Highly recommend for lovers of fantasy, urban fantasy, and adventure. This middle grade novel hooks the reader immediately with descriptions that elicit great visuals through imagination. Lots of twists keep the reader engaged throughout the book.

Standing atop the rusty green dumpster behind his orphanage on the night of a full harvest moon, a lonely, abandoned teenage boy meets the beautiful, mysterious moon spirit girl who’s been haunting his dreams. When he reluctantly agrees to guard the magical Orb she’s fleeing with, the mischievous and powerful object turns his world upside down.

It leads him down a dangerous path filled with moon-worshipping cults, flying lizard warriors, devious shadow spirits, and the looming threat of an ancient goddess known as The Destroyer. He ends up caught between the chance to finally have a family and trying to save the world.

Moon Spirit is Action- Adventure, Urban Fantasy and Middle Grade, all wrapped in one, On this adventure, the protagonist encounters innocent love, hilarious and loving family and responsibilities of the world, It is one story where surprising twists and unexpected actions/ decisions were not limited to middle of the story or the climax. From beginning to end, the story of Max and his journey alongside the Orb served us twists upon twists.

It also introduced lovable, unique characters, quirky, tough, dark, deep, smart and naïve, all accepting each other unconditionally, becoming a family stronger than blood. One thing common in all kind of characters, good, bad, or grey is their justified belief and their subsequent actions which is a good lesson to include in children's literature. Grecely has expertly crafted a tale of action, consequences, uniqueness and acceptance.

The story has some popular, some favorite middle grade tropes. Of course with Fred Gracely's twist- an unfortunate kid stumbling across magic and mayhem but instead of being pulled into their world like Spiderwick or Narnia, the world the orb) comes crashing into Max's life. I particularly loved the balance of normal life and magical aspects.

There are also mentions of moon worshiping cults and their agendas which look like a light hearted stab at cults in general. There is enough of it for older readers to enjoy and younger readers to be inquisitive about which is what a middle grade fantasy is.

Moon Spirit is the perfect children's literature to send a young reader's on an exciting adventure and spiral their thoughts about various subjects when the story is over.

DNF at 15%. Unfortunately not what I was looking for. Thank you to NetGalley and Bisket Press, LLC for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Moon Spirit by Fred Gracely is such a good book. I didn't expect it to be so good. I really recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

This was a really fun read! I loved the characters and it was fast paced and engaging, it felt like a real adventure

I was hooked from the cover and description and so glad I was able to read this. It had that young adult element that I was hoping for and enjoyed how strong the characters were. It had a great story going on and was looking for more in this universe. Fred Gracely was able to weave a great story and characters.

The book was fast paced and was entertaining in terms of the plot. This would be a great book recommendation to middle grade students who are interested in paranormal and fantasy genres.