65 pages • 2 hours read
Sarah A. ParkerWhen the Moon Hatched
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Author Context: Sarah A. Parker
Sarah A. Parker is an internationally best-selling author from New Zealand who currently lives in Australia with her husband, dog, and three children. Her interest in the fantastical was fostered from a young age by her nana, who lived with Parker on their family farm in New Zealand. When Parker was young, she would read through her nana’s fairy books weekly and pretend she was immersed in similar worlds.
Under the name S. A. Parker, she self-published the Spawn of Darkness series (2019-2020). Under the name Sarah A. Parker, she then published the Crystal Bloom trilogy (2021-2023). Parker moved from self-publishing to traditional publishing due to the commercial success of her latest series starter, When the Moon Hatched (2024).
Soon after its release on Amazon, When the Moon Hatched became a widespread phenomenon due to TikTok. Quickly, Parker became overwhelmed with the amount of work it required to distribute the physical book in more countries and translations. Since its self-published release, When the Moon Hatched has been picked up by Harper Voyager and Avon Books with plans to translate the novel into over a dozen languages.
Parker prefers writing and reading the epic fantasy romance genre and thrives on creating real, complex characters and immersive worlds. Her inspirations are authors such as Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin. Their influences on Parker’s writing are apparent in the extensive world building and large cast of characters found in When the World Hatched.
Genre Context: Romantasy
As its name suggests, romantasy blends elements of the romance and fantasy genres. The term “romantasy” is often interchanged with the overlapping genre of fantasy romance, in which the primary focus of the novel is romance with a secondary focus on the fantasy elements. However, unlike fantasy romance, novels within the romantasy genre contain fantasy world building and a plot that stands on its own merit regardless of whether romance is present.
When the Moon Hatched is a romantasy series starter. It draws on romantic elements and tropes such as enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and arranged marriage to forge the romantic plot between Raeve and Kaan. In a key plot point, protagonist Raeve has no memory of having loved Kaan in an earlier phase of her life, when she had a different name and identity. The amnesia trope is also often used in romantasy as a means to keep lovers apart over long periods of time. Despite all these tropes of romance fiction, the novel’s complex world building, interest in politics, and large cast of characters place it squarely within the fantasy tradition.
Romantasy is also known for strong female protagonists, and Raeve is no exception. She boasts a sarcastic wit and swaggering confidence that will be familiar to readers of the genre. Similarly, Kaan fulfills the “touch her and you’ll die” male love interest archetype that has taken the romantasy genre by storm in recent years. This specific trope refers to a love interest who is so protective of their partner that they would threaten death upon anyone who harms them.
