Book Review: Beneath a Mountain Moon

 

• Author: Silver Ravenwolf 
• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567187226

Published more than twenty years ago when Silver Ravenwolf was one of Llewellyn’s most successful authors and before the backlash that her non-fiction works brought down on her, Beneath a Mountain Moon was Ravenwolf’s first foray into the genre of magickal realism. It tells the story of Elizabethya Belladonna, a fam-trad witch, who has sporadically come to the town of Whiskey Springs, Pennsylvania over the previous two years to investigate the death of her grandmother and her grandmother’s estranged sister.

As the mystery unwinds we learn that the Belladonna clan has had more than its fair share of accidents, fires, and deaths, including Elizabethya parents, which they have come to believe, are all part of a greater plan by an unknown enemy. Rising to become the head of the Belladonna Family as their matriarch, leader, and protector, Elizabethya must prove that she is worthy of the position by solving the mystery of these murders, reveal the culprit(s), and bring them to justice.

Though she has come to Whiskey Spring alone and with only her own powers to protect her, Elizabethya quickly draws those to her who can help her on her quest in the form of her Protestant Priest neighbor, Lee Becker; Mason, the owner of the local funereal home and amateur historian; and Emma, a 80 year old Pow-Wow healer with more power then even she realizes. In addition, Elizabethya has allies in the spiritual world in the form of two ghosts, the angel of death, and two Goddesses.

While Ravenwolf has been criticized for her non-ficition works, I found the inclusion of real magickal techniques in the book to be both entertaining as well as educational. Although the educational aspects of the story are presented in a realistic manner, some readers may find it somewhat preachy. Ravelwolf does an excellent job of presenting the existence of Pagan deities by having them take active parts in the plot, however I would have liked her to have shown the existence of the Christian god to his believers as well. It seems that in the universe of Beneath a Mountain Moon, the Christian god does not exists. While the book had a great number of characters, I felt that each had a necessary part in the story and that they were not superfluous in anyway. In a few instances I had to backtrack a bit to remember who was who.

Despite its few flaws, I found Beneath a Mountain Moon to be an enjoyable read and would recommend it to any lover of magical fiction, provided you read it for what is it….a fictional magical murder mystery.