Daughter of the Moon Goddess Review

Hi everyone! Taking a break from all the end of year/beginning of year content to bring you my review for Daughter of the Moon Goddess, which is a debut novel by Sue Lynn Tan coming out on January 11th, and I highly suggest adding this one to your TBR if it isn’t there already!

Daughter of the Moon Goddess
by Sue Lynn Tan
Series: The Celestial Kingdom Duology #1
Release date: January 11th 2021

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆ .5

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.

This story is inspired by the Chinese legend of the Moon Goddess Chang’e focusing on her daughter Xingyin who wants nothing more than to earn her mother’s freedom and be reunited again. At it’s core, this is a story of the love between a mother and a daughter and how far they are willing to go to protect the ones they love.

I absolutely loved the characters, especially Xingyin. She’s such a great character and her character growth was fantastic to read about. I love how determined she is, and she never loses sight of what she wants most. I loved the relationships she formed with Liwei and Wenzhi, she was incredibly mature and didn’t let herself get distracted by the two of them and how often they butt heads, often about her without her really knowing that they were fighting over her.

Liwei and Wenzhi on their own are both interesting characters as well, I loved how they supported her and wanted what was best for her, and the plot developments with Wenzhi I didn’t see coming at all, and I felt so bad for Xingyin! I’m very excited to see where that particular storyline goes in the second book, because there is a lot that can be explored there!

As for the world building, it was absolutely stunning! It was so easy to visualize everything, and part of that comes down to how beautiful the writing is. It’s both lyrical without being too in your face, making the pages just fly by. I loved seeing the people and cultures represented in this world, and it was all so vivid. I loved the magic as well, travel via clouds was so interesting and I of course loved that there were dragons involved!

The only downside is that I feel like there was a LOT covered in this book for it to be only a duology, so I’m definitely interested in seeing how well all these plot points wrap up in the second (and final) book. The middle of the book also was a little slower than the rest of the book, and while it wasn’t boring, I think it maybe could’ve been shortened a bit in that area.

Overall though still a fantastic read, very action packed and absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait for my physical copy to come in!

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Will you be reading Daughter of the Moon Goddess? It’s definitely worth the read!