Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Daughter of the Moon Goddess: A Novel by Sue Lynn Tan

3 reviews

k_fry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be “lush”. Tan does an amazing job of bringing the glittering richness of the immortal realm to life without bogging down the story with extraneous description. 

There were a couple of predictable plot points and character types, which I think is because it followed a similar tale to any major YA fantasy produced recently, but overall was done so well I didn’t mind. Even though some things have been done before, it felt fresh in this book because so much else was uniquely done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Body shaming, Classism, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

ong's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

Reading this feels like reading poetry. How Sue Lynn Tan describes everything is just 100/10 spectacular beautiful amazing stunning. As one of chinese descent, it’s nice to finally read a fantasy book with familiar lores. From the tales to the food, the dresses and action scenes which I can easily picture in my head from years of watching asian dramas, my heart was filled with warmth the entire time.
Now onto the characters. Xingyin. Our 小星。At first so untouched by the realities of the cruel world out there, now a warrior, survivor, savior and more. Very in theme too that she was never shown what healthy love & relationships looks like so when she was thrown in a ‘love triangle’ she couldn’t made up her mind ever and felt unworthy.
Liwei. What can I say. 10/10 best of all of us.
Fuck people in power by the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Classism, War, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.75

This book is a very fun and emotional adventure. My biggest gripe with the book is that the protagonist has the most abundant plot armor around, even in situations that should be seriously harming toward her. Minor quibble I guess for essentially a chosen one type fantasy action adventure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Vomit

There is violence throughout this story but the characters are immortals so that can undercut some of the tension a tiny bit. The author specifically has to write in that something is limiting their natural resilience but then there are healing magics to help characters recover. It leads to more emotional tension when paired with the action. I quite liked this novel and will read the follow up. That said the protagonist’s plot armor is abundant and strong. If that bothers you perhaps stay away. It’s a fun mythological adventure otherwise