Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Heart of the Sun Warrior

This book was so much more emotional than the first. It felt faster, probably due to it's shorter time frame than the plot of the first book, stretching years. And it actually made me cry, like actual tears wear shed during the last 100 pages. This was not where I thought the romantic plot would go, but I am not upset about it. The ending, filled with grief and pain, was amazing, but I do feel slightly unsatisfied with how it finished. I know there may be another book coming, so hopefully, what I would've liked from this ending is there. Xingyin continues to be my favourite protagonist ever, I honestly love her, and I highly doubt I will respect and love another character as much as her.

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clairew97's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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emolr's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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marleywrites's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

So. Much. Angst. My heart fractured so many times while reading this book. Every time Xingyin’s heart broke, mine did too. I felt her grief deep in my soul.

This book made me want to sing and cry at the same time.

The Wenzhi redemption arc- phew! I was rooting for him from the start!

I was feeling every emotional high and low like it was my own emotions at stake.

This story is now a forever favorite. The character arcs. The thrilling plot. The symbolism. The fantastic prose.

If Sue Lynn Tan writes it, I’m gonna read it.

Liwei working so hard to save Wenzhi for Xingyin… that’s love. I’m so proud of him for setting aside that pain he felt for her. And that Wenzhi and Xingyin will get another chance…. Yes, I cried. A lot.

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sketchydelusion's review against another edition

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adventurous sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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lastblossom's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective

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

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an advance copy.

tl;dr
Equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful, a strong follow-up to the previous book. Romantic endgame might be divisive.

About
After winning the Celestial Emperor's pardon (although not his favor), Xingyin thought she'd be returning to her quiet life on the moon with her mother. But political turmoil rages in the Celestial Kingdom, churned on by her previous actions. With her home on the moon threatened by old enemies and new magic, Xingyin must once again take up her bow and fight for the ones she loves. And maybe even the ones she thought she gave up loving.

Thoughts
The first book of this series was largely an adventure punctuated with romance. This one is definitely a romance punctuated with adventure. Xingyin is already an accomplished fighter, and so we see very little by way of her development in that area, with more time spent on her growing emotionally and learning how to process different kinds of grief. There's a lot more at stake here, with several deaths, and the loss of potential lives lived, with no one coming out entirely faultless in the process. The moral depth and complexity definitely outshines the first book in this space. The romantic triangle from the first book takes front and center here, with Wenzhi, Liwei, and eventually Xingyin all being way more honest about their feelings than the first go-around. There's a clear endgame this time around, and your enjoyment will probably hang entirely on who you cheered for in the first book. Action scenes move quickly, with fewer "epic" set pieces and more subdued fights (on average). There's also more time spent on Chinese lore, which I really enjoyed. Overall, I feel like it's a really good conclusion to the previous book, and it ties up all the loose ends really well.

Also, I am aware there wasn't really time for it, but I am devastated that

the entire enemies-to-lovers romance between Shuxiao and Menqi

happened off screen. I would have loved to see that develop.

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ezwolf's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

I really loved Daughter of the Moon Goddess and I was so excited to be able to read its sequel!

Two things from DOTMG carry over in that I still really disliked the love triangle plot and didn't expect the ending that we got (which over all I was actually really pleased with given the dislike of love triangles). I'm going to start with the negatives like I did for the first book. The first is that I also still really with the story had focused more on Xingyin and her family rather than her being torn between her feelings for Wenzhi and Liwei. But on that same note, even though Xingyin has spent two books trying to protect her mother and doing so much for her mother's sake, I just feel like her mother was very flat in personality and character.

(SPOILER...sort of?)
There was also an excessive amount of character deaths, it almost felt like the author was trying to make up for the lack of them in the first book by killing off quite literally everyone.

I know those were a lot of negatives but I still enjoyed this book. Shuxiao and Xingyin's friendship was wonderful and I'm glad we got a bit more of it this time around. There was also so many female characters who were seen as strong and capable leaders and they weren't seen as less for their gender which I really appreciated (the same for Shuxiao and Xingyin being in the military). I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the ending! It wasn't a straightforward, tied neatly with a bow kind of ending and while that's usually what I prefer, in this case I'm glad it didn't end that way.

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

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