Quick Take
- Narration: Lori Prince brings the right energy to the sapphic werewolf urban fantasy, competent and appropriately tense, with good differentiation between Cassidy’s uncertainty and Snow’s controlled competence.
- Themes: Leadership and its costs, alliance and betrayal, sapphic romance under pressure
- Mood: Tense and slightly melancholic, with a slow-burn at its center and a charged final act
- Verdict: A setup book that earns its place in the Five Moons Rising series, slower through the middle, but the last third delivers.
I picked up Winter’s Moons in the middle of a reading slump that I was trying to break with something propulsive and genre-comfortable. Urban fantasy werewolf series with sapphic romance in the lead is a reliable category when you know what you are looking for, and Lise MacTague’s Five Moons Rising series has a dedicated readership for good reason. This third installment runs at a different pace than its predecessors, and knowing that going in helps.
Published by Tantor Media in January 2023, Winter’s Moons shifts POV focus from Malice, the Hunter of Chicago, to Cassidy Nolan, the new Alpha of the North Side werewolf pack. Cassidy took over the role in difficult circumstances, and four months into the job she is in worse shape than she expected. Her sister Malice has disappeared, pack wolves are vanishing, and a lone wolf named Snow has arrived in town with her own complicated agenda. The romance is in the unspoken tension between Cassidy and Snow rather than in any explicit declaration.
Our Take on Winter’s Moons
Reviewer Racquel identifies this book accurately as more of a setup installment, and that is the honest assessment. MacTague is clearly positioning pieces for what comes next: Cassidy’s arc as Alpha, the relationship with Snow, the larger forces gathering against the North Side Pack. The payoff that reviewer Racquel mentions, the ending was a surprise, is real, and the last third of the book justifies the patient build. But the middle section runs slow, and listeners who came expecting the pace of the first two books will notice the difference.
What works consistently is the character dynamic between Cassidy and Snow. Reviewer Lynette describes a unique relationship forming between them, and that uniqueness comes from the asymmetry of their situations: Cassidy is embedded, responsible for people who depend on her, floundering in the role she chose. Snow is deliberately unembedded, moving through the world without attachment, staying out of obligation rather than belonging. The tension between those two orientations is the emotional center of the book.
Why Listen to Lori Prince Narrate This
Lori Prince handles the dual POV cleanly. Cassidy and Snow need to feel like different people from their first scenes, and Prince gives them different registers without making the distinction theatrical. Cassidy’s uncertainty and Snow’s controlled competence come through in the vocal choices. The pack dynamics, the various wolves, Carly’s continuing storyline, the Alpha meetings, require keeping a fairly large cast differentiated across eleven and a half hours, and Prince manages it.
Reviewer Toni O. describes barely being able to put it down, which is probably true of the opening and closing thirds. The listening experience is more uneven in the middle, but the narration stays consistent throughout even when the pacing loosens.
What to Watch For in Winter’s Moons
The outside alliances subplot, Cassidy going looking for help and finding that potential allies may not have the pack’s best interests at heart, is the more interesting of the two main threads. MacTague is building a Chicago supernatural political landscape across this series, and the Alliance meetings are where that construction gets the most explicit attention. The forces described as far greater than the North Side Pack remain largely off-screen in this installment, which is part of what makes it a setup book: you feel the pressure without yet seeing the source clearly.
Listeners invested in Malice’s storyline from the first two books will miss her here. Reviewer Racquel notes wanting Malice to come back, and that absence is felt. Winter’s Moons is deliberately smaller in scope, focused on Cassidy’s ground-level struggle, while the larger story moves elsewhere simultaneously.
Who Should Listen to Winter’s Moons
Series readers who have finished books one and two will want this for continuity and for the Cassidy-Snow relationship that begins here. Sapphic urban fantasy listeners who enjoy slow-burn romance under supernatural pressure will find the dynamic satisfying even in this setup installment. The last act alone justifies the commitment for anyone already invested in the Five Moons Rising world.
Do not start with Winter’s Moons. The book specifically builds on events from the first two installments and assumes familiarity with the pack dynamics and the Hunter storyline. New listeners should begin with book one of the Five Moons Rising series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Winter’s Moons follow Malice or Cassidy as the main POV character?
Cassidy Nolan is the primary POV character in this installment. Malice has disappeared at the start of the book and is largely absent from the narrative, which reviewer Racquel notes is a significant adjustment for readers invested in Malice’s storyline.
Is the Cassidy-Snow romance explicit or slow-burn in Winter’s Moons?
Slow-burn. Reviewer Lynette describes a unique relationship forming and a blooming friendship, while reviewer Racquel notes the relationship Snow and Cassidy are forming. The romance is present as developing tension rather than explicit content in this installment.
How does Winter’s Moons connect to the events of the first two Five Moons Rising books?
It runs concurrently with book two (Hunter’s Descent), focusing on Cassidy while the events of that book unfold elsewhere. Reviewer Issy W. notes all you need to understand the story is the first book, though the second adds useful context.
Is the ending of Winter’s Moons a cliffhanger, or does it resolve the main storylines?
Multiple reviewers describe the ending as a surprise and express urgency about the next book, suggesting it closes some threads while opening significant new ones. Reviewer Lynette specifically says she cannot wait until part two comes out.
