A review by lennie_reads
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced
  • 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? No

4.5

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC. 

Full disclosure, I did listen to the audiobook from the library. 

Xingying is the titular Daughter of the Moon Goddess and the book opens with Xingying being forced to flee to moon (a place she has never left before) and make her way in the Celestial Kingdom whilst keeping her identity a secret. 

There is a LOT that happens in this book. The events could've comfortably filled more than one book but also, with some light tweaking, this could very easily have been a standalone book. 

I really liked Xingying, and whilst some things did seem a bit easy or convenient for her, she still puts in the hard work. And I also appreciated that things took time, like her studying with Prince Liwei or working on her archery. It felt a bit more 'realistic' and it also made the bond between Xingying and Liwei more meaningful (to me anyway!). 

This book is very descriptive - it tells of beautiful scenery, lush food and exquisite outfits which really set the scene and help you envisage the very vivid world that Sue Lynn Tan has created. However there is possibly a bit too much focus on outfit descriptions 😅 

From speaking to other people who have read the book, I think it's a good thing that I knew this was a love triangle from the get go because I was already anticipating romantic drama and angst. Although some plots points still came as a surprise and had me gasping out loud 😂

Despite saying that this could have been a standalone, I do have an idea of what's going to happen in book two so I'm intrigued to find what's going to happen (and if my theory is correct!). 

Also the audio narrator was fantastic. 

CW: war, injury, imprisonment, kidnapping
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