Reviews - When the Moon Hatched

18.7k reviews for:

When the Moon Hatched

Sarah A. Parker

3.99 AVERAGE

alyssadtaylor's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The romance arc was trash, but I'm hopeful that it will pick up in the second book. I wasnt invested in the plot till the very end of the book.

indecentink's review against another edition

4.0

When the Moon Hatched is a captivating read with a refreshingly unique world and magic system that stands out in the genre. Every scene feels crucial to the story, leaving no filler, which is a rarity in fantasy. The character Kaan sets a new standard for male protagonists – strong, compassionate, and easy to root for. However, the book’s fast-paced world-building can be a bit overwhelming at first, as it doesn’t ease you into the many locations, names, and terminology. Despite this, once you get your bearings, it’s an immersive and rewarding journey filled with depth, intrigue, and fantastic character dynamics.

pnickell's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I DNF'd this last year when I had too many books on my TBR, but I'm glad I picked it back up with my work book club! Once you read so many fantasy/romantasy books, I feel like truly surprising plot twists are few and far between - but I didn't see the plot twist in this coming AT ALL. At the end of my read, I went back and re-read several chapters for "ah ha!" moments. I adore when a book makes me feel like this.

I read many reviews of people both in favor and against the prose in this book. For me, that's part of the reason this reason didn't fit the bill for a 5 star read. It felt like Sarah didn't trust us readers with basic information and used the prose to over-explain simple concepts, but then she trusted us too much with the magic system that could've used more detail.

The set up for book 2 is really stunning, and I'll definitely be tuning in! I'll miss you Kaan!

simonelynne's review against another edition

5.0

Obsessed. This was such a great read. Got to get through a bit of world building but then it is so much fun!

kellic13's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mlbell89's review against another edition

5.0

Incredible journey from start to finish

juliakeiz's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

So this is a toughie. While I foind the ending redeeming, its hard to love a book where the first 300 pages were such a drag. I definitely would have given up after 150 pages if I wasnt reading this for a book club. That being said, i am happy I didn't give up. The author has worked hard to do exceptional world building for what could be an amazing trilogy of kingdoms at war, with really rich character backgrounds. However, i find myself frustrated the work the reader has to do to get there. Raeve and Kaans love is passionate, but I dont like the way its written. Raeve runs away too many times, to the point where it dosent give the reader an impact anymore its kinda just like “oh this again”. I wish the author used to time raeve spent running to actually write about their romance, so we felt like we were feasting on something. Things I did love- the badass Raeve arc. The first 100 pages you’re rooting for her to unearth injustice, its a fun read. The arc with the fate herder is really excellent, great world building and amazing to read. Veya and everything about her. Im voting for book two to be 100% Veya, and definitely some Kyzari. I’ll be eager to see if the reviews for book two are good, if they are i’ll definitely give it a shot.

shelfcarecatharsis's review against another edition

5.0

Buddy read this book with Liv in the first half of June and we still haven’t recovered 😭🤍 I avoided processing it for weeks because not only the book made me FEEL so much, but it was such a fun experience buddy reading it with Liv, our yappings about it and unhinged updates made it hilarious, we def will do a highlights post for some of it because it was insane, and we really thrived with this book, and I was so sad it was over, so ofc I avoided processing all that, which was the right call because to ghost it I dived into more book so I kept reading the rest of the month, but now that I have processed it for my review the slump has hit hard.

I loved this book so much, right from the glossary at the beginning I could tell this was going to be so good, the uniqueness and intricate magic system reflected just from it, showed how much work, creativity, research, care and love went into this. And a glossary and catching on mythology bits had me absolutely geeking out with this book.

Raeve. The most hilarious fmc I’ve encountered. She would not stop cracking up Liv and I. We were living for her hilariousness and enabling her behavior because we support women’s rights and wrongs, def not because we were projecting 👭🏻

But gods I will say cold fmcs are always my favorites 🤍 maybe because yes I do see myself in them so much, and as a Capricorn ice is my specialty and sardonic my nature, our brand of perpetual sarcasm and filing (drowning) feelings like they’re archives makes me feel seen, but I’m able to understand their behavior and thinking patterns, which my autistic a** struggles to often with others. And so yes I loved her because I related too much to her, always on fight or flight mode and ghosting emotions (like me ghosting processing this book because I felt things) , the sarcastic comebacks always ready, burying everything under a barrier of ice, and dark and twisted sense of humor.

“I do not hurt... I harden.” MY MANTRA

The storyline was amazing, so many micro tropes I absolutely adore, like literally too many of my favorites, like really specific ones, and I saw most twists coming, even the huge ones however some details were bit off, but safe to say I absolutely loved it 🖤

AND KAAN 😭 Liv and I hurt for him so bad and fell for him harder. WHAT A MAN.

New favorite nickname in my list alert! ‘MOONBEAM’

As usual I love going in blind with books and is why I try not to spoil much on my reviews, but this book was thicc there’s so much to talk about and so many quotes I went bit feral on my review post on booksta but obviously tried not spoiling anything major, even held back some quotes 😩

But what a masterpiece, I was intimidated by it’s size but then it wasn’t big enough, I can’t wait for book 2, I have so many more theories and questions, and the ending AAAAAA I can’t be left like that!