Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

43 reviews

asahome's review against another edition

3.75

To free her mother, a woman challenges societal expectations while two men fight for her love because she's the most awesomest ever.

I love learning about new cultures and mythology. It makes my little heart pitter patter. This world was rich and beautiful, full of complex structures and breathtaking imagery. I loved that she fought for everything she had both with her strength and her strength of character.

I was surprised to find I enjoyed the main character as is frequently not the case with first person narratives, especially from a female perspective. While she was arrogant/naive at times, she tried to be honorable in every way she could. I especially enjoyed the way she honed her skills and took advantage of every opportunity she could to advance herself without stepping on others. I felt for her when she was betrayed by her love. I rooted for her in battle and laughed with her as she played with her friends.

I also enjoyed her love interests. They weren't ridiculous in courting her nor overly solicitous as if she was incapable. They respected her wishes and supported her decisions. They sought her guidance and asked rather than demanded. Each relationship was allowed space to blossom and, while not liking each other, the men never got in a direct pissing match.

I cannot say which one I preferred as at times they both betrayed her and stood for her when she needed it.

Content Warnings by Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan - Book Trigger Warnings

I was disheartened when her second love was willing to sacrifice their love to enslave the dragons. I don't know how to spell the names of the characters because it was an audiobook, but I thought she could be free of her ill-fated love for the Celestial Prince and be happy with the Cloud Prince. The resolution to the dragons' problem was genius though she paid a steep price for it.

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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It’s an interesting story but the way its told isn’t: it’s too simple and repetitive in its themes, things happen too easily, and I really dislike the way the reader is given information as if the author forgot that certain things were necessary until it became too late to continue the story without that information so a random character we know little to nothing about divulges said information to the main character. No, thank you.

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Buddy read with KatiEllen'sBookishAdventure & HillsOfBooks.

I was so behind on the buddy read, with no pressure other than my own, that I decided to download the ebook for my travels. I then found the audiobook on YouTube, from Harper Collins, with a narrator with a mesmerising voice, which really helped me properly ground myself back into the story from chapter 4 and was super helpful in the pronunciation of our character names.

I loved Xingyin and all that she stood for. She did come across as very stubborn and prideful, that some may not get on with, but for me, I interpreted her pride as a strong sense of self and resilience and I feel like her competitive nature and determination to prove herself, time and time again, came from her isolation in a very tight family home up until this point.
I felt like her abundance of pride was more to do with Xingyin never having to face such critique before and has had to face a sharp humbling by going into servitude to get established in the Imortal Realm.

I struggled with the time jumps. This is something I tend to struggle with most times. It just feels cloudy to me, and I lose sense of time and place. I couldn't comprehend how many achievements had been made in such quick succession because I couldn't grapple with how much time was supposed to have passed. I think the only solid acknowledgement of it was a passing "2 years" mentioned, but other than that, I found it hard to feel grounded, was disorientated in that earlier portion after the flee, and a lot felt told rather than shown during these speed through the years. I felt like I needed a more cultivated balance of not showing us everything, but showing us enough that it made sense that a substantial amount of time has past... but also... immortals... so time is a construct.

I had so many conflicting emotions when it came to Liwei and Wenzhi. I loved them. I hated them... I think I was just team Xingyin all the way because I just felt for her through everything, but the heartbreak I felt was probably more than she had!

I enjoyed that although this was fantasy, it had a lot of militant themes too. I don't typically read lots of military fantasy, or fantasy where it's a larger portion of the story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially seeing all the different parts of the Celestial Kingdoms, who sided with who, political intrigue, etc.

Overall, this was a fantastic start to the Celestial Kingdom duology and an even better debut.

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tashtasher's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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morvvenna's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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r1vana's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

“Titles are inherited, talent might be blood-bound, but true greatness lies within.”

One of the most anticipated series of 2022/2023. The cover itself?!

Tropes:
Friends to lovers
Love triangles
Betrayal
Hero complex

Like any kind of fantasy book, the beginning was confusing. Funnily, for me, it was not the beginning that was confusing rather towards the middle to the end.

Plot? Xingyin is the daughter of a moon goddess and is being imprisoned for “illegally” becoming an immortal without the permission and blessing of the Celestial Emperor.

One day, when she realizes that her mother may be in danger because of her existence, she runs away vowing that she will free her mother from this imprisonment:

"Once you had seen the full moon, the

crescent has lost its charm"

What she didn’t expected is legit land in the Celestial Kingdom. And to become a servant in a noble household and encounter with the crown prince. Her first encounter with him was unexpected. Her talk-backs has definitely intrigued him.

Later on, she will participate in a tournament to become the Crown Prince’s companion aka in this book fall in a forbidden love.

Xingyin is a little reckless. She does stuff that will make me facepalm; like when she went saw the light and went to reach for it knowing it may cause future repercussions.

But later on, she does grow as a character and becomes more resilient. Except when it comes to “love…”

Romance…. Well it seems to be a love triangle but since I don’t like love triangle, I may be contracting this: FL has really confusing feelings for both of them and kissing the other guy while having feelings for the other, vice versa. It is hard to explain but you will know when you read it. There is a phrase that the author seems to love to use “I’ll- fated love”. At this point, it was just excuses. It made the romance really bland and also insta love-ish.

Honestly the love triangle was just ruining the magical world and the climax itself, but unfortunately it did took a part of the story for a reason…

Liwei was an interesting character at first. But the more present he is the more he is shown as bland. He didn’t stood out to me. I did like their little banters here and there.

Wenzhi on the other hand was interesting at first. But he too became boring. He had this mysterious “aura”, charisma but it all become bland when he was getting close to Xingyin. Both of them was definitely insta-love.

"I understood now that before I could embrace my future, I had to release myself from the binds of the past."

The characters are all similar. Honestly I rather read Xingyin’s parents tragic love story then this:

My father slew the suns. My mother lights the moon.

Her journey; when it comes to progressing her magic, we get up to no crumbs. We don’t get to see her growth in martial arts, her archery’s hits nor sword strengths… I think that the two love interests just ruined or rather prolonged her character development/growth…

Anyways… SPOILER ALERT!!!! 🚨 🚨🚨

I was not expecting Wenzhi to be the Crown Prince of the Demon World aka a villain. I shipped him with Xingyin so bad. And I know that in the second book, she is gonna end up with the crown prince…

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csmall73's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Full of adventure, political intrigue, challenges, and beauty. It was a great read. Can’t wait to read the 2nd book. I’m dying to know which way the love triangle ends up.

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moonrisxng's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

4.5

romantic fantasy and adventure that was a dream to read.

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chrisljm's review

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adventurous fast-paced

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

2.0

Another book that didn’t live up to the hype. The writing is flowery and pretty, but that’s it. The plot and characters lack depth and it felt like 400+ pages of just trying to fit every plot point the author had planned.

The characters were so boring. Xingyin the female main character, is two-dimensional and lacks growth, but the worst thing to be done to her character was to end up having her centered around her love interests. The romance was definitely the worst thing about the book, and I could not have cared less. The characters had no chemistry, the two male leads had no personality, and the development in their relationships came off even worse because the pacing in the story was poorly done.

This book had me apathetic at best. The romance? Didn’t care. Xingyin only likes these boys because they’re there and the male leads. The plot? Also didn’t care. It’s hard to feel bad for any of her issues when there is no emotional impact in the writing, and so much telling and no showing.

This book just lacked in so much: personality, depth, climax, tension. The only thing it has going for it is pretty words but at the end of the day, who cares.

And you know what. You know how ridiculous it felt, reading about how hurt Xingyin was that Lingwei chose another woman, only for her to tell Wenzhi she wants to leave the army with him and be with him in the next fucking line. And then for Lingwei to come back in the next scene and have her be depressed over him again. Girl stfu.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

The worldbuilding unfolds slowly, with early mentions of the various kingdoms supplemented later on by more detailed descriptions once Xingyin actually travels there. The descriptions are evocative but not overwhelming, tending to focus more on her thoughts about what she observes. There’s a strong focus on Xingyin’s internal life, as her relationships get more complicated but she’s still keeping her parentage a secret. She’s the daughter of the moon goddess, having grown up in secret since her mother was exiled to the moon after claiming the immortality meant for her husband, Xingyin’s father.

I like the first third and I love the second half, in between those sections the pacing gets a little weird though it’s still pretty good. Mid-book events which in some other story might be a training montage instead are collapsed into a very brief mention as several years are skipped at once. Xingyin ends up in the Celestial palace, surrounded by people who despise her for her class and who would detest her if they knew who her mother really was. After spending several years as the prince’s companion, she tries to make her own way by excelling at arms, becoming a formidable archer. Her goal is to earn a favor from the emperor in order to request her mother’s freedom.

Once place where this excels is in relationships, specifically the way that Xingyin’s relationships with Prince Liwei and Captain Wenzhi change over time. It is a love triangle, but one which at each stage feels like there are good reasons for the choices Xingyin is making. She proceeds as well as she can while figuring out who she wants, if anyone. I love the ending, it pulls things together in a fantastic way and lays the ground for what the sequel might cover while still letting this first book feel complete.

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