A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.
I was granted eARC access to Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan via NetGalley by the HarperCollins Canada influencer team and the latest #FrenzyPresents catalogue preview event. Thank you to the team at HCC for this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
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About the Book
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
The Celestial Kingdom Duology Book One
by Sue Lynn Tan
Publishing 11 January 2022
Harper Voyager
Genre: YA Fantasy, Asian Fiction
Page Count: 512
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.
Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.
Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.
To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting, romantic duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.
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My Review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess was one of the titles presented in the latest FrenzyPresents preview that I was most excited about. I’ve read a lot of Asian-inspired fantasy lately and I enjoy it, so this seemed like the perfect next book to pick up. I was so glad to see the widget land in my inbox and only slightly intimidated by how little time I had left to get this 512 page book read and reviewed by publication day.
Sue Lynn Tan is definitely a legendary wordsmith in the making. The prose in this book is exquisitely beautiful, the dialogue flows well, the characters are interesting and multilayered, and it’s easy to understand how this version of the world works. If you like YA Fantasy and/or Asian-inspired stories, and you like beautiful writing, you need to give this book a chance!
The reason this one didn’t flat-out impress me is because the main characters embark on countless little quests that muddy the plot and feel quite repetitive after a while. The broad strokes of the plot are fascinating and easy to track, but all of the side quests made this feel more like watching a completionist play an open-world RPG than reading a polished novel. It’s great, it just has too many samey pieces that pull interest.
Sue Lynn Tan is now firmly on my radar and I look forward to seeing how this duology concludes.
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