Sarah A. Parker’s When the Moon Hatched took the romantasy world by storm two years ago. It was a truly original fantasy world mixed with an intense and impactful romance. The second book in the series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons, had a significant legacy to live up to.
* This book contains spoilers for the first book in the Moonfall series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons.*
The moons are going to fall, and cruel kings reign while Kaan Vaegor tries desperately to keep his kingdom from collapsing, all while trying to keep the love of his life, Raeve, safe.
Raeve wants revenge, but memories from a past long forgotten threaten to overwhelm her at every turn. One thing she knows for certain is that her love for Kaan is something she would kill or die to protect.
Something Other lives inside Raeve, something that holds the key to her memories, something with the power to change everything.
The Ballad of Falling Dragons is a complex, original world with an extensive glossary. There is an extensive magical system, and the book throws the reader right back in where the last book left off. This would normally be fine, but the first section of this book was deeply confusing. The author does nothing to remind the readers of what’s happening, leaving us scrambling for purchase that takes a while to find.
While this book has a specific style and vibe that I respect, it’s difficult to read at times and definitely could have been shorter. It feels disjointed at times, and the pace is slow, particularly in the first half.
The language in this book is incredibly lyrical, and the author employs creative ways to rename simple things. Sometimes it feels like way too much. You do not have to call it a bhar. Or a bahr. It’s a bear. You can just say bear. Especially if you’re going to spell it inconsistently.
While I appreciate the creativity, this book would have felt less convoluted if the prose had been streamlined just a little, if a bear was just a bear and a day was just a day.
“I will not simply accept your absence as collateral for the privilege of having had you in the first place, nor will I carry myself with the same merciful poise you possess,” she bites out with regal fortitude, dipping the cloth. Strangles the water free with such might her knuckles pale. “I’ll wreck the world to avenge your death, Kaan Vaegor.”
The Ballad of Falling Dragons is just as elaborate in plot as it is in language, with lots of near-death experiences and actual death, but the strength of this book is in its emotion. These characters feel deeply, and the author puts them in the most painful situations that tug at the heartstrings.
The spice, like the rest of the book, is lyrical, dramatic, and intense. The sexual parts of the romance are far from the main event here; this is a high fantasy with an epic love story that is sometimes consummated.
With multiple perspectives and new characters coming to the forefront, there is no shortage of side plots. Pyrok, a side character, and [redacted]’s storyline, which only comes in at the final quarter of the book, was my favorite part of the entire story, and I hope there is more of them in the third book.
Someone should make The Ballad of Falling Dragons into a movie. I rarely think that movies are a better format than books, but film might help streamline this story and remove some of the confusing language that makes it so difficult to read. At its core, this is a beautiful story, but there are significant factors that make this book hard to get through.
Leave a Reply