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sketchydelusion's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Gore
Minor: Death of parent and Infidelity
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Thanks to Harper Voyager for the free advance copy of this book.
- It's hard to review the second book in a duology, so let me just say if you haven't read the first book, DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS, yet, go get it now! These books are so beautiful and engrossing. Despite their length, you will fly through them.
- HEART OF THE SUN WARRIOR is chock full of action, but the emotional relationships also shine. Both family and romantic relationships are given care and weight.
- I won't give anything away, but know that this is a satisfying conclusion to an incredible duology.
- It's hard to review the second book in a duology, so let me just say if you haven't read the first book, DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS, yet, go get it now! These books are so beautiful and engrossing. Despite their length, you will fly through them.
- HEART OF THE SUN WARRIOR is chock full of action, but the emotional relationships also shine. Both family and romantic relationships are given care and weight.
- I won't give anything away, but know that this is a satisfying conclusion to an incredible duology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
ezwolf's review
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Grief
Minor: Infidelity and Death of parent
leahharlann's review
adventurous
emotional
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
This reviewer received a digital ARC from Netgalley.
I loved the first book (Daughter of the Moon Goddess) and was thrilled to be able to read Heart of the Sun Warrior before official release! The sequel has just as many fantastical adventures as the first, with Xingyin traveling across the immortal realm to stop a new evil that threatens her loved ones. As someone who's enjoyed a few Chinese wuxia and xianxia dramas in my day, this story sits with the best of them. There's interpersonal drama, a despicable villain with a power that threatens even immortals, choosing between duty and love, making the honorable choices, and the raw honesty of the toll being a hero can take.
The early events of the book that set up the eventual plot that drives the majority of the book felt a little disjointed in pacing, but as someone who enjoys CDramas it fell within the kind of storytelling I've seen before so it didn't feel that out of place to me. Tan continually references and connects back to the first book, weaving the two together to make it feel like one long and continuous story where the characters grow even further.
Regarding the romance: I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with the love triangle in DotMG. It felt like Wenzhi was introduced just as a tool to hurt Xingyin before being discarded, with Liwei as the de facto endgame despite the glaring issues.So when Tan brought back Wenzhi with INCREDIBLE character growth and put him on even footing with Liwei for real this time, I was thrilled. I cried when he died. I cried when his rebirth was revealed. I cried a lot. His redemption arc is right up there with Prince Zuko from ATLA for me. Tan did an excellent job presenting doubts and conflicts to Xingyin's relationships; not just trials to overcome, but very real differences in values and responsibilities that make you question if love really is enough to overcome everything. I normally dislike love triangles, but I give HotSW the award of 'Only Love Triangle I Will Ever Recommend' even though it generally ran alongside the main plot instead of being part of it.
I loved the first book (Daughter of the Moon Goddess) and was thrilled to be able to read Heart of the Sun Warrior before official release! The sequel has just as many fantastical adventures as the first, with Xingyin traveling across the immortal realm to stop a new evil that threatens her loved ones. As someone who's enjoyed a few Chinese wuxia and xianxia dramas in my day, this story sits with the best of them. There's interpersonal drama, a despicable villain with a power that threatens even immortals, choosing between duty and love, making the honorable choices, and the raw honesty of the toll being a hero can take.
The early events of the book that set up the eventual plot that drives the majority of the book felt a little disjointed in pacing, but as someone who enjoys CDramas it fell within the kind of storytelling I've seen before so it didn't feel that out of place to me. Tan continually references and connects back to the first book, weaving the two together to make it feel like one long and continuous story where the characters grow even further.
Regarding the romance: I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with the love triangle in DotMG. It felt like Wenzhi was introduced just as a tool to hurt Xingyin before being discarded, with Liwei as the de facto endgame despite the glaring issues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Murder, and War
readwithria's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
Heart of the Sun Warrior was a beautiful, gut-wrenching conclusion to this enchanting duology. It made my heart sing, only to split it in two and heal it over.
This book was not perfect, but it captured the essence of war, betrayal, and love so incredibly well. I did find the first half to be a bit slow and easy to put down, but as the plot picked up I noticed everything that had been laid down in the groundwork of the book coming back and playing its part in the conclusion. The stakes were real, this was a war story and war has its casualties, but the losses were surrounded by an incredibly well written story of grief, forgiveness, vengeance, and love strong enough to defy the odds.
I was more than a little surprised that I didn’t hate the love triangle. I often find that love triangles feel contrived and unnecessary, but Xingyin’s feelings for both Liwei and Wenzhi are so real and complex that I could feel as her love shifted between betrayal, deep love, friendship, and all the stages in between. Love was a theme explored throughout the book, not only romantic love but also familial and platonic love. Having this balance helped to keep the love triangle from overwhelming the book.
Sue Lynn Tan’s writing was just as beautiful in this book as in her debut, the story even more tightly woven, and the characters increasing in complexity. I will definitely be buying myself a physical copy of this book when it is released. 5 beautifully imperfect stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
This book was not perfect, but it captured the essence of war, betrayal, and love so incredibly well. I did find the first half to be a bit slow and easy to put down, but as the plot picked up I noticed everything that had been laid down in the groundwork of the book coming back and playing its part in the conclusion. The stakes were real, this was a war story and war has its casualties, but the losses were surrounded by an incredibly well written story of grief, forgiveness, vengeance, and love strong enough to defy the odds.
I was more than a little surprised that I didn’t hate the love triangle. I often find that love triangles feel contrived and unnecessary, but Xingyin’s feelings for both Liwei and Wenzhi are so real and complex that I could feel as her love shifted between betrayal, deep love, friendship, and all the stages in between. Love was a theme explored throughout the book, not only romantic love but also familial and platonic love. Having this balance helped to keep the love triangle from overwhelming the book.
Sue Lynn Tan’s writing was just as beautiful in this book as in her debut, the story even more tightly woven, and the characters increasing in complexity. I will definitely be buying myself a physical copy of this book when it is released. 5 beautifully imperfect stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War
Minor: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury
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