The Knight of the Moon (The Dance of Light #0.5), by Gregory Kontaxis
The Book
Synopsis:
John, the Long Arm, leads a life as a bounty hunter at the Three Heads. His name has spread far and wide across the north while plenty of gold weighs down his pockets. Just when everything seems to be going well for him, a group of soldiers order him to take on a new mission.
This time, his task is to track down a very dangerous man—a knight who rejected his oaths, turning his back on Gaeldeath and its ruler.
Will John choose the way of honour and devotion or will be succumb to his unquenchable thirst for wealth?
My Review
The Knight of the Moon is a complementary novella to The Dance of Light series, written by Gregory Kontaxis. Set seventeen years before The Return of the Knights, we get to know more about the past of one of the main characters in the series, John, the Long Hand, and about how he lived as a bounty hunter.
John has a good life as a bounty hunter, one of the most renowned in the region; and his fame attracts new contractors with tight deadlines: he should hunt the famous Knight of the Moon in ten days, or either he will become the hunted. To take care of him and, as a sort of punishment, Nemesis, a female soldier, is sent with John; soon discovering that part of the success attributed to John comes from the rest of the party that he keeps hidden for good reasons.
Despite being relatively short in comparison with the main entry of the series, Kontaxis takes his opportunity to develop the characters, while embracing the morally grey aspects that were a bit overlooked in The Return of the Knights. Nemesis is a delicious character, and her banter and anger with John, which will later evolve into a romance, makes a perfect accompaniment for a story that raises the stakes from the start, exploring different tropes such as the reluctant heroes and the start of a rebellion.
I think we can appreciate the growth of Kontaxis as storyteller, especially in the part of giving a better range of nuances to the characters, even when the length constraint him a bit; pacing is really adequate for this kind of narration.
The Knight of the Moon is a perfect entry point in The Dance of Light series, while showing the progress of Gregory Kontaxis as a writer; if you like grim fantasy, feel free to take a pint on the Dripping Bucket, and pick this book.
The Author/s
Gregory Kontaxis
Gregory Kontaxis is a Greek epic fantasy author who writes about medieval wars, mythology, politics and epic adventures. His characters are ordinary and at the same time complex living with many challenges to face.
The Return of the Knights is the first part of his planned pentalogy The Dance of Light.
Gregory was born on 17th December 1989 in Athens. He studied Informatics and Finance in Greece and the United Kingdom and he has worked as a Financial Analyst in Vienna and London. He currently resides in London, where he is occupied with investment risk management and writing. (less)