Scan barcode
A review by writteninmagic
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
2.0
Based on the synopsis, I was expecting the story to be more based on Chinese mythology, but it was more so the author's own spin on a few characters. There were a few things I liked, like the different places in the Immortal Realm and the creatures. I only wished there were more scenes showing more creatures and battles (the other campaigns Xingyin goes on and the monsters she defeats are only briefly mentioned).
What would've been interesting to read was instead glossed over (like the other campaigns Xingyin goes on) and there were several time skips sprinkled in; it made it hard to keep track of how long Xingyin has actually spent in the Celestial Realm. Several years pass by in the story and yet the way the story is told through Xingyin's POV doesn't change at all. She talks about how she feels, but her feelings aren't really described. When she's feeling anything, it's just stated outright. The sentences are overly dragged out, and the descriptions are repetitive that I had to take a lot of breaks while reading them. At first, I liked reading the descriptions of the characters' clothes, but they annoyed me later because the clothes were described every time she saw someone. The tone also seems stiff and written in a way that attempts to be regal and proper, but really only makes it seem unrealistic. It's what made reading the story feel so slow for me.
In the beginning, I liked that there were scenes where Xingyin had to gradually learn to call up her powers and it showed she constantly tried to work on her archery and fighting skills. It did get mentioned occasionally, but having scenes of her training with the Celestial army before the first battle (Xiangliu) would've better shown Xingyin's determination and growth as a warrior. I disliked the part where she says, "All these other soldiers took months and years to master the training cave, but it only took me weeks." The battle with Xiangliu was unnecessarily dramatic. It's explained that the Celestial army has already fought it before, but Wenzhi is the only soldier who has a shield for the battle...? The archers not having shields makes sense, but it doesn't make sense for the rest of the soldiers to not carry any. In the battle, Xiangliu attacks the other archer in the group with two of its nine heads, but when it paralyzes Xingyin it somehow can't even attack her when she dropped her bow??? By coincidence, Xingyin also gets this legendary bow on her first campaign. It felt so random and rushed. Then there's the fight where she's poisoned by scorpion venom but is still somehow able to fight off the enemy with her dwindling magic. Nearly every time it's stated she's running low on energy, but she somehow always has just enough to fend off whatever comes her way.
I couldn't really like any of the characters. Xingyin was too prideful and nearly always quick to yell out in anger. She disliked some of the other female characters (Princess Fengmei, Anmei) just because they were "beautiful" and weren't warriors like her. Being "plain," Xingyin was insecure about her looks a lot. There's also the Celestial Empress who hates Hualing because of the Celestial Emperor, but who does she punish? Not the Emperor.
I didn't care for the romance, either. It felt too forced and there were too many parts where Xingyin goes back and forth between the two guys. The twist in the third half was obvious and it seemed like an instance just to make one appear better than the other.
What would've been interesting to read was instead glossed over (like the other campaigns Xingyin goes on) and there were several time skips sprinkled in; it made it hard to keep track of how long Xingyin has actually spent in the Celestial Realm. Several years pass by in the story and yet the way the story is told through Xingyin's POV doesn't change at all. She talks about how she feels, but her feelings aren't really described. When she's feeling anything, it's just stated outright. The sentences are overly dragged out, and the descriptions are repetitive that I had to take a lot of breaks while reading them. At first, I liked reading the descriptions of the characters' clothes, but they annoyed me later because the clothes were described every time she saw someone. The tone also seems stiff and written in a way that attempts to be regal and proper, but really only makes it seem unrealistic. It's what made reading the story feel so slow for me.
In the beginning, I liked that there were scenes where Xingyin had to gradually learn to call up her powers and it showed she constantly tried to work on her archery and fighting skills. It did get mentioned occasionally, but having scenes of her training with the Celestial army before the first battle (Xiangliu) would've better shown Xingyin's determination and growth as a warrior. I disliked the part where she says, "All these other soldiers took months and years to master the training cave, but it only took me weeks." The battle with Xiangliu was unnecessarily dramatic. It's explained that the Celestial army has already fought it before, but Wenzhi is the only soldier who has a shield for the battle...? The archers not having shields makes sense, but it doesn't make sense for the rest of the soldiers to not carry any. In the battle, Xiangliu attacks the other archer in the group with two of its nine heads, but when it paralyzes Xingyin it somehow can't even attack her when she dropped her bow??? By coincidence, Xingyin also gets this legendary bow on her first campaign. It felt so random and rushed. Then there's the fight where she's poisoned by scorpion venom but is still somehow able to fight off the enemy with her dwindling magic. Nearly every time it's stated she's running low on energy, but she somehow always has just enough to fend off whatever comes her way.
I couldn't really like any of the characters. Xingyin was too prideful and nearly always quick to yell out in anger. She disliked some of the other female characters (Princess Fengmei, Anmei) just because they were "beautiful" and weren't warriors like her. Being "plain," Xingyin was insecure about her looks a lot. There's also the Celestial Empress who hates Hualing because of the Celestial Emperor, but who does she punish? Not the Emperor.
I didn't care for the romance, either. It felt too forced and there were too many parts where Xingyin goes back and forth between the two guys. The twist in the third half was obvious and it seemed like an instance just to make one appear better than the other.