Review: When the Moon Hatched

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok so I'm gonna need a happy ending to this story ASAP.

The story follows our Friendly Neighbourhood Assassin, Raeve, who gets caught doing assassin things and finds herself in hot water. In the process, she meets a mysterious (devastatingly handsome) male, who seems to have met her before. Naturally, things are gonna get dangerous, and things are gonna get spicy. There are also dragons.

I'm honestly so torn over rating this one. It was such a beautiful, addictive story, full of insanely good world-building, delightful characters, and a deep, meaningful love story. But I also just have such a low tolerance for smut in fantasy. I'm still mad at Sarah J. Maas for causing this massive surge of graphic sex scenes in what would otherwise be epic fantasy novels.

That said, everything about this book that would normally annoy me seemed so fresh here. Raeve is the hardcore tough female who refuses to get close to anyone because otherwise they get hurt, and Kaan is the classic brooding male who will move heaven and earth for his true love. Raeve's stubbornness definitely frustrated me at times but still I liked her and her tenacity. Her trauma feels real and genuine and I think because of the way that aspect was handled, it made her stubbornness more believable. I could see why she was hurting so much.

Kaan's love, on the other hand, was so pure and unconditional that I couldn't help but be moved by it.

Outside of the romance, there's such a great story here about tyrant kings, corrupt government, missing memories, trauma, friendship and, of course, dragons. There's a trigger warning list in the back of the book, so check it out if you have some concerns because this book does not pull punches.

I was completely enamoured with this world. The setting is richly detailed but simple enough to follow easily. The world is easy to fall into and vibrant with colourful creatures. The dragons were spectacular, and this is easily one of the best dragon stories I've read. There are just not enough dragons in fantasy these days, so it's incredibly satisfying when they're as well done as they were in this book.

But.

I'm a bit old school in that I feel like graphic sex scenes kinda tarnish the romance. I think you can tell an epic love story - and more effectively - without needing to talk about how much they want to jump each other's bones. I believe the intimate details about their physiological responses reduces the relationship to base needs, and detracts from the emotional connection being formed.

I wanted to be swept up in their love story, not their sex lives.

Still, I couldn't help but love this story. There was so much to it that had me reading compulsively, and I still have so many questions. The characters were so easy to love, and I want more of characters like Veya, whose chapters were rare but so incredibly fun.

There's a family tree, glossary and pronunciation guide at the back of the book, which I found didn't really give me any info I hadn't drawn from the story but still added to the depth of the world. I'm so keen to jump back in and learn more details about this place and its creatures.

This would have been an easy 5-star without the smut. Still, even with the smut this is a 4.5.

I'll call it 4 for now since I'm very picky about giving 5 stars, but may round it up later if it stays on my mind.

With thanks to Harper Collins for a copy

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