A review by lyall_reads
When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

adventurous dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don’t tend to like romance first romantasy, so I figured I might like this one more because folks were complaining about it being too plot/worldbuilding heavy. I was mostly right. The magic system and the dragons were my favorite parts. There’s a lot of TikTok era romantasy cliches but the book was paced in such a way that whenever I was getting slightly annoyed thinking “oh X is so obvious, the characters should get it by now” they would invariably get it within the next few chapters. Raeve’s defensiveness mostly made sense but there were a few scenes early on where her need to be quippy overrode her survival instinct in a way that was unrealistic. 

Anyways, for such a long book, it was a quick read and it’s probably my favorite so far of this sub genre- which is, notably, not my favorite- and there’s enough interesting hanging plot threads and stuff I enjoyed about the world (including the clear thought and work put in by the author!) that I’ll check out the sequel. For a $1 thrift store purchase, very worthwhile. 
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