Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez

Hello, my darling readers!
Today I want to talk about an Illumicrate book that has the most adorable cover ever. Did you see the little sloth?! Let’s see whether the story got me as excited as the cover animals!

Woven in Moonlight on Goodreads

The Plot (as found on Goodreads):

Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.

When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.

She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa. 

The Rating:

Interesting concept! While I’ve read many books set in magical worlds, the Spanish/South American vibe we get from this one is rather unique. That’s one of the main reasons I enjoyed Woven in Moonlight so much: it’s a fresh breath of air!

Isabel Ibañez manages to really wave a picture with her words and you can practically feel her colorful world come to life around you.

This book features some different kinds of magic and I wish we would have heard more about that. Ximena mentions that her people are blessed by the moon but all in different ways. She’s able to weave with moonlight but what everybody else can do was barely mentioned. I feel like there’s a lot of interesting stuff and potential to be explored here!

Let’s talk a bit about the characters. While I liked the idea of this novel, the main character Ximena was annoying and I wanted to smack her over the head several times. She wasn’t really relatable and she never thinks about the consequences before acting. You’d think being the decoy Condesa somebody would have taught her that.

Overall, the story was a little predictable, and apart from the magic didn’t seem all too unique. I don’t mean in a foreshadowing kind of way but in a done that way. That’s not too bad but you were warned. 😉

While this is not the strongest book character or story-wise, it was still pretty cool in terms of world-building. A decent and quick read!

Did you read this book? Let me know in the comments what you think!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin‘, Tumblr, Goodreads, Letterboxd or Instagram!