Wishes on the Moon

Wishes on the Moon
Michael O. Tunnell

Oh, this book. Or shall I really say books? It has taken me WAY too long to finish this, and I'll tell you why. The main theme of why for me is that everything was too easy. I'll do this by talking about the two books separately.

Wishing Moon
I had an open mind when I began. My friend gave this book to me as a Christmas gift in 2011 and she seemed to really enjoy it. I started to read it and I was saddened by Aminah's plight. An orphaned girl forced to be a beggar on the streets. As she's so close to death she goes to Princess Badr's room hoping to find a kind-hearted woman. Instead she finds a Princess with a good throwing arm. This is the first easy part. The Princess throws a lamp at Aminah's forehead because she is disgusted by Aminah's appearance. When Aminah wakes, she tried to polish the lamp and poof! A jinni. Everything just became easier from then on. Aminah meets new people and they become instant friends. Aminah finds a guy she likes and instantly they are lovers. The "climax" is only five pages long. Pretty much nothing and is solved way too easily. If  the second book wasn't attached, I probably wouldn't have continued.

Moon Without Magic
I'm giving the story the benefit of the doubt as I begin. Things are still going all honky-dory for Aminah and the newly named "Alliance of the Lamp" (Cheesy, I know.). The story only really happens when they think they're betrayed and then have to go find that person. Then the Princess gets involved and blah blah blah. Oh, wait we're in danger still? DUH! The world doesn't feel real to me anymore when traveling becomes so quick and suddenly thieves kills everyone in the caravan but the two characters. They do find something amongst the thieves that will prove useful but only kind of. I feel like the thieves-that-also-turn-out-to-be-pirates and the storytelling sections are just added into the story just because the writer knew he could. The whole thing felt so detached from itself. And again, the climax is done so simply. Why are the 'good guys' okay with the Princess having what she wants? Why don't they do something about it? If you had magic at your finger tips, why don't you use it to stop her?! I'm baffled. Completely baffled by how easy the ending is.

Conclusion?
There really isn't a story here. No great conflict and nothing has really been solved. The writing is not challenging at all to get through. It's funny because in my post about Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, I complained about her writing being arrogant through her sentence structure. But this is too simple for the Young Adult audience that it's meant for. It's boring. I guess if you want something that you can get through really fast then, yeah, go for it. The only fascinating part is that old fairy tales are mixed into the story, but just barely. I just wish that there was more substance to these books.