I am self aware enough to tell you that as long as a book has dragons in it, rest assured, I WILL read it (no questions asked) (but that doesn’t mean I will like them all). ‘When the moon hatched’ did have dragons and they were magnificent, fierce, loyal and just about everything I could ever want in a dragon!!
‘The creators did not expect their beloved beasts to sail skyward upon their end. For many of them to plant themselves just beyond gravity’s grip, curl into balls and calcify, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons.’
Usually the covers are pretty, happy, mysterious, ugly, colorful or even unrelatable but this cover is painfully serene(the kind which you can’t look at without a twinge in your heart). Atleast that’s what I felt.
The map is pretty simple and easy to look through. The dedication page just made me gasp in delight and excitement!!
I am rarely invested in the beginning of the book but this prologue definitely had me hooked. And the art is obviously great!(I think it safe for me to say that I am a glutton for good art *resigned sigh*).
My feelings for this book are…..complicated(to say the least). While I adored all the physical aspects for the book(cover, map etc.,) along with the plot(atleast until the second last dramatic reveal; despised it with every fiber of my being) and the world building, most of the characters (all are fae), their roles and inter-dependence put a damper on my excitement.
Fae are able to control the elements–air, fire, water, and earth–by hearing the songs of each god/goddess(Clode, Ignos, Rayne and Bulder respectively) and speaking their language. And then there is the God of Aether, Caelis. A fae might hear the song of one or more gods. I liked the whole ‘hearing god’s song’ idea because it solidifies the gods’ presence rather than making them mythical. The fae wear elemental beads to signify their ability to hear elemental songs – Red for Ignos, Blue for Rayne, Brown for Bulder, Clear for Clode.
There is also this endearing concept of a parchment lark. It’s like you write a letter to someone and it has a life of it’s own until it reaches ( flies to) the person it was intended for. They are absolutely adorable!
The most absurd things about Raeve(our protagonist) are her dimples. My brain straight out refuses to give me an image of Raeve with dimples (seriously). Her behaviour, her prickly personality and her (supposedly) traumatic past experiences just clash with the entire concept of dimples rather than merge seamlessly. If you’re wondering why in the world am I talking soo much about her dimples, you should know that the ‘dimples’ are brought-up way too many times in Kaan’s POV( our other MC ).
You might have noticed that I have written “(supposedly) traumatic past experiences” and the reason for that is that although there have been many mentions of this past, there were almost nil flashbacks and only one night-terror(which came almost at 82% of the book) regarding the same. It almost seems as if Raeve just experienced something trite, and that is a bad thing because her entire character is shaped around this trauma.
While I can understand why many find her sassy or even badass, I don’t agree. Despite all of the above, reading her pov is not that difficult to enjoy because she does have a weirdly indignant, sarcastic(funny for me), situationally inappropriate sense of humor that gets a laugh or two out of you.
” I should be able to die how I want to die, dammit!” – Reave
Kaan Vaegor is our male protagonist. He is the king of The Burn(one of the three kingdoms in the map, the other two being The Shade and The Fade). Kaan is bonded to one of the largest living dragon named Rygun(who I am fiercely protective of). Kaan is sooo in love with Reave, it’s heart-wrenching to read(and imagine). He is exactly what Reave needs but since Reave’s past is unsatisfactory, the emotional plotline is very unbalanced and often felt very one-sided.
‘She looks at me over her shoulder, eyes like glaciers, her soft smile the gleaming slash of a blade that strikes home, bleeding the vulnerable organ that so eagerly pumps for her. Only her.’ – Kaan Vaegor
There is also Veya Vaegor’s POV (Kaan ‘s sister). We don’t have much of her but whatever I did read definitely intrigued me. Ohh and I agree with her when she calls Rygun “an adorable monster”!
‘Next time life throws me a magical bangle, I’m just going to put it in my jewelry box. Wherever it is.’ – Veya Vaegor
A few chapters are diary entries of Elluin Nevan(which I like more than most of Reave’s POV).
A rather lengthy glossary is also a part of the book. My suggestion would be to start the book and refer the glossary when and if you need it, as it might give away some minute details that are fun to find out throughout the book. Also do not look at the family tree in the back of the book! (it has a HUGE spoiler).
I liked the book enough to continue on with the series, and I would recommend it to people who crave a good worldbuilding and dragons(obviously).
P.S – If you are interested in faerie fantasy books, here’s my review on “Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries“
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