When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker - Recaptains

The basics

Title: When the Moon Hatched

Author: Sarah A Parker

Series: Moonfall #1

- When the Moon Hatched (2024)
- The Ballad of Falling Dragons (2025)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When a renowned bounty hunter is employed by The Crown to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve’s world is turned upside down. Blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles—a group of dual-beaded elementals who intend to turn her into a political statement. Only death will set her free.

Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to assuage the never-ebbing ache in his chest, his hunt for a moonshard lures him into the belly of Gore’s notorious prison where he stumbles upon something that rips apart his perception of reality. A shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in When the Moon Hatched then you’re in the right place.

What happened in When the Moon Hatched?

• When the Moon Hatched begins by introducing us to the elemental gods and goddesses. There’s Bulder, Clode, Rayne, Ignos, and Caelis. They created life, including dragons. People are able to sing the gods’ language and use their powers. Caelis is also said to have created runes.
• Caelis, the God of the Aether, was super jealous of the other gods because no one could see or hear Caelis.
• Dragons plant themselves in the sky and solidify instead of dying. They become moons. They start falling eventually and the other gods realise that Caelis is to blame and they trap him for eternity in the Aether Stone. The moons stop falling… for a time.
• Now, Raeve is disguised as a travelling bard. She enters a pub called The Hungry Hollow and brushes against a mysterious guy. She meets another woman called Levvi, before finding her target, Tarik.
• Raeve follows Tarik into a room but is unable to kill him. The mysterious hooded guy interrupts. Raeve is about to leave and follow Tarik down an alley, but Levvi stops her first and gives her a gift, telling her they should perform together again.
• Raeve catches up with Tarik. She sings to Clode and suffocates Tarik, and chops off his hand. She needs his handprint to free some caged children. She carves things into his chest then slits his throat.
• Mysterious hooded guy shows up again, I think he was checking that Raeve was okay. He tries to get her name but she tells him to piss off.
• Raeve returns home. She receives a list of requests from a woman called Essi, who makes Raeve’s contraptions. 
• Diary entry: Elluin is a young girl who wants a dragon. Her mother wears a diadem which seems to hurt her.
• Raeve goes to The Curly Quill, a shop where she can get her weapons and such. Raeve gives Ruse Essi’s list, and then goes to speak to Sareme, who has a vial of Raeve’s blood and therefore controls her. Sareme says that a bounty hunter called Rekk is hunting Raeve because he has been hired by the Crown – the King who is in charge of The Fade.
• Rekk has a Moonplume dragon and treats it poorly.
• Sareme and Raeve argue because the rebellion isn’t being very helpful with freeing the abducted children. Raeve wants to just kill the King and leave the Queen in charge, but that’s not the done thing because the Queen can’t hear enough gods. Monarchs are required to hear at least three gods.
• We learn that Prince Turun, the King’s son, has been hidden away for some reason. Possibly because he has gone mad.
• Diary Entry: Elluin’s brother is heading to a dragon’s nest to get himself a Moonplume. Elluin is worried Haedeon is going to die. 
• Raeve looks up at the sky and thinks about her favourite moon, Hae’s Moon, which has a wonky wing.
• Diary Entry: Elluin snuck away in Haedeon’s sleigh. They travel together to get dragons.
• Kaan, mysterious hooded guy, is drinking in a pub when his niece, Kyzari walks in for a chat. She’s the daughter of the King of the Shade. Kyzari tells Kaan that she can hear Caelis, the God of the Aether. She’s freaked out. She also wants to set him free.
• Kaan says that Kyzari can’t remove the Aether Stone diadem, that her mother wore it and her mother before her, as it’s passed down through the generations.
• Kyzari says she has fallen in love with Caelis.
• Raeve finds Essi stabbed and dying. Essi went to the Undercity and was attacked by Rekk. Essi dies. Raeve swears revenge.
• Raeve sends her parchment lark, Raeve, away.
• The Other takes over Raeve’s body. It seems to do this every so often. The Other goes after Rekk and takes out a tonne of people but ultimately gets shot with an iron pin which removes The Other’s powers. The Other bites off the tip of Rekk’s finger.
• Diary Entry: Haedeon almost died after claiming a dragon and Elluin is worried he’s going to die.
• Raeve wakes up in a prison cell. She’s injured. Rekk comments on Raeve’s eyes, which have changed colour since The Other left. 
• Rekk asks where the rebellion are but Raeve won’t give him any information. Raeve is worried that Rekk will get hold of the vial of her blood that Saleme holds. 
• Raeve recalls another cell that she was in before. She signs her name as Prisoner Seventy Three to get food.
• Diary Entry: Elluin claims a mature Moonplume. Haedeon has lost the use of his legs but he managed to claim a dragon. His dragon had a disabled wing. Elluin can now hear the gods’ voices.
• Kaan arrives at the prison. He seems confused about Raeve, but realises she doesn’t know much. Raeve realises he’s a King. 
• Raeve goes to trial and is sentenced to death in the coliseum. Kaan voted for this too.
• Diary Entry: The King of the Burn, Ostern Vaegor, meets with Elluin’s parents. He wants Elluin to marry his son, Tyroth.
• Kaan has Raeve healed.
• Diary Entry: Elluin has been stretching out Haedeon’s dragon’s wing. His dragon is now able to fly.
• Ruse sends Uno to break Raeve out, but Raeve refuses to leave because then they’ll go after Ruse and Saleme and everyone else. Uno agrees this will happen, being able to see the future and stuff.
• Raeve enters the coliseum. The Queen seems to try to save her, but Raeve is picked up by a massive dragon and taken away.
• Diary Entry: Elluin’s family are poisoned. They all die. Raeve needs to wear the Aether diadem. The stone seems to drain her. Raeve recalls her brother’s dragon heading up into the sky and solidifying. The Council need to decide what should happen to Elluin.
• Raeve realises she has been saved by Kaan. He takes her to his mother’s home. Raeve asked where his father is and Kaan says he chopped off his father’s head because he had done something against someone he loved – Elluin. Kaan says Elluin died.
• Raeve shares her name, and also thinks about being called Fire Lark.
• Raeve tries to stab Kaan while he’s sleeping. They almost get it on, of course. Then she goes back to her room and she sneaks out the window.
• Diary Entry: Elluin is abducted and stabbed with an iron pin. The Council have declared that she’ll need to marry Tyroth. They take her to The Burn which is terrible because her Moonplume dragon shouldn’t be in such a hot and sunny part of the world. Elluin’s dragon follows her.
• Raeve falls in a river and is pulled out by some warrior tribe people with tattoos similar to Kaan’s. A Fate Herder creature makes Raeve go with them.
• The tribe think that Raeve is super special and that her offspring will tether the moons to the sky forever. Raeve insists she will never have children. 
• There is a trial and some guys have to fight for Raeve’s binding. Raeve wants to fight for herself. The guy chucks a snake at Raeve and it bites her.
• Kaan arrives and fights for Raeve while she’s suffering from the snake bite.
• Kaan grew up with this tribe by the way. He’s more senior than this snake thrower guy. If he dies, his title will pass to Raeve and she will be able to leave.
• Kaan wins, obviously.
• Diary Entry: Elluin’s dragon is severely injured and has to hide from the sun.
• Kaan arrives back at his castle in The Burn. Raeve is passed out. Veya, Kaan’s sister, asks who Kaan is carrying.
• Pyrok and Grimh work for Kaan. They all recognise Raeve, it seems. They ask why she looks like Elluin, who is dead. Kaan explains that she knows herself as Raeve and doesn’t remember anything.
• In this conversation we learn that Elluin could speak to all four gods.
• Elluin also left Kaan a note and left him for Tyroth. 
• Kaan spars with Grimh.
• Veya seems very angry at Raeve and decides she should look for Elluin’s diary. 
• Diary Entry: Elluin meets Kaan.
• Raeve calls Veya by her name and isn’t sure how she knew it.
• Raeve learns that The Burn kingdom is pretty chill. They don’t punish the people without powers.
• Raeve finally gets her iron cuffs removed. She confronts Kaan about his awful brothers and says he should kill them, but Kaan is more political and knows that he doesn’t have the power to take out both of his brothers yet.
• Raeve tries to return the necklace that Kaan gave her earlier.
• Raeve is unable to tune out Rayne, the god of water. She cries. Kaan comforts her. He brings up Elluin and Raeve realises there’s a connection there. Kaan sings her a song, her song.
• Kaan shows her a SECRET TUNNEL with a cavern at the end. In the middle of the cavern is a solidified dragon, Elluin’s Moonplume dragon. He has been putting her shards back together, there are a few left to find.
• Raeve notices that the dragon seems to have been cradling something when it solidified. She realises it was her, but is super confused.
• Raeve’s first memory is waking up in a cage and seeing shards being carried away from her. Kaan asks what she’s thinking and Raeve won’t tell him.
• Kaan suggests that Raeve hatched out of the moon dragon’s body. He tells her about Elluin, the woman he loved. Raeve is like NOPE.
• Raeve’s Other is about the break free when Kaan winds her up.
• Kaan gives Raeve money so she can leave (because he loves her). 
• Veya speaks to Kaan and tells him they’re living on borrowed time.
• Raeve heads to the west and finds the house she lived with Kaan when she was Elluin. She starts tidying it up, and she starts getting some memories back.
• Grimh decides he wants to get another dragon because his died.
• Veya heads back to The Fade. She learns that the Queen seems to have disappeared. 
• Diary Entry: Veya teaches Elluin to fight.
• Veya finds a monster who has a bangle of hers. This bangle contains Veya’s memories. She makes a trade, and learns that the monster has made bargains with five other people.
• Diary Entry: Elluin and Kaan almost get caught when they’re making out.
• Kaan learns that Raeve is still hanging around and buying things at the market. Kaan sends Raeve a message with his necklace asking her to dance with him.
• Raeve buys into a game against a bunch of guys. Pyrok goes to find Kaan and he shows up and interrupts the game. 
• Raeve and Kaan play a game. If Kaan wins, Raeve will answer three questions truthfully. If Raeve wins, she’ll stay in the house for a bit before going to get her memories wiped.
• Raeve refuses to talk about her feelings and tries to leave but she can’t while the game is still on. Raeve wins and Kaan gets annoyed.
• Raeve asks Kaan to dance. He’s still annoyed and sad. He tells Raeve about his feelings but Raeve can’t reciprocate and then they make out.
• Raeve and Kaan fell asleep at their old house. There’s a long sex scene and Kaan talks way too much.
• Diary Entry: Tyroth shows up and he’s awful. The King speaks with Elluin and says he knows about her and Kaan, who can’t rule the kingdom because he doesn’t speak to more than two gods. The King threatens to tell his two terrible sons about Elluin’s relationship with Kaan. The King knows that Elluin is with child.
• Raeve has a nightmare about the Scavenger King, who calls her Fire Lark. She knows him from the first prison she was in. He threatens to kill Raeve’s friend, which encourages Raeve to talk.
• Kaan heard Raeve talking in her sleep and saying the name Fire Lark. He asks about this but Raeve doesn’t want to share.
• Rekk arrives. Raeve wants to kill him but Kaan doesn’t let her because Rekk is with some Shade emissaries.
• Rekk is mean about his dragon. Rekk brings up Princess Kyzari, who has disappeared for a bit. Rekk is looking for her.
• Raeve steals Rekk’s dragon, Lirri, who is a small adolescent dragon.
• Kaan asks if Rekk is the one who injured Raeve. Obviously he is, I thought everyone knew this.
• Kaan allows Raeve to track Rekk down away from The Burn.
• Diary Entry: Elluin leaves Kaan a note saying Tyroth is a gifted sire and she will be marrying him to protect the Aether Stone. 
• Rekk is still looking for Kyzari. He meets a sex worker in his room and it’s Raeve, lol. Rekk implies the Fire Lark escaped the pits. Raeve stabs Rekk.
• The Other takes over. The Other says it understood Lirri’s pained sounds when Raeve didn’t. The Other talks about what it’s going to do to Rekk, and then kills him with fire.
• Veya has arrived in Elluin’s home city. She’s impersonating a servant, unfortunately this servant has been impregnated by her brother, Tyroth. Who is the worst. 
• Veya considers killing her brother but thinks it’s a bad idea.
• Veya goes to Elluin’s former room and finds the diary. She skims through it to the end. 
• Diary Entry: Elluin talks about her pregnancy and the baby that is Kaan’s.
• Veya realises that Elluin protected the baby and Kaan because she was threatened by the awful King.
• Epilogue: This is from the point of view of the Scavenger King, who is the secret bastard child of awful King Ostern. The Scavenger King has Kyzari imprisoned. The Scavenger King thinks he deserves The Burn and plans to kill Kaan. A damaged parchment lark arrives, with “Nee” written on it.

That’s what happened in When the Moon Hatched! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!