Review: When the Moon Hatched - Sarah A. Parker
Review: When the Moon Hatched - Book #1 Moonfall Series - Sarah A. Parker - November 2024
I'll be honest upfront: romantasy isn't usually my genre. But this one had been sitting on my shelf staring at me for long enough that I finally caved, and I'm glad I did.
From the first few chapters, When the Moon Hatched pulled me in with how effortlessly it reads. There's nothing clunky or overwrought about the prose here , it just flows, chapter after chapter, in a way that makes it dangerously easy to tell yourself "just one more" long after you meant to put it down.
If you've read Throne of Glass, you'll probably feel the same familiar hum I did. The setup centers on two women who turn out to be long-lost royalty, both reshaped into assassins after an accident that left them with amnesia, both quietly fighting to protect the very people who don't know who they really are. It's a premise that leans into tropes I've seen before, but Sarah A. Parker moves through them with enough pace and heart that it never felt like a rehash more like a comfortable echo of a story type I already knew I liked.
Here's my one real surprise, though: I went in expecting a book steeped in dragon lore. That's the reputation this series carries, at least in my head. Instead, the dragons felt more like background texture than driving force, present occasionally charming, but never quite earning the weight I expected them to carry. They're there, but the story doesn't really lean on them, which threw me a little given what I'd heard going in.
Even so, as someone who doesn't typically reach for this genre, I came away pleasantly surprised. The pacing is genuinely one of this book's strongest features, it moves quickly for a romantasy, without the meandering middle stretch I sometimes brace myself for. It held my attention far more than I expected it to, and I found myself invested in these two women and their slow, aching return to themselves.
I liked it enough that I've already got more of Sarah A. Parker's work waiting in the wings ,a different series this time, but I'm curious to see if her pacing and voice carry over. If you're a romantasy regular, this one will likely feel familiar in the best way. And if, like me, you're just dipping a toe in, this is a pretty gentle, enjoyable place to start.
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