The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers, #1) in YA and Beyond

Jan 10, 2013 Jenny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-in-2013

YA Dystopians have become my favorite genre over the past year. There really aren't too many I haven't read yet, although there are a few. I'm not sure why I didn't read this one sooner, I am kind of kicking myself right now! This was a thrilling, couldn't-put-it-down kind of read!

The story is a dual POV between Adele and Tristan. Adele is in prison through no crimes of her own. The society is set up like a caste system, and Adele's class, The Moon Dwellers, is considered middle class. Although
YA Dystopians have become my favorite genre over the past year. There really aren't too many I haven't read yet, although there are a few. I'm not sure why I didn't read this one sooner, I am kind of kicking myself right now! This was a thrilling, couldn't-put-it-down kind of read!

The story is a dual POV between Adele and Tristan. Adele is in prison through no crimes of her own. The society is set up like a caste system, and Adele's class, The Moon Dwellers, is considered middle class. Although now she has no rights at all, and is in prison for life. Tristan is royalty, and at the other end of the spectrum. He belongs to the Sun Dwellers, the richest souls in their society. The Sun Dwellers control everything, and take away more and more from the Moon Dwellers and the Star Dwellers (lowest class) every year. The castes are even separated geographically. Everything is underground, after a global destructive event up above the earth.

The story starts off where Tristan is in a parade of some sorts in the Moon Dwellers districts. Adele sees him from the prison yard, and he, her. The both experience an extreme sort of head pain when they lock eyes. Tristan decides he must go back and find out about this girl. He basically runs away to go find her, against his father's wishes. So he sets off with his best friend and servant, Roc.

Adele, meanwhile, has befriended 2 prisoners by the names of Cole and Tawni, and they make a prison break. At the same time they are escaping, the Star Dwellers, who are upset with their lot in life, has declared war on the Moon Dwellers, and is bombing the heck out of their districts. Its utter chaos as Adele runs to try to rescue the rest of her family, and Tristan is chasing after her.

Adele is an awesome, kick butt kind of girl, and I absolutely adored her! Tristan was no weakling, either, as he was trained in sword fighting since he was little. He and Roc have an interesting time of things, though, as they don't have much common sense in the Moon Dwellers districts! They get themselves in more trouble than Adele does! I loved the friendship and brotherhood of Roc and Tristan, and I thought their moments were some of the brightest and funniest!

The bulk of the story was really about these specific groups of people, but towards the end we start to see the bigger picture of this dystopian society, and its impending doom. The ending set things up nicely for the next book, The Star Dwellers! I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy! ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Brigid ✩ rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, sci-fi, on-my-kindle, adventure, dystopia, young-adult, self-published

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

So, my Kindle seems to have inexplicably deleted more than half the notes I took while reading this.

But whatever, whatever. I can deal with it. Even though it's been about a month since I finished this, I think I can remember what I was going to say pretty well.

The story:

Humanity (what's left of it, anyway) is forced to live underground after the surface of the Earth is completely destroyed. A new society is formed called the Tri-Realms, which consists of the Sun Realm, ...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Heidi rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2012

3.75 stars - I will start this by saying I am NOT a fan of love at first sight stories and this book is most definitely a love at first sight type book. Having said that I was able to brush over (aka IGNORE) the mushy love at first sight portions of this book and still enjoy the characters and story. I really liked all the players and the unique premise of this book. Mr. Estes has created a superb charter in Adele (also his real life wife's name per the credits -- awwwww) but I also really want ...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Caedy Eries rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: series-read, favorites, sci-fi-fantasy-horror, young-adult, kindle, 2012-challenge, author-read-review, first-in-a-series, i-own-it, audio

This review can also be found: Confessions of a Bibliophile and CoaB on Tumblr

Title: The Moon Dwellers
Author: David Estes
Format: Audio
Publisher: Podiium Publishing

Narrator(s): Julia Whelan, William Damron

Overall: 5/5
Performance: 5/5
Story: 5/5

Review:

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I have fallen in love with this book by David Estes, and to be able to get a chance to hear one of my favorite books performed I jumped at the chance and was h ...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bought-and-in-my-queue

I'm not going to summarize the book, because that's been done a million times already, but I will tell you my impressions. That's what I do.

Adele is a great character. She's strong and interesting and her inner dialogue is really compelling. I love how this is a YA book about a girl wanting to save her family, but Adele is still mentally surrounded by her parents and her sister. She's not living in a vacuum where we hear little about the influence her family has had on her. Even though sixteen- I'm not going to summarize the book, because that's been done a million times already, but I will tell you my impressions. That's what I do.

Adele is a great character. She's strong and interesting and her inner dialogue is really compelling. I love how this is a YA book about a girl wanting to save her family, but Adele is still mentally surrounded by her parents and her sister. She's not living in a vacuum where we hear little about the influence her family has had on her. Even though sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds are growing away from their attachment to their parents, a teenager is still reliant on their parents. If not for physical support (shelter, food, clothing), then emotional support, which is Adele's case. As a reader, I got to learn about Adele's parents even though they weren't around and I loved them. I want to be the kind of influence on my kids that Adele's parents have so clearly been on her. I loved that. It made me love and respect Adele because she understood the lessons her parents had given her and she loved her parents so much. It reminded me, a bit, of the way Kvothe romanticizes his parents in The Name of the Wind (one of my favorite books).

Adele's respect for her parents is contrasted by Tristan's total distaste for his father. I felt that perhaps his father's horrible qualities are a little exaggerated, but it was nothing too surprising. We see him through Tristan's eyes and a bit through the resentment the citizens of the dystopian universe have for him and that is all--of course he's going to be a caricature--that is what they know of him and we never get any insight into him beyond that. Hint: David, a sister story to this universe that I'd love to see is the view of this empire from Tristan's father's view. HINT HINT!

No, joking, but that might be fun. I'd read it. I'm not against villains who are not three-dimensional, but I do appreciate an author who can twist me into having some measure of empathy for the bad guy. It's just that, no one is without reason for the way they are. There is no human who is pure evil. Tristan's dad is a total jerk, I get it and I didn't like him. But I'm the kind of person who is perplexed with questions about why. I read Grendel before I ever read Beowulf, and really? I think Beowulf is a jerk and my sympathies lie with the monster EVEN in the reading of Beowulf. I know. Totally idiotic of me. But that's how I am.

In any case, I thought Tristan was a well-rounded character and I enjoyed his relationship with Roc. I loved Cole and Tawni (but I've always been down on the name Tawni, but that's just me and it's kind of dumb, and it's to David's credit that I still managed to like Tawni despite my prejudice against the name ha ha). She was a bit flat to me, but I think that's because her personality is a bit more soft spoken and quiet while having a reservoir of strength below the surface. I appreciated that the characters all had reasonable motivations, and I really loved the way Cole's history was unfolded for us and we see exactly how he's coped with the horrible things that have happened to him. I liked him even more because of how strong his been.

David did an excellent job of revealing the world bit by bit in very small and tolerable pieces, but I did find myself asking, "Where'd they get plastic?" and "What are doors made of?" and "Where'd they'd get wood?" But none of that is central to the story--I'm just the kind of chick who asks questions like that and these puzzles in no way interfered with my enjoyment of the story.

All in all I think Moon Dweller's is a fantastic story with a satisfying end that left me wanting to read the sequel. The characters real and true and I appreciated the presence of so many puzzles that I kept reading without feeling prodded or obligated to. This book was given to me in return for my honest review, and that is why it was so cool to want to keep reading. I'm looking forward to reading the subsequent books and David's other series that begins with Fire Country.
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Sep 20, 2012 Renee Winters rated it it was amazing

Finaly got started on the moon dwellers after trying to start several times, not the books fault lots of work overtime not planned, I can not put it down. I went to a concert last night and spent most of the concert reading Moon Dwellers. When I got home instead of going to bed to sleep for work I stayed up till four am reading.Finished the BOok last night and I could not wait to start Star Dwellers. I am so hooked. I wish I didn't have to go to work so I could read the whole book today. ...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Dre rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, dystopian, young-adult

I love the story. It was a journey and I can't wait for the next book!

Tristan and Adele. Adele and Tristan. Those names just go together. <3 ...more

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