When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker – Review

Published: January 13, 2024

Publisher: Self Published

Series: Moonfall #1

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Pages: 718 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Synopsis:
The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When a renowned bounty hunter is employed by The Crown to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve’s world is turned upside down. Blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles—a group of dual-beaded elementals who intend to turn her into a political statement. Only death will set her free.

Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to assuage the never-ebbing ache in his chest, his hunt for a moonshard lures him into the belly of Gore’s notorious prison where he stumbles upon something that rips apart his perception of reality. A shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.

The echo of the past sings louder than the Creators themselves, and even Raeve can’t ignore the truths blaring at her from a warmer, happier time.
However.
There’s more to this song than meets the eye, and some truths …
They’re too poisonous to swallow.

When the Moon Hatched is a fast-paced fantasy romance for fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists. Beneath the cover is an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages.

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Have you ever wanted to read a sort of weird, dragon filled fantasy romance that is very much NOT Fourth Wing? Check out When the Moon Hatched. It has dragons that fly into the atmosphere when they die and turn into stone, occasionally falling to the ground and destroying large swathes of land. There’s elemental magic, gods and goddesses, warring brother kings, and so, so much more.

When the Moon Hatched follows a woman named Raeve, who is working for a rebel group as an Elding Blade, which is just a fancy name for an assassin. When a rival assassin murders her best friend, Raeve literally goes berserk, gets caught trying to kill him, and gets thrown in prison. Fortunately for her, a mysterious hooded man she encountered while hunting a target decides she’s worth rescuing and sweeps her away on dragon’s back. The mysterious man turns out to be Kaan Vaegor, one of the three brother kings who would love nothing more than to see his siblings dead. 

Interspersed throughout the Raeve and Kaan (what kind of names are these!??) chapters are journal entries from someone named Elluin Nevan. It’s unclear at first how these are relevant or even when they take place, but eventually the reader has sort of an epiphany moment and everything falls into place. It’s a satisfying A-ha! moment that makes a little more sense if you recall that these people are not human, but some form of fae so they live a really long time. 

When the Moon Hatched is a very slow burn romance and I think it and some of the tropes involved could be pretty divisive. Memory loss and someone having a secret identity are the big two that people seem to love or hate. I rolled my eyes a little at this, but I was having fun with the book and it didn’t bother me too much. Ultimately, I thought it was fun and I haven’t read a book that uses these tropes in a very long time, so it did feel fresh compared to the current crop of popular, overused tropes.

My biggest disappointment is probably how unimportant the dragons actually are in the story. They’re simultaneously beautiful and terrifying but they’re little more than dangerous pets that haul people around and get used in battle. The dragons are useful and have an important bond with their rider, but it’s not anything like Fourth Wing or Eragon where the dragons are intelligent, conversational beings that can actually be a friend and confidant. It IS pretty cool that people actually have to go hunt down eggs to hatch and raise or even attempt to tame a grown dragon if they want one. It’s a nice change of pace from the whole ‘chosen rider’ bit. 

When the Moon Hatched has so much going on that the plot tends to get overwhelmed by all the little details. It’s difficult to tell what’s going to be relevant to the long term plot or if something is a sidequest. For example, Raeve is an assassin, but that’s short lived and doesn’t matter much. Her time with the Fiur du Ath rebel group seems to be even less relevant despite it seeming like such a big part of her character at the beginning of the book. The Elluin journal entries add another level of complexity that definitely breaks up the pace of the story in a bad way at first. Because of these things I’ve mentioned, the story ends up with pacing issues and too much going on for it to be truly amazing. I think it has potential and clearly readers are loving it because there’s over 50,000 ratings and it has a 4.17 average rating on Goodreads. It’s crazy popular, and I enjoyed it but I definitely understand where some of the harsh criticisms are coming from. Despite this, I’d still like to check out the next installment.