she'd been thrown into a desert and was focused on survival, but even then... but definitely after I'd expect her to go through some intense mourning. Instead she rarely speaks about her parents and not once that I recall did she sit down and have a good cry about her father's death. It would've seemed heartless if it wasn't so out of character for Kai that I felt it was more like it'd been forgotten. Like the author didn't think about how Kai might react.

Definitely a gripping story, with a bit of a darker edge but not so dark that it'd leave you feeling depressed. I'll be reading the next one.
5 people found this helpful
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KRLGA @Smada's Book Smack
4.0 out of 5 stars Magic Fantasy Adventure
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2019
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Kai has spent her whole life living as a boy and dying her hair so the silver of who she really is could be kept secret. In a world where female magic users, or Moonburners, are feared and killed at birth, Kai has never been given an opportunity to learn about the magic that should fill her. But when she exposes her secret to save an innocent, she condemns her parents to parents to death and herself to potential death in exile. Kai needs to find the strength to survive and conquer her magic to save not only herself but her people as well.

Ok, I will admit that I knew almost nothing about this book when I decided I needed to read it. All I knew was it has a gorgeous eye catching cover I needed (yes, I am a cover snob) and it was about magic. I was super happy with what I actually got in the story! This was an action packed Asian style world full of magic, conspiracies, hard truths, war and the best animals imaginable. Did I happen to mention I love animals? Well, a book where worthy magic users get an animal soul companion (seishen) they can speak to can't get much better than this.

My absolutely favorite thing about the story was Quitsu, the main character's seishen fox soulmate. He was mischievous, outgoing and so smart, the perfect foil to the quiet and thoughtful Kai who spent her whole life having to hide who she really was. While this story did have some dark and serious subject matter, once Quitsu was introduced he was able to lighten everything up for me, the break in dark I needed.

I actually did not realize this was a series until I finished the book and I looked up the author on Goodreads and saw there are more books to read. Based on the ending it technically could be a standalone with how all the big issues were wrapped up and the world seems to be mending for better, but I would love to read more set in this world. I have read a few Asian style mythology fiction stories recently and it made me realize that I love them and want more. The narrator did a great job bringing Kai to life and had so many different voices to make this an immersive experience for me. I really liked Moonburner and all the twists and surprised the author threw at me and I can't wait to jump into the next book.
12 people found this helpful
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Samantha Britt
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally loved this book!
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2016
Verified Purchase
My highlights:

1) The world in Moonburner is built effortlessly, giving me the background of what is happening in a natural way. I did not read boring paragraphs telling me the past. Rather, I learned everything throughout the natural flow of the story. Very hard to do (in my opinion).

2) The world/plot/characters/history... pretty much everything... was VERY unique and refreshing! Ms. Luana's creativity shined through this book. The detail of the Moonburner world was up there with the top fantasy books I've read.

3) Kia is a likeable and realistic protagonist. Moving with her through her journey made me feel as if I really knew her personality. She grew from a lonely girl to a strong young woman. Absolutely loved seeing the transformation.

4) While the story started a little slow, it quickly picked up and I eagerly turned the pages to find out what would happen. After the first "book", the plot moved at a quick pace. So if you start reading and feel like the story is slow, I recommend pushing through the first few chapters. It is worth it!

My only complaint would be it took too long (for me) for the romance between Hiro and Kai to come up. I wanted it to happen from the first interaction. But that's just me being impatient, lol :). The romance was written very well. I really enjoyed the progress there.

Overall, I recommend this read for fantasy readers. I look forward to reading the continuation!
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

anonymouss
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 22, 2022
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It was a nice book. It wasn't spectacular but I enjoyed it
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Samantha
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic world of magical powers, gender politics and far away lands
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
Wow. Just wow. There's a lot to enjoy in Claire Luana's debut YA fantasy novel; the gender politics, the girl-power, the world building, the fantastic cast of characters. I was expecting to like the story, but I wasn't expecting to totally love it! I was lucky enough to see this story in its late-draft form, but the work that's gone into polishing it is clear to see. Moonburner is clearly a labour of love for the author, and it shows on every page.

And what pages they are! From the prologue that grabs hold of you and won't let go, right the way through to the final battle, Moonburner is a page turner from start to finish. The story is set in the lands of Kita and Miina, countries divided by magic and gender. In Miina, females with magic - drawn from the power of the moon - are revered as so-called Moonburners. In Kita, where Kai was unfortunately born, they are put to death by the male-dominated powers that be - males with magic drawn from the sun, aka Sunburners. After escaping her death sentence march into the desert that divides the two lands, Kai is taken in by the Moonburners and trained to embrace her powers. The world building is simple and easy to get into, which allows for a breathlessly taught opening act. From Kai's outing to her arrival in the Moonburner citadel, a school where young women are trained as warriors to harness their magic, there's barely a stray word that could have been cut in the edit to be found.

However the author takes a fairly simple story of two opposites, and turns the idea on its head. There are no good guys and bad guys here (well, there are, but I'll get to that later). What starts as a black and white world for Kai quickly begins to morph into a world of grey, where nothing's quite as clear-cut as either side of the impending war seem to think. There are a lot of Asian-inspired elements to the story, so the concept of yin and yang seems fitting. On the surface, the moon and sun burners are polar opposites. Female and male. Night and day. Darkness and light. What is initially present to Kai in the citadel's teachings is very much them and us, but the set up evolves into something more complicated as she gradually comes to realise that neither can exist without the other, and true victory lies in peace rather than destruction. Yes, this book features plenty of strong female characters, but it's not always the case that these are the good guys. It also features plenty of strong male characters, and it's not always the case that they are the bad guys. Claire Luana manages to walk the fine line between feminism and equality, without overbalancing into superiority on either side.

If the world building was outstanding, then the characters and dialogue in this story set it on fire! Kai is a utterly adorable protagonist, equal parts strong and vulnerable. Behind her Buffy-esque sass is a young girl raised to fear the world around her, and when the security blanket of her loving family is ripped away in brutal fashion, she's thrown out into that world to fend for herself. Well, not quite for herself. Powerful burners acquire a senshen, a sort of spirit animal, and Kai's is a take-no-shit fox named Quitsu. And he is awesome! Snarky and wise in equal measure, this guy is easily my favourite character. I would have liked to see him written a little more distinctly - it was sometimes hard to work out whether it was Kai or Quitsu that was talking because their dialogue and attitudes were so similar - but that's a minor quibble. Kai's new Moonburner friends were pretty good, if a little interchangeable with their silver hair and sass. Maaya was the best of the group, her soft-heartedness making her stand out a little more than the rest. I did love the ass-kicking trainer Nanase (aka Eclipse, because she killed so many Sunburners in the first war that the sun apparently went dark - seriously, what's not to love here!?), but the abundance of friends, antagonists and teachers at the citadel felt a bit cluttered.

And what can I say about Kai's 'love interest', Hiro? I say love interest in inverted commas because, to be honest, he barely features for most of the book. Seriously, he and Kai meet about three or four times. Their burgeoning relationship is pushed aside by the impending war - and the fact that their both standing on opposite sides of it - as it rightly should be. I have to applaud the author for being brave and going with this angle. The Romeo and Juliet thing is a pretty well trodden path in YA fantasy, and it would have been easy to play this up. But Claire Luana puts her protagonist front and centre, her journey and growth taking precedent over ticking a box or shoehorning in any swoony scenes. It's weird, because in a roundabout way, this totally works. Because both characters keep their head in the game, you buy into their romance even more. It's clearly not some fleeting obsession. Kai's obviously not falling to pieces over Hiro's abs or his sparkly eyes, so their connection feels more real, and I will take this a hundred times over magical bonds, instalove and/or a love triangle.

With such a fast-paced story, it was inevitable that the writing would feel a little flat at times. There's very little navel-gazing here, and no affected, artsy prose. And for the most part it's great because it makes for a more exciting story. But there were times when I'd have liked just a little bit more on how Kai and the other characters were feeling. There's a lot of she said this and he did that, but at lot of the time there's very little sense of how they're saying it and what they're thinking.

Much like Kai's gradual uncovering of the citadel's dark secrets, there's more to the story than meets the eye. I loved the suprisingly dark subplot with the Moonburner queen and her plot to destroy the Sunburners once and for all. There were a few almost too dark moments though, with a couple of allusions to and mentions of rape that felt out of place. There as nothing wrong with them per se, they just don't seem to fit in this book. The story itself though is solid, if a little cliche at times, but because it's all told through such colourful characters and in such a rich, vibrant world, it feels like something fresh. The gender politics bring a different angle to the usual 'good guys v bad guys' set up, and the message of coexistence and tolerance has rarely felt more timely.

The story wrapped up nicely, while still leaving room for a sequel (more on that below). One of my pet peeves is an ending that reads like the author stopped typing part way through a chapter, but this book has a solid beginning, middle, and end, as well as a hook for book two. Ending perfection! Moonburner is a fantastic debut from a very talented author, and a must-read for YA fantasy fans.
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Deena
4.0 out of 5 stars It's good, but not excellent
Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2021
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The world is very interesting and exciting. And it's a fun and enjoyable read. If you want to read a story about how a young peasant girl becomes a heroine with a magical power then this is the book for you.
There were plot holes in this book that bothered me a lot. And the main character was a bit of a Mary Sue. The classic YA heroine that is amazing at everything and has a special power and also beautiful, but thinks that she is just an ordinary person who doesnt have anything special about her at all. Plus most of the characters seemed very flat and dull to me. It's obvious they existed to serve the heroines story and that they didnt have any stories of their own. Idk, it bothered me a lot. But, otherwise the book has a exciting and interesting storyline and the world the story is set in is very interesting to read about.
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Mrs. Bruce
5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all ages. Can be read as a stand alone book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2017
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I read 3 or 4 books every week, so I tend to be more critical than other reviewers and rarely give
5 stars. However, this book deserved them. It says it is for young adults, which sometimes puts me
off a book as I am 70! This is definitely a book for all ages.

Kai eventually reaches her "dream" country ruled by moonburners after being exposed as one herself in
the sunburners` world. However, not everything is as wonderful as she hoped and she soon realizes that for
both lots of "burners" to survive, they have to stop fighting each other.

I loved the seishens - animal familiars to certain sun or moonburners. They reminded me of Phillip Pullman's books.
Quitsu, Kai's fox, tried to stand on his dignity but soon formed a loving bond with Kai and proved invaluable to her.

The book had several twists - some I guessed but others were a surprise. Using magic drawn by the sun or moon
was interesting. Although there are more books in this series, this could be read as a stand alone book. I recommend
it.
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Natalie Cox
4.0 out of 5 stars Good start up
Reviewed in Canada on November 13, 2020
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First time reading this, it had a really good and strong starting that gave alot of detail and insite. It lasted a bit and flowed nicely into the rest of the character development. The story went fairly steadly and kept my interest. However, the ending was super rushed. I didn't understand where the characters were, what they were doing and oh its done? Would have liked it to have been a bit more fleshed out and not so rushed. Will debate on reading next in the series.
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