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Chapter 1: What are the spoiler-free thoughts on The Ballad of Falling Dragons?
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls Podcast, where two sisters dive deep into beloved fantasy lore, characters, themes, theories, and more! I'm Lexi, older sister and fantasy lore nerd. And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart!
And today's episode is all about our reactions to the exquisite Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker, which is the sequel to When the Moon Hatched that came out on May 19th in 2026. First things first, please, oh, please listen to our spoiler warning for today's episode because it will begin with our spoiler free thoughts. So no spoilers about Ballad of Falling Dragons.
It's safe for anyone to listen to. But in part two, spoiler, spoiler, spoilers for Battle of the Falling Dragons as we freak out over this entire book. So with all of that said, if you don't know why we cried a countless amount of times during this book, then that's okay. Part one is safe for you to listen to. But holy moly, not part two.
We will be giving a giant spoiler warning before we hop in. So no worries there. Next, we at Fantasy Fangirls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is rated R. That's a load of spangle shit. Just kidding. We have some very important scenes to discuss, so please be mindful of those little listening ears.
I am going to be so unhinged when we cover that. I'm so excited. Oh, my God.
Oh.
Additionally, we are so, so excited to see what upcoming live events. We are partnering with Tattered Cover and Book and Gather for two upcoming release parties. ACOTAR 6 Midnight Release Party on October 26th and ACOTAR 7 Midnight Release Party on January 11th, 2027. There's a few more general admission tickets for our live show tour.
starting in Chicago on September 9th, Charlotte, North Carolina on September 24th, and New York City on September 27th. And then, of course, we will be at the Dragon Gauntlet in Boyne City, Michigan, September 11th through 12th. And we'll be going to LandCon in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 16th through 18th in 2027. Links to all of these events are in the show notes and on our website.
Last thing before we jump into this Ballad of Falling Dragons Reactions episode.
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Chapter 2: Why did the hosts feel emotionally impacted by the book?
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It's literally all because of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And now it is time to do our best clode expression and scream. our spoiler free thoughts into the microphone. All right. So like Nicole said, we are in part one. So again, this is free of plot spoilers, but we are going to be talking general vibes. So starting with our simple, again, spoiler free question, did we like this book?
I guess rather, why did we love this book so fucking much? I'll go ahead with my opening statement, which is a big one. I think this might be my new all time favorite book. Full stop. I see why. And it's I have more to say on that. But yes, yes, yes. In my opinion, Ballad of Falling Dragons is epic fantasy storytelling that reminds me why I love reading so much.
It is vivid and emotional and heartbreaking and inspiring and relatable.
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Chapter 3: What are the major character developments in The Ballad of Falling Dragons?
The characters shine so much in ballad with this incredible world just woven so beautifully into the story. I love it. I'm just getting chills. Right now, I love this book so much. I have thought about Ballad every single day, multiple times a day since finishing it. I have such a book hangover now in the best way. And I am so excited to jump into this deep dive. Ballad is a dream deep dive book.
Holy moly. I'm also so thankful that we got to take our time reading this book to truly appreciate it, to sit with it, to process and feel the full experience. Nicole and I love our usual release binges where we binge the book within, you know, the first 24 hours or so. But this was the first time that we've had an arc of a deep dive book.
And I could not be happier that it was this book specifically, partly because it's a thicky boy like Khan, but it's also an emotional journey that I loved getting to savor. There were a lot of moments where I had to set the book down and like walk around and process some things and then I could pick it back up. I just loved it so much.
And the dragons really shine, too, as their own characters in this book. I just love it. Love it, love it, love it. I feel like this book brought an already exceptional book to true God-tier series. From chapter...
freaking one honestly i was gasping with the little nuggets of info we were getting and that didn't stop for the entire fucking book you're right i sent you a list of chapters to react to and it was only for the middle part of the book and it was literally about half the chapter and i even texted you i was like i know what this looks like but just trust me And it's just because there's so much.
And yet the pacing felt so right with how jam-packed it was. Every time I started to be a little bit like, whew, okay, there's a lot going on. We have a great chapter that we kind of relaxed everything. I don't know about relaxed, but we'd have a great chapter to like calm down a little bit and then right back to it. Yes, yes. Like we were fine.
fed as readers in a way where so many questions that we had were answered. I think this is the most amount of bets we have definitive answers to after the conclusion of the next book.
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Chapter 4: How does the theme of motherhood manifest in the story?
And for every one question answered, we were also introduced to a new concept or we got something from last book expanded upon. but it was expanded upon like tenfold in a way that we weren't expecting. It was the classic, like, Ooh, we think it's going this way, but here's this extra 90%. Yes. But here's this extra 10% or whatever. Like it was, Oh my God, it was so well done.
But to me, the world building shined only second in comparison to the freaking character development, which is saying something because we are obsessed with this world. The world is insane. Insane. But here, it's like the characters, I was just weeping nonstop through the book. Because you feel every single well of emotion that these characters experience.
Which, good God, bravo to Sarah, because this book has so many POVs. And that's flipping impressive to do as an author. We learn so much more about Khan's childhood. We get some... Very interesting details about Vea. We get some things that, you know, Sarah A. Parker promised with Rave and her backstory with the Scavenger King and leaving his clutches. But we also get some wild cards.
I will not say any because we're in spoiler-free territory, obviously. That's an understatement. That is such an understatement. There are some characters... in POVs that we get during the second half of the book that I was a not expecting, but they might've been my favorite POVs for about a million reasons.
And when it comes to some of the coolest revelations, it was like, they weren't even not on my bingo card. They were on another planet from my bingo card. It was like, but then you realize it and you're like, Oh my God, that's why that happened. And when the moon hatched,
like it was oh i was i can't go into one instance in particular in this spoilery part of the reaction yes same same yeah oh my god i can't wait to cover that i'm so excited yes i i felt such a genuine excitement for every pov chapter which i don't always feel when i read books because it's also like oh man what's gonna happen now it's like you said the perfect balance of oh
I wondered about that. But then the second half of the equation is something entirely different and unexpected.
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Chapter 5: What are the significant plot twists revealed in the episode?
As deep divers, as theorizers, I love that so much. The other thing that I love about Sarah's writing is like every emotional beat is brought to a 10 out of 10 and even sometimes a 15 out of 10. Like every single description is like, what is the most dramatic place I can put it? And what is the most heightened emotional language I can use that doesn't feel out of place?
I also love how she does this with the creators and when there are those action sequences, when the elemental magic is being used and how the creators and their personalities and their traits are coming forth. And it's just this lyrical beauty on a battle scene. Yes. There is one battle scene towards like, I'll say the first half of the book that like, Left me breathless. Absolutely breathless.
Oh my gosh. By the end of the book, though, you're so shook. Your insides are so rearranged and then you're spat back out. It's like the only way I can describe, honestly, the whole book, but I'll specifically land on the end, is truly operatic and Shakespearean. The end is vivid. Everything is happening at once and you're so in it and you feel every ounce of earthish
shattering information that we learned. It's so good. Oh, my God. I also really love how themes like motherhood are reflected in this book as heartbreakingly beautiful as it is. I'm going to be saying that word a lot this episode, heartbreakingly beautiful.
I know me and many others have felt that fantasy tends to lack these motherhood themes, emotions, relationships, and experiences that many of us identify with. And I felt a kinship with Ballad in a way I never have with another fantasy book. Sarah handles this delicate subject with a lot of care that I am genuinely grateful for. And I love how it's woven into this fantasy story.
This theme is hard to pull off in our action-packed romantic fantasies, and Sarah sticks the landing with how she does it. So I just want to say thank you so much for making the moms feel seen, Sarah, in many ways in this book from different POVs and different kinds of relationships. And I really appreciate that and loved it so much. I'm not even a mom and I felt such an emotional depth.
I can't even imagine what it's like for moms to read this book.
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Chapter 6: How do the hosts react to the character arcs in the book?
Oh my goodness. I know I mentioned Sarah's writing and I really want to just take a moment and spotlight it because the lyrical structure mixed with those vivid scenes, the heightened emotions, and somehow also managing to insert humor and grit. I cannot begin to express how fucking impressive that is.
She might have officially secured her place as my favorite writer of all time solely on this style. It is so Sarah A. Parker. You read this book and you're like, oh, this is a different writing style than I'm used to. When the Moon Hatched was already one of my top three favorite books of all time, Ballad has secured its place on that list as well. It is a god tier book. It is a god tier book.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, it is. Not to hype it up too much, but it's really fucking good. All right, friends, we are bursting at the seams. We will be hopping into our spoiler thoughts in just a moment after a quick word from our sponsors. All right, friends, that ends our spoiler free part of this episode. So if you have not finished Ballad of Falling Dragons, we are lovingly but firmly begging you to leave now.
We promise we will still be here for you to come back to once when you finish the book. So three, two. Last chance. Are you gone? I sure do hope so. Okay, good. Because we have a million things to talk about. Kazari and Kalis. Hadeon. Essie. Essie. What the fuck?
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the ending for future books?
I can't breathe. I cannot breathe. I'm so excited.
Archon is the scavenger king.
I swear to God. Dairos killed Elowen. You all, I'm about to be so insufferable for this deep dive. Oh, my God. I can't wait to go through our bets later on this episode and just play myself a small violin. But to be quite honest, I don't even fucking care because this book was so good. I have no qualms. Oh my goodness. Well, we obviously have a lot to talk about.
We're only scratching the surface too with today's episode because it's only our reactions. We are so excited for this deep dive. We had to really pull it back with this reactions episode because we had to start prepping for the deep dive. All right. So let's collect ourselves and open this part two. I don't know if I can do that. Continuation of our previous conversation with spoilers.
Have I mentioned that yet? About why we are so obsessed with this book. I'll bring up again that I love how much this book really does feel like it has more mature themes around motherhood and family and even about facing difficult truths and taking responsibility, feeling loss while simultaneously feeling relief and gratitude and A mother holding her newborn for the first time. Oh, my gosh.
I'm going to start crying already. Daddy Khan. Oh, my God. Thinking about his daughter, wanting to protect his family, avenge his loved ones, singing to a little girl for bedtime. I can't.
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Chapter 8: What bets were made regarding character fates and outcomes?
I cannot. I have a new untouchable book husband. Yeah. Holy moly. Like, oh. I went to, I love you so much, but I, sorry, I'll stop talking. I went to a MMC like bracket ranking where it was literally like March Madness, but for MMCs and fantasy and Khan won that bracket. And why did he win Nicole? Because I went to bat for him for you, but actually for me as well. Cause I fucking love him.
And that was before Ballad of Falling Dragons. Now it's like, you're untouchable. He is un-fucking-touchable as book husband material. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Okay. Wow. He is a father and a leader of his people and a warrior. And he's patient, the most patient man in the world, which I absolutely love that line in the book. It made me laugh. I was like, did Sarah hear our coverage?
And how Rave is his and Khan is Rave's, which he's like, you're mine. And he's like, say it again. Oh, my gosh. And he has a dragon and he's sexy and feral. My new favorite spicy scene. Okay. But I really do love his and Rave's evolving relationship in this book and how this book was really about them. I won't say coming together because that was a lot of the last book, but really all together.
Exactly. Like building their relationship as Rave and Khan, not as Elowen and Khan. But now Rave has accepted and embraced that. She does feel this little difference between Elowen, but she is embracing Elowen. She obviously has embraced her family, Kazari and all of that. And how at the end of the book they come together and they have so much more shit to face now, but it's as a family.
Sure, there's still tensions between them in the book because it's a romance book that always needs a little bit of conflict. But when she says mine for making it clear that this is their relationship, not his and Elowen's, for opening up even a little bit, even though it is rave, so we'll celebrate the baby steps she makes.
And both of them finding out about Kazari being their daughter together from the fucking scavenger king reading Elowen's diary. My heart. My heart just broke into a million little pieces. God. And then they put it back together and then it broke again and then it broke again. And I just like, I don't even know where my heart is at this point.
I don't even know where to begin with my spoiler thoughts on this book.
Like I agree that this book's dealing with, I'm going to say older themes, more mature themes was such a fun, refreshing deviation, devastation deviation from what we normally read.
We've done a lot of deep diving of FMCs where, you know, they're in their mid to early twenties and they act like they're in their mid to early twenties because of course they do. but this is a mother and a father.
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