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sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
2.75 stars (ish?).
This one is a difficult one for me to rate because I actually really enjoyed the general overarching storyline, but I think the execution left a lot to be desired. The first half had me thinking this could be a 3.5 to 4 star book, but then the second half dragged so much I had to drop the rating.
I think the book lost a lot of momentum at the tribe scenes about halfway through the book. I also think the reader was left in the dark too long with answers, given we had pieced together the "what" about halfway through but didn't get the "why" until the end of the book - and this is a 500+ page book! I felt like we went in circles a little bit towards the end.
I liked the original dynamic between Raeve and Kaan, but it sort of became bland the further we went on. I also don't really think he stood out a lot in the way of romantasy MMCs - he was tall, dark-haired, chiselled with a huge 🍆, and was very protective, almost veering possessive at times, over the FMC. At least he was genuinely nice for most of the story, though, and was a consent king (pun intended). Same character, different font. Raeve was a bit more interesting, as was her story, but I would have liked to see more character development throughout this book as she felt like she ended the book in the same place as at the start - stab first, ask questions later.
The writing started out pretty decent but the flowery prose got too over-the-top by the end and the word use got repetitive. How many times can one say "cleft" in a book? 36 times apparently. "Maw" also had it's fair share of page time, though it wasn't quite as obvious. I also don't understand the reasons why the names of some things were changed and not others. Why call it a "dae" when you can just say "day"?
I also would've liked more dragons.
Though I have said a lot of the negatives, I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I feel like if this and been shorter and more focused on the core storyline, it would've been far better. It just felt a little all over the place, with a lot going on but also not a lot. But I obviously seem to be in the minority with this opinion so take what you will from this review.
This one is a difficult one for me to rate because I actually really enjoyed the general overarching storyline, but I think the execution left a lot to be desired. The first half had me thinking this could be a 3.5 to 4 star book, but then the second half dragged so much I had to drop the rating.
I think the book lost a lot of momentum at the tribe scenes about halfway through the book. I also think the reader was left in the dark too long with answers, given we had pieced together the "what" about halfway through but didn't get the "why" until the end of the book - and this is a 500+ page book! I felt like we went in circles a little bit towards the end.
I liked the original dynamic between Raeve and Kaan, but it sort of became bland the further we went on. I also don't really think he stood out a lot in the way of romantasy MMCs - he was tall, dark-haired, chiselled with a huge 🍆, and was very protective, almost veering possessive at times, over the FMC. At least he was genuinely nice for most of the story, though, and was a consent king (pun intended). Same character, different font. Raeve was a bit more interesting, as was her story, but I would have liked to see more character development throughout this book as she felt like she ended the book in the same place as at the start - stab first, ask questions later.
The writing started out pretty decent but the flowery prose got too over-the-top by the end and the word use got repetitive. How many times can one say "cleft" in a book? 36 times apparently. "Maw" also had it's fair share of page time, though it wasn't quite as obvious. I also don't understand the reasons why the names of some things were changed and not others. Why call it a "dae" when you can just say "day"?
I also would've liked more dragons.
Though I have said a lot of the negatives, I thought the premise of the story was interesting and I feel like if this and been shorter and more focused on the core storyline, it would've been far better. It just felt a little all over the place, with a lot going on but also not a lot. But I obviously seem to be in the minority with this opinion so take what you will from this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual content
Minor: Rape and Vomit
kinsportch's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Rape
literarymary95's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I heard a lot of hype for this book but tried my best to come into it blind. It did definitely take some time to get into it but once I did it was definitely worth the read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Torture, and Cursing
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Vomit, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
chanlo1994's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Excellent voice acting. Especially for the character "The Other". *chef's kiss. It's such a cool and unique fantasy world. Love the world building.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Mental illness, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Xenophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, and Child abuse
ashboutiette's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
When the moon hatched
This book was just WOW!! The world building was unique and well done. It took a hot minute to get use to all the different words and creatures but once I did I was hooked. Pro tip: there’s a glossary in the front, refer to that often. I read this on my kindle so that made it a little difficult.
There was a lot of gore at the beginning and I struggled with it to the point I almost DNFd but I’m SO glad I didn’t because this quickly became one of my top reads this year!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️🌶️🌶️
When the moon hatched follows Reave, an assassin who works for rebel forces. Her goal is to make the kingdom she lives in a better place; Until she seeks revenge due to a tragic event and gets caught. She’s thrown in the dungeon to wait for her trial where a mysterious man comes by and is immediately drawn to her. He’s feeling crazy because he swears he knows her and she has no idea who he is but she’s drawn to him and unsure why.
Reave is a strong FMC who doesn’t take anyone’s crap and gets things done.
Kaan is chefs kiss. He is everything!
The love story is so heart wrenching, achingly beautiful. The spice is spicing 🥵
There are so many twists and turns that keep you guessing.
The relationship between fae and dragons was so well done and different than your average story.
Tropes:
✨Fae
✨Dragons
✨Banter
✨Mysterious
✨Corrupt kingdom
✨Who hurt you
✨Forbidden love
✨Multiple POV
✨Forgotten past
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Death, Violence, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content and Trafficking
Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Rape
ashleykhoffman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book is the epitome of mixed feelings. The writing was hit and miss; the world was super unique and cool, but the building of it was weirdly paced; the words "organ in my chest" and "fluffy" were super over-utilized; the mystery build was great, and the diary was a nice touch; the cliffhangers going into book 2 were great because I'm not mad I have to wait, but I'll definitely read the next one.
I could say more, but I'll leave it at the writing being hard to adjust to, but an overall really compelling story.
2.5🌶
I could say more, but I'll leave it at the writing being hard to adjust to, but an overall really compelling story.
2.5🌶
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Torture, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Excrement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Rape
sleepygym's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
crybabybea's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This book is a great light entertainment romantasy in the same vein as ACOTAR or Fourth Wing. I, however, feel duped because it was being sold as a high fantasy with romance and incredible world-building. If you love love love fleshed out fantasy, political strife, and detailed magic systems, you probably will not like this book. It falls apart once you look at it too closely. Fun for what it is but I have to rate it low because it's not what I look for in a fantasy. If I were rating this just solely as a romantasy I still wouldn't rate it very high. I felt ACOTAR was even written better than this which is a very low bar.
I wrote a 3,000 word essay for how much this disappointed me, so here are the bullet points:
I wrote a 3,000 word essay for how much this disappointed me, so here are the bullet points:
- Shallow world-building. There are cool, unique things that happen but they serve no purpose for the world (such as the dragons turning into moons).
- World building is lazy and the author relies on you reading a 20 page glossary to understand rather than fleshing out the world herself
- Dragons are part of the world but don't serve any purpose beyond transportation.
- No political strife, except for the FMC telling you how awful the king in her region is, despite having a crazy cool premise with a dragon mythology-based elemental magic system whose users are denoted by their colorful beaded earrings.
- Nothing happens in the plot except the very slow burn romance which doesn't pay off at the end
- Magic doesn't really serve any purpose except to sound cool
- The conlang is messy and doesn't work well
- The writing itself is clunky, full of heavyhanded metaphors that don't land
- Writing repeats itself multiple times with the same cadence and word usage
- Characters with no real personality beyond the tropes they represent, could be replaced with any other romantasy main characters and it would make no difference
- Poor LGBTQIA+ representation (despite it being praised in multiple reviews)
- Because of all these issues, the book is 250 pages longer than it needs to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Torture
doahdancer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Grief, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape and Cannibalism
rasbneon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Death and Rape