So many books have characters remark “it was well past moonrise”, or something else equally ridiculous, to show the passage of time at night. The moon cycle is a month long (~27 days), not some paltry 24 hours. If you know any authors please spread the word. Together we can stamp out this astronomical disillusionment!
[EDIT]
A smarter than me commenter below pointed out that, due to the way days work, it does indeed rise and set once a day. Hard to do a complete rotation and keep a celestial body in the sky. Womp womp, I am silly.
I should have instead argued that moon rise and set are not linked to sun rise and set, and that the moon doesn’t exclusively rise and set at night. It is possible to have the moon out during the day time. They are on different schedules is all.
Reality often takes a backseat to narrative in books/movies/games/etc. If you want to “well akshuly” your way though a book, you’re likely to find a lot of details the author got wrong. At the same time, those failed details may provide useful ways for the author to move the story or scene along. “Moonrise” is one of those areas where, if you polled most people, the majority would probably get it wrong. But it’s a useful trope in stories where clocks and precise timekeeping aren’t a thing and where lunar accuracy is also not important. A character saying “it’s well past moonrise” will convey to many readers the idea that it’s pretty late in the night. Could it be done another way? Sure, but the trope gets the job done and not one really cares about the inaccuracy.