Blood Moon Bride by Demet Divaroren

Title: Blood Moon Bride

Author: Demet Divaroren

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 1^st April 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: Forced into marriage for her valley’s survival, Rehya must decide: submit or rebel against a ruthless system? A brilliant, fierce and compelling YA fantasy perfect for fans of The Prison Healer and Children of Blood and Bone, from the acclaimed, award-winning author of Living on Hope Street.

OUR RESISTANCE IS POWER

Ma’s tears wet my neck as I backed into our hut. I slumped into Pa’s chair. His smell curled around me. I breathed him in as my tears fell and anger bubbled under my skin. I was to be a Blood Moon Bride.

Rehya is a hunter with uncanny magical abilities – and magic has long been outlawed in Mennama Valley.

Every winter, on the night of the Blood Moon, young women enter forced marriages for the valley’s advancement and prosperity. But this year Governor Kyra has decreed that girls of just fifteen must become Blood Moon Brides, making Rehya eligible. 

When her Pa dies, Rehya’s plans of escape evaporate and she is paraded in front of suitors on Show Day. And when she is chosen to be a bride, she lashes out.

As punishment, she is sent to the Nest. There Rehya must decide: should she submit to the life of a Blood Moon Bride, or rebel – and risk everything to fight for justice?

A powerful and fierce YA fantasy novel by the award-winning author of Living on Hope Street.

~*~

Rehya lives in the Mennama Valley, and she has magic and is a hunter – a dangerous combination under the current regime of Governor Kyra. Magic has been outlawed, and girls are forced into marriage every winter on the night of the Blood Moon once they are sixteen winters. Or they have been – until now. This year, Governor Kyra has decreed that girls aged fifteen are to be forced into marriage. And Rehya is eligible. For years, Rehya has been determined to escape, but her plans are thwarted when her father dies and her defiance in the face of her husband sees her sent to the Nest. The Nest is where defiant women are ‘re-educated’ and forced into submission. Yet…is there a rebellion bubbling along in the Nest? Women who are there but working against those that hold them there – who know about the Alkemmi and what women are truly capable of?

Blood Moon Bride is a fantasy novel focused on control of women and children, child marriage, and tyranny of power in a fictional world that mirrors real world issues. For Rehya, who has a spirit that cannot be broken, and who is determined to forge her own path. But living in a world where everything is tightly controlled, there are echoes that reverberate throughout the story about what it means to rebel. How the insecurity of certain people in the past has driven the people Rehya should be with, whom she is connected to underground, and created a world of fear, where anything different is seen as dangerous. It is the kind of novel that shows what happens when society lets fear win and follows a despotic leader so willingly, believing everything this person – Governor Kyra – tells them because there is no other way to question it. Nobody is willing to question it except for Rehya, Arrie, Ehz and other girls trapped in the Nest. It’s a fictionalised story that has taken inspiration from real world issues as well.

Not only does Blood Moon Bride show what happens when a small group of people take power, and enforce their views on the world they live in, but it shows the impacts of child marriage, and in the author note at the back, Demet, states that this is a universal issue that affects millions of girls across the world. It has impacts across countries and cultures, and is something that is the impetus for Rehya’s rebellion and what starts this story. And when combined with a fear of magic and desire from men to control women in this world, it has very real consequences for the characters. It is their actions that make the story though. Their determination to change things and save those they care about that brings the story to life.

And it also shows how people interact with their culture, and the varying beliefs that different people within the same culture can have. Rehya’s family were a good example of this, where they hadn’t let the harsh rules change them. The plans they had might have fallen through, but their power was in the fact that they had a plan to escape, or help Rehya escape being forced into a marriage. It was a good example of showing that not everyone in a controlled society like this just follows whatever they have been told, told what they should be believing. A good point of difference here was that instead of using summers as the measure of an age, winter was used. It is still fantasy, but it’s something that I think makes this stand out a bit. We all expect summer to mark age in fantasy. Winter worked well here, and it gave the story something new and enticing to measure time.

This was one of those books that was compelling and worrying at the same time, because there was always a sense and a hope that things would work out for Rehya and her allies. And yet, there was this sense of being on edge. A worry that someone was trying to undermine them, and that something was going to go wrong before it got better. Bu this is all what made the novel work well. Not knowing what was going to happen, or when it was going to happen is what kept the pacing and tension work well to create an enlightening story that captures what it means to be human and maintain that humanity when faced with adversity. This was an insightful and powerful book that reflects on how people fight against adversity to create a new life. This was an intriguing and insightful novel that brings awareness of child marriage to life whilst also showing the power in rebellion and standing up for what you believe in.