The Moon Tear

OMG WHERE DO I START? PLEASE READ THIS BOOK GUYS. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK YOU'RE GONNA READ THIS YEAR. SO SO GOOD. 5 STARS FROM ME.

“When a god whispers in your ear, you beg for the honor of living”.

I absolutely enjoyed this book. This is definitely more fantasy than what I am used to, but I am totally okay with that. I don’t think this book has any romance at all. M.E Royce does an excellent with the world-building and the magical system in the story. Eyolin our main FMC, who needs to figure out the direction her destiny is going to take her. However, there is a lot going on with the characters and their magical abilities in the narration you really have to pay attention. Otherwise, you will get lost in the mix of the book. Again, this book is so heavy on world-building due to the fantasy element, and I think that this story needed to devise the entire system to set up book two. There’s a bunch of action that I think is entertaining alongside the magic. This is a great book for all you fantasy lovers out there!

My mind is a flurry of thoughts after finishing this book, but I’ll try to organise them.
The fmc, Eyolin, starts off as a nobody, who just wants a simple life and is willing to try anything to make it happen. This just happens to take her to unimaginable heights. She is strong and smart despite everything and works hard to achieve her goals, every moment had me rooting for her!
Kipp is a mysterious character, bound to Eyolin through magik, though she doesn’t know that. He’s assumed to be dangerous, and proves it many times, just not to Eyolin, he has his own agenda.
Dale and Karok are both humans, seemingly mundane but truly incredible in their capabilities and loyalty.

Royce spun a tale of friendship for someone who never had friends, camaraderie and deception. And did it wonderfully. The world building is thorough and well executed, bringing to life an enchanting and intriguing world full of wonderful and dangerous creatures. The relationships between characters are beautiful and complex, with multiple layers and potential outcomes. Many times I found myself feeling a certain way about a character only for it to be revealed that they were the complete opposite!
This book perfectly sets up the narrative for the books to come, leaving me with so many questions, thoughts and theories! Will there be a love interest in the next book? If so, with who? Who won? Why did they end up there?
The Moon Tear is definitely full throttle fantasy, rather than a cute romantasy, with action, friendships and intrigue. The fmc is independent and headstrong, but learns to lean on the people around her, in order to become her best self, a nice reprieve from fmc’s who are strong until the man arrives to save them.

Beautifully done Royce.
Thank you for the EArc in exchange for my honest views and opinions.

Ok…I’ve got a lot to say about this book, but let me start with an introduction.

Eyolin is an orphan, left with no family in Alagana. In this realm, certain elves are gifted with magic, and if they do not manifest it and gain their gemstone, they loose it by their twentieth birthday. Eyolin is determined to do just that, as she tries to live out the rest of her life with what small and meager memories of her family she has left, and be free. However, with only one year left, those plans are derailed when the tyrant king of a neighboring kingdom becomes…interested with what she can do. In order to protect herself and learn to defend against this king, she is forced to access and accept her powers, and is thrust into this world of politics and magic that she so wanted to stay away from.

This is very much a high fantasy book. There are inklings of romance, but I would not say that this is a romantasy in any sense of the word, at least with this first book. If the romance develops with the next two, then possibly. This was a slow read just due to the amount of world building and heavy fantasy elements within. While I loved this aspect, it just made it more of a slower read. Hoonestly, this world seems very interesting, and the political dynamics seem to play a very important role in how each of these characters proceed with their paths. I love how fate and one’s predestiny is used and abused in this book, and I hope that continues with the next ones! I do recommend this to high fantasy readers, who prefer/don’t mind there being almost no romance element in it :)