Three children, two boys and their young sister, are transported to a fantasy land, each to play their part in the fight against an evil invader. The elder boy is 'chosen' and goes native, becoming a plains warrior and forgetting his old life for a time, but it all turns out to be a grand plan by spiritual powers. Reminiscent of Narnia, especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in some respects, but with a more mature and philosophical aspect with regard to the personal journey of the oldest boy, who comes to question whether killing is right and has to face the reality of sacrifice.

There is some violence and a token questioning of the subservient role of women, though this is 'answered' by the fact that the plains women drive the wagons and so are 'helpless' though I don't see why this would prevent them from at least fighting in self defence. Even among the town and city dwellers, where women of the hereditary star magic wielders appear to enjoy more equality, there is the idea that women must marry for fulfilment, even though the Princess In'serinna loses her powers by marrying an outsider, and condemns her linked star to blowing up!

The best aspects are the vivid description of a battle between eagles representing the good and bad powers, and the touching end section where the oldest boy, Oliver, has to face his true position, but quite a bit of the story is fairly humdrum. There are a lot of different cultures with difficult to pronounce or too similar names and it is easy to lose track. This is first in a trilogy, and was not interesting enough for me to want to track down the other volumes which are probably long out of print. ( )

On re-reading, the awe instilled by Chant's beautiful prose, her gift for simile and metaphor, for setting and emotion, for apt insights into people as individuals and as a species and our sometimes harmonious and sometimes contentious interactions with nature and with ourselves remains as powerful as I remember--and only deepened by the knowledge that this work was written by Ms. Chant, a librarian, when she was but twenty-five years of age. The tale is a portal fantasy with child heroes, Narnia-like, and yet their challenges, the choices they make, and their consequences are harshly adult, particularly its dramatic somewhat disturbing--yet right-- conlcusion. Similar to Lewis' Narnia, upon rereading, I find a patina of Christian allegory and archangel analogs within Chant's panthenon of atavistic pseudo-Druidic "High" gods. "Red Moon, Black Mountain" Fifty years since its publication, I consider the book a classic of modern epic fantasy written in the tradition of those like Lewis, Tolkien, Morris, and Eddison written decades to a half-century before. ( )

On re-reading, the awe instilled by Chant's beautiful prose, her gift for simile and metaphor, for setting and emotion, for apt insights into people as individuals and as a species and our sometimes harmonious and sometimes contentious interactions with nature and with ourselves remains as powerful as I remember--and only deepened by the knowledge that this work was written by Ms. Chant, a librarian, when she was but twenty-five years of age. The tale is a portal fantasy with child heroes, Narnia-like, and yet their challenges, the choices they make, and their consequences are harshly adult, particularly its dramatic somewhat disturbing--yet right-- conlcusion. Similar to Lewis' Narnia, upon rereading, I find a patina of Christian allegory and archangel analogs within Chant's panthenon of atavistic pseudo-Druidic "High" gods. "Red Moon, Black Mountain" Fifty years since its publication, I consider the book a classic of modern epic fantasy written in the tradition of those like Lewis, Tolkien, Morris, and Eddison written decades to a half-century before. ( )

Read at the recommendation of James Stoddard (The False House), but not for me. I did not find the world adequately realized, I did not find the villain or heroes resonant, and it all felt rushed. ( )

4.5 stars ( )