The premise of this book is super interesting and the characters could be really great, however, the book itself was pretty badly written and the characters just fell flat.
There were so many grammar and punctuation mistakes which made the book a bit difficult to read at times. There were also a lot of weird word choices; it felt like the author opened a thesaurus and just chose the weirdest synonym she could find instead of using the "common" word.
The characters were largely very similar and by that I mean they were all so extremely horny and that was about it. Some were maybe even bloodthirsty AND horny.
It did get better by the second half of the book and I could appreciate the world-building that the author was trying to do. Sadly, like several other things in this book that also fell flat. The conflicts were generally interesting and I wish there would have been a larger focus on them.

Wow. Just wow. This book sucked me in so completely and broke my heart into a milion pieces. The writing, the character interactions, the longing and overall foreshadowing was spectacular. It is definitely not for everyone but I highly enjoyed it and even weeks after still think about it. Beware the trigger warnings as things can get pretty dark and know there is no immediate happily ever after in this world!

Definitely needed a good thorough edit before publishing, tons of grammatical and spelling errors. The writing is really repetitive, “his newfound strength that he had found,” lots of hands clenching and nostrils flaring every 5 seconds, etc, and it just does not flow well at times, missing a few page breaks or something.

I did finish it though and the story itself was okay, just kind of abrupt, I feel like there could have been less scene detail and more storyline detail. We don’t need to know everyone’s facial expressions every time they speak but it would have been nice to be clued in on some of the key world building a little better.

The spicy scenes were just okay and the wording got a little weird most of the time. I about just put the book down for good when there was something about “grabbing her jiggle” or something like that

Overall, would not read again, prob will forget about it and not read any sequels, but I was entertained enough

Let me start by saying I didn’t HATE this book. I think it had a lot of potential to be quite good if it only had been run through an editor. I fully know it’s tough work writing a novel, forget self- publishing; but this reads like a rough draft that’s been leaked.

Let me start with what I didn’t hate first. The world building in this book is what gives me hope for it. It’s easy in high fantasy to get stuck into a set location so you don’t have to explain the geography of the lands, but I was constantly impressed at how beautifully the author laid out the universe in this story.
The two main characters were also compelling. Aydra and Lex are so unlike so many other female fantasy characters. They unreservedly embrace their sexuality, are unapologetic in their strength and exemplify the bond of female friendship exemplarily.

That is where my fondness for this book ends. My primary issue with this book was in the way the subjects of rape and incest were handled. While ASOIAF is often criticised for its inclusion of the two, I do think even GRRM was more tasteful with it. Their inclusion added NOTHING to the story or character progressions. The author seemed to throw the subjects around for shock value, but honestly it added nothing but an ick factor that immediately put me off the book. I could go on about this, but you get the idea.

My next major issue was the stylistic choices. The characters diction seemed to change with each passing sentence, making for a very confusing read. I wouldn’t complain either one, but she really just had to pick ONE linguistic style and stick with it. The grammatical errors were also ATROCIOUS. I get it, I hate correcting my own grammar as much as the next person. You can get through life just fine with run on sentences, but in a novel it just sticks out like a sore thumb. Even without an editor a single run through grammarly would have remedied this.

To conclude, I would definitely be willing to give this book a second shot if it was taken through a thorough edit. The author is clearly talented and I’d be curious to say where the rest of the series goes to.

I thought Dead Moon Rising was a very interesting concept and it was a fascinating read however I’m still in shock about the ending.

note to self: reread only to page 483

It took me a while to get into the book… I was practically at the halfway mark when I FINALLY FELL IN -LOVE- with the story. BUT… the ending… I can’t say that Im super excited for the direction of book two… im still trying to decide if I’m going to see how the series continues…

Wow! I absolutely love this world! I could not put it down and when I was finished I wanted the 2nd book right then. ( Can not wait to read the next book) I felt for the characters and was immersed in their drama right along with them.
Definitely spicy!

Okay I absolutely loved this book! Jack Whitney has created my favorite new fantasy world. Haerland’s lore and history was well thought out even if a bit confusing at first. The prologue was handy to refer back to throughout the story. The characters were well developed and the chemistry and friendships felt genuine off the page. While there are many explicit spicy scenes, there is the perfect balance of plot to the smut. Without spoilers, the ending left me shaken and eager for the sequel.

From a critical lense, this text definitely needs an editor. There are several grammar errors, redundant phrases, duplicated words, and misspellings. It’s a large novel and all authors become blind to these types of mistakes after working on something so diligently. I know this book is self published so the errors are understandable. I devoured this book for the plot and world building in spite of the errors. Hopefully she gets picked up by a publisher or does enough sales to employ her own editor in the future.

(The author does not exaggerate when calling this book a “dark high fantasy”. Typical high fantasy elements are present eg multiple races to follow and complex world building. TW for violence, murder, SA, domestic abuse.)