Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Tales of the Celestial Kingdom

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Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan

9 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Rating: 5/5 stars

A short story collection, including prequels, deleted scenes, and the epilogue to the CELESTIAL KINGDOM duology.

It’s a running joke among my friends that I am obsessed with bonus content of all kinds—if there is an extra, an extended scene, or a novella associated with a book or series I’ve read, I must have it. Occasionally, this trait leads to me finding true gems, and friends THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES.

I absolutely LOVED this collection, which I humbly beg you to read if you enjoyed the duology. The final three stories in particular were incredible, and I’m so glad the full-length books exist purely so we could get the absolute WORKS OF ART that those three stories constitute. I devoured them and will never stop thinking about them—genuinely, they elevated what was already an enjoyable duology into what is now one of my favorite series and worlds.

CW: Death/violence; some grief

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hello_lovely13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This made my heart happy. I was quite disappointed with the second book in the duology, so I was happy to revisit the characters I cared about so much in this collection (and I enjoyed this much more, though you definitely need to finish the series to fully get the most out of this book). The strongest voices were definitely from the first section with the retelling of the legends of Houyi and Chang'e. However, apart from the first stories of both Wenzhi and Liwei, the other stories' narrative voices were nearly as strong. The stories from Wenzhi and Liwei that were set during the first book just seemed to read a bit more YA and juvenile than their other stories. I understand that they were younger and encountered a good amount of character growth in between the two, but the style itself didn't haven't read with as much of a jump in age as it did (the narrative voice is much stronger in the respective second stories; I did prefer Wenzhi's first story to Liwei's as Liwei's felt a bit too short). I really liked that we got a story from the perspective of Shuxiao. She was always such a badass and we never got enough of her. Also, the event that this story centers around was a pretty big deal, and I was surprised it was glossed over in the second book the way that it was. I was not disappointed, though having read the second book definitely influences the reader because we know what direction the story is going to go after it ends (

the fact that the demon general and Shuxiao get together was not quite subtle during this story, and sometimes felt a bit rushed

). The main reason I wanted to read this was to see Xingyin and Wenzhi finally be happy together, and I am so satisfied with the result. It was left a bit too vague (though hopeful) at the end of the second book, so I'm glad that I got to see the resolution (I will admit that I want even more of them, but this time I feel like their story is more complete and I can be satisfied with it ending). Anyone that has read the series should definitely read this. I will definitely be thinking of how much it adds to the series and be wanting to reread it. This has definitely rose my ranking of this series back up (I loved the first book, was disappointed by the second, and enjoyed this one).

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amyreh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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aims122's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Honestly loved it, it was such a fun collection of stories so if you loved Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior. This collections a really fun way to look deeper into the stories from that world and learn more about different characters. As well as get a bit more of an epilogue and I'm not gonna lie, I've listened to the stories more then once.

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pizzamyheart's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

2 Stars and that's being generous.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess was beautiful. Heart of the Sun Warrior infuriating. Tales of the Celestial Kingdom.... brings nothing to the table. The first 1/3 follows the story of Houyi and Chang'e from their perspectives in the battle against the Firebirds. I wish this had been a full book instead. It felt like it was added here to make the page count. The middle part of the book are bonus tales/side stories during Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior. The one chapter with Whenzi and the Bone Collector character was ok but not enough for the full book. The final two stories with conclusions for Liwei and Whenzi were the only ones of interest and help close the wound from Heart of the Sun Warrior.

Overall a dud and such a shame, because it could have been much more.

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shadymist's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Sue Lynn Tan has wrote another fantastic trilogy. Her passion for her stories is all in the pages themselves. You envision it like you are there with the characters. Xingyin is a fierce and bold young lady who goes above and beyond for her loved ones and for the Celestial army. This book is the perspectives from all the well known and beloved characters from the book "Daughter of the moon goddess and heart of the sun warrior. " Focusing primarily on Chinese mythology. The trilogy is worth a read. You won't be disappointed!

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Tales of the Celestial Kingdom follows the story of Chang’e and Houyi before they are separated, stories with Xingyin both with Liwei and Wenzhi, as well as Shuxiao.

Shuxiao’s story was the most interesting one because it felt like a new aspect to the world and overall story. The others seemed repetitive to me. Both Liwei and Wenzhi’s stories didn’t seem to add anything to their backstories or relationships with Xingyin and a lot of the writing felt like it was saying the same thing over and over just in slightly different ways.

I also unfortunately noticed the author’s favor of starting sentences with “For”. Once I noticed this I couldn’t stop and it pulled me out of the story every time.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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daniellekat's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

A cute collection for readers to return to this world. Tan is a talented writer, but her characters lack depth. While I enjoyed this, there was nothing new or memorable about reading these stories in the voice of other characters. I especially liked Shuxiao's chapter but otherwise this was fine. Very happily ever after (which is not a bad thing, I just wish Tan gave us more).

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nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is such a lovely companion to the Celestial Kingdom duology. In it, we get to see glimpses of Chang'e and Houyi's life before Xingyin is born as well as some side stories that take place during the events of Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior. The collection concludes with short stories that serve as a sort of epilogue to the events of the duology, which were swoon-worthy and an absolute balm to my romantic heart.

Chang'e and Houyi's stories are more directly interpretations of Chinese mythology, which Tan crafts here into a fitting prologue to the events of her books.

I should note that if you have not read the Celestial Kingdom duology, the stories told from the perspectives of Liwei, Wenzhi, Shuxiao, and Xingyin won't make a ton of sense. If you HAVE read the duology, though, these stories add some depth to familiar characters, and it was a delight to revisit them.

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