Over the Moon (Natalie Lloyd)

Over the Moon
Natalie Lloyd
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Once, the skies over Coal Top Mountain were full of stars, and the houses were full of spun starlight, luminous material used in everything from clothing to book covers and more. There were also flying horses who would carry children on their backs above the high peaks. The people were happy, then, full of songs and laughter... but not now, not in the decades since the Dust choked off the stars and spread sorrow and misery everywhere in a gritty, toxic soot. Even to sing is discouraged, lest inhaled Dust plunge one into deep despair or worse. As for the flying horses, they vanished with the stars, leaving the forests full of monsters.
Mallie Ramble's father, like all the men of Coal Top, used to work in the mines seeking gold, the town's only livelihood without starlight to spin. But the deep, dark places of the mountains are as tainted as the skies above. First it steals the color from the eyes, leaving them inky black. Then it steals voices. When an accident left Papa blind, he was blamed and not even paid when they sent him away. To keep her little brother Denver from the same fate, Mallie works as a maid in the rich houses down in the valley, backbreaking work made harder by her only having one arm. Still, she'd do anything to spare her brother and keep her mother from one more worry... only the valley folk look for any ways they can to cheat those from the hilltop, and the few Feather-coins Mallie earns for her labors aren't nearly enough to keep the family fed, let alone pay the massive debt the Guardians insist the Rambles owe. She needs a miracle - and she thinks she finds one, when she spots the flyers around town asking for children willing to risk great danger for a great reward.
The town leader has learned that some winged horses are still lurking in the woods... and, with them, a brave enough rider might reach the mountains beyond Coal Top, each peak glimmering with layers of gold dust. It's a dangerous proposition, especially as nobody has ridden a flying horse in a generation, but there's hardly a mountain child in Coal Top who doesn't need that money like they need air or water - and even children from the valley are tempted by the rewards. Mallie doesn't care what the dangers are; she'll do whatever it takes. But there's another danger lurking around Coal Top, a secret worse than the dust or the monsters... a secret that could destroy everything Mallie loves and every dream she's clung to all her life.

REVIEW: The setup here is interesting, if a bit formulaic, and Mallie's a determined young heroine who doesn't set out to save the world, just her little family in their mountaintop cottage. If characters came across as simplified sketches, if the worldbuilding didn't withstand too close a scrutiny (how has the constant layer of sun-smothering dust not choked off all the town's agriculture and not just the decorative flowers?), and if there were a few points on which Mallie was willfully obtuse in order to stretch the story, I could roll with it... for a while, at least. But at some point those accumulated little nitpicks started weighing on my suspension of disbelief, especially toward the end of the tale as it ramps up to a climax that feels a little too trite and convenient (and has more than a whiff of faith allegory).
That's not to say there's nothing to enjoy here. Mallie is, for the most part, a solid heroine, working hard and driven to overcome any obstacle, especially when it comes to keeping her little family together. Indeed, she bristles at being told she has limits, be it because of her gender or because of the arm she wasn't born with (she has a "Popsnap" artificial arm of undetermined construction and practical usefulness; this is one of those flimsy worldbuilding points that could've used more clarification, as the tech levels are distinctly plot convenient). The fears she lives with are not just in her head, either; it's clear from early on that the "monsters" in the wood are real things that represent a real threat. Despite the drudgery of her life and the literal weight of doom and gloom over Coal Top, she holds impossible dreams close to her heart, dreams of starlight and happiness, imagining herself as "Mallie Over the Moon" instead of what the spoiled son of the valley family she works for calls her, "Mallie in the Muck". Still, it's hard to hold on to those dreams when the rich folk short her most of a week's wages for imagined shortcomings (mostly just because they're rich and can do whatever they want to poor people). Surrounding her is a cast of fairly expected supporting characters and enemies, few of whom bring any surprises to anyone who has read any similar stories. Things move fairly well, and there are some nicely described scenes and action sequences, but it becomes harder and harder to buy into the whole thing as the bad guys and problems become more and more caricature-like, in service to a building Message that dominates more and more of the plot. By the end, that Message has opened its maw and swallowed the story whole, striking the reader's skull like the hooves of a kicking horse.
This is a case where I strongly suspect younger readers will enjoy it more than I did... and even I admit that the flying horses and some of the imagery were kinda cool. I just felt like it started to disintegrate by the end, and would've benefited from a little more nuanced characterization. (Even in middle grade titles, there's usually a bit more to characters nowadays.)

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