What Is The Setting Of The Girl Who Drank The Moon

Summary
The Girl who Drank the Moon is a fantasy story set in an unknown time and world. The primary settings are the woods and a village known as the Protectorate. The villagers believe that there is an evil witch in the woods who will destroy them unless the youngest baby is left for her in the woods each year. There is a witch in the woods, but she is not evil. Her name is Xan and all she knows is that every year she finds an infant abandoned in the woods whom she rescues. She feeds the babies starlight and finds them loving homes in the “free cities.” One year, she mistakenly feeds an infant moonlight instead. This “enmagics” the child, which Xan knows will make her dangerous to herself and others. She, therefore, decides to raise the child herself, calling her Luna. Sure enough, as Luna grows, her magic rapidly gets out of control.
By five
years old, Luna’s magic is on overdrive, but she has no idea that there is anything unusual about her. To make matters worse, Xan’s magic is attracted to Luna, flowing toward her, making it that much more difficult to undo whatever damage she unwittingly causes. At a loss for any other solution, Xan casts a spell that will suppress Luna’s magic until she turns 13. It works but has the horrible and unexplained consequence of rendering Luna temporarily catatonic whenever she hears of magic or anything related to it. Realizing that she now has no way to teach and prepare Luna for her 13th birthday and terrified of what will happen to her if she continues to become catatonic, Xan avoids all mention of magic around her. In desperation, she tries to convince herself that Luna never really had magic and that everything will be fine. Yet, as Luna’s 13th birthday draws near, her magic begins leaking out.

Meanwhile, back in the village, since the day Luna was taken and left in the woods, her mother had been locked up, supposedly for being “mad” over the loss of her child, but really as a means to silence her protests over such a great loss. She too has magic and eventually manages to escape and search the woods for her daughter, whom she is magically able to sense.
While Luna’s mother searches for her, Antain, the father of the youngest Protectorate child, also searches the woods; he has become determined to kill “the witch” in order to save his child. (Unbeknownst to him, the true witch, a woman called Sister Ignatia, has lived in the village all along.) As he searches, Antain, startled, accidently shoots Xan, who, on her way to rescue the baby she expects to find abandoned in the woods, has transformed into a swallow. Feeling horrible, Antain helps her.
Luna is also in the woods searching for Xan, worried because of how weak Xan has recently become.
She runs into Sister Ignatia, the true evil witch who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for Antain, meaning to kill him lest he realize the truth. Ignatia tries to harm her, but Luna is more powerful than either of them know. Soon, all five characters meet and the truth is revealed to them. Sister Ignatia is a “sorrow eater” who concocted the story of the witch and she put a fog (literally and metaphorically) over the villagers. This kept them depressed, miserable, and unquestioning. She did all of this so she could feed on their sadness to sustain her own youth and immortality. As one might expect in a children’s fairy tale, the villain is defeated (sister Antain no longer has access to sorrow now that the Protectorate knows their children live) and the heroes live happily ever after (Luna gets to know her mother and they are both able to heal, and she travels around using her magic to help people, and Antain’s child remains alive and well with his parents, which is what Antain wanted
most.)
Literary Elements
Primary protagonist: Luna
Secondary protagonist: Antain
Primary antagonist: Sister Antain
What sets the story in motion? Two things. First, the majority of the plot is focused on Xan and Luna’s struggle with her magic. This was clearly set in motion by the act of feeding her moonlight. Second, while not fully revealed until the climax, Sister Ignatia’s deception is what began the cycle of abandoning babies in the woods; had that never happened Luna would never have been “enmagicked” in the first place.
Conflicts: The struggle to control Luna’s magic and the fight against the “evil witch,” later revealed to be Sister Antain
Resolution: Sister Antain’s deception is revealed, which breaks her hold on the village.
Point-of-view: The story is told in the third person, switching among multiple characters P.O.V.’s, but focusing primarily on Luna and Antain.