Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Ratings208
Average rating3.9
This is a very YA book, for decent and for worse.
The world and descriptions of locales and some people are great, I really would've loved to see more. I also liked the magic and, of course, always love me some dragons.
The plot feels rushed and a little too easily resolved, but intriguing all the same. I don't like how easy it was to resolve a lot of long-standing worldbuilding issues (dragon pearls, really?!). Like, I expect a little Mary Sue-ness in a YA novel, that's fine, but it was too easy for the MC. And there is ittle to no character growth, especially for the MC.
I really didn't care for any of the main characters (Shuxiao is a real one, though. I want more of her, please). The sorta-kinda rebound love “triangle” almost made me DNF (specifically the West Lake Inn and godawful shared room, one bed trope 🤮—that thankfully didn't follow through).
I'll read the sequel for the worldbuilding, but I'm not rushing into it.
Yeah, this is firmly YA, no matter what it says. The story beats, the tropes, the freaking love triangle... but also firmly 3 stars.
Since the first time I saw the announcement of this book and later it's stunning covers, I not only knew that I would read it, I had a very strong feeling that it would become a favorite. And I can now happily confirm that I was right. This is indeed an unforgettable favorite of mine from now.
While I love my YA and adult epic fantasies, mythological retellings as a subgenre will always have a special place in my heart because myths and legends are what I grew up on and how I developed my interest in reading. I also remember reading up on the story of Houyi and Chang'e after finishing another retelling, Burning Roses - so I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this novel. And the author doesn't disappoint here. She has a flair for beautiful descriptions and even myself, who is not a fan of overly descriptive stuff, was immediately enchanted by the stunning palaces, serene pavilions, the delicious foods and delicate flowers. The author creates the perfect atmosphere for the Celestial Kingdom and I found myself lost in it. The writing is lyrical and poetic when it has to be, but also heart wrenching and emotional and violent when necessary. The pacing throughout the book varies, but matches the tone of the part being narrated, with everything culminating in an intense showdown.
And this gorgeous prose is perfectly complemented by wonderful characters. Xingyin starts off as a happy but naive girl content with her isolated existence until her idyllic life is shattered by some age old truths about her mother. But the arc that the author creates for her is just spectacular. She is devoted to her mother and determined to secure her freedom, and this gives her the conviction to pursue any opportunity available to come closer to her goal. She is also clever, resourceful, honorable and a very genuine person, easily making friends and impressing many others with her candidness. She doesn't shy away from dangerous assignments, is fearful for her survival but not a coward to give up, and also too loving to punish the ones who betray her trust. I'm just completely in love with her.
Liwei is in someways the typical YA hero I expect in this kind of stories - born in a position of extreme privilege but not seduced by it's power, a kind hearted person who can't make himself to become the kind of ruthless ruler his parents expect him to become, one who values friendship borne out of the bonds of his status. But this doesn't make him any less lovable - the reason why we encounter many guys like this in fiction is because we like them, we want to believe that compassion will triumph over brutality.
The friendship between Xingyan and Liwei is easy like a soft breeze, both finding something in each other, gladly enjoying their companionship while also furthering their education and training. And of course their developing romance across distinctly opposing classes is so full of deep yearning and angst that there were moments I wanted to just cry.
There are also many important side characters, some a bit fleeting and others with more important moments but nonetheless they are all memorable. The Celestial Emperor and his cunningness, the Empress and her unbridled rage, the open hearted Shuxiao who is a great friend to Xingyan, the very popular and powerful warrior Wenzhi, and the dependable General Jianyun - the author creates a plethora of distinct characters with their own backstories and motivations and it's a joy to get to know them all.
In the end, this was everything I could ask for in a YA fantasy novel - a coming of age story, a strong female protagonist who suffers but perseveres, male protagonist(s) who will charm you with their earnestness and passion, love full of yearning as well as tenderness, some excellent action sequences as well as emotionally powerful moments, maybe some magnificent creatures - and all of this with the backdrop of a daughter's devotion towards her mother. It's a beautifully written story and now I will have sky high profile expectations for its sequel.
This story is fairly solid. The plot is interesting, and I liked the fresh take on an old legend. The romance is pretty stereotypical for a ya novel, nothing exciting. My biggest complaints are that there is an unecessary amount of repetition in some observations, and that the writing is pretty simplistic. Nothing in the prose was noteworthy. Very tell over show.
Devoured in a day. Absolutely dreamy setting and beautiful characters. I fear Xingyin may be part vampire with the number of times she “tasted blood,” however.
I loved so many aspects of this novel! The prose is fairytale-like, the story itself intoxicating, and the fmc is messy but usually very lovable. The romance in Daughter Of The Moon Goddess is a little contrived and parts of the novel are a bit slow, but this was definitely worth the read.
Sendirian dan ketakutan, Xingyin-putri Dewi Bulan-terpaksa kabur dari rumah karena keberadaannya tidak boleh diketahui, terutama oleh Kaisar dan Permaisuri kayangan yang teramat membenci orang tuanya. Namun, tepat di Kerajaan Kayangan-lah Xingyin terdampar dan menyembunyikan jati dirinya, hingga akhirnya menjadi teman belajar sang Putra Mahkota, Liwei.
Berada di tengah-tengah musuh, Xingyin hanya ingin bertahan hidup. Menguak kekuatannya sendiri sebagai pemanah hebat, Xingyin terjun dalam misi-misi penyelamatan dunia yang mengancam nyawa, didampingi kapten Pasukan Kayangan yang terkenal, Wenzhi. Semua itu demi mendapatkan karunia dari Kaisar agar ibunya bisa dibebaskan dari hukuman kurungan kekal di Bulan.
Entah kenapa polaku hampir selalu sama, FOMO pada seri hype namun tidak memenuhi ekspektasiku. Dimulai dari cinta-segitiga, tokoh utama wanita yang plin-plan, pun diikuti oleh tokoh love-interest yang agak red flag buatku.
Aku membaca ulasan goodreads buku keduanya lebih baik. Jadi aku masih akan memberi kesempatan untuk membaca sekuel seri ini.
This is a retelling of the Mid-Autumn Legend, the tale of Chang'e and Houyi.
At first glance, this book seems like everything I would love. The writing is beautiful and lyrical. The world is impeccably lush, it feels somewhat nostalgic to a Chinese person like me, the culture showing through every little thing mentioned subtly. The sceneries, places, clothing, accessories, and food are vividly described, providing very pleasant imageries to the mind. Most importantly, the cover is stunning and the reason why I picked this up to begin with.
Little did I know it'd be the only reason to go on.
The plot starts off with a bang. Right from the first chapter, Xingyin is forced to leave the tranquility of her home and lands in the middle of enemy territory… and that's where it lags endlessly. There isn't a clear direction beyond that point on how Xingyin would find her way home, except a very vague "I need to get better so I can return". What happens instead is Xingyin spends years becoming Prince Liwei's study partner, joins the army because she gets her heart broken, and it's only at the last 30% that she returns to the path of saving her mother.
If that was the only problem, it would've been so much easier to like this book. Sadly, it has a lot of other issues that makes it impossible. First off, Xingyin is a complete Mary Sue. Extremely prideful, brash, and arrogant with a single braincell about to flicker out. Most of the time her arrogance is baseless because she's just running her mouth without the skills to back it up, but she's such a Mary Sue she ends up impressing everyone anyway. Her personal growth is always either skipped or nonexistent. She's just so good at everything, impressing everyone and accomplishing impossible feats easily. She can fight completely fine even when gravely injured or poisoned. Gives off massive unlike-other-girls special snowflake vibes.
Next, the girl-on-girl hate is pretty strong. A lot of female characters hate Xingyin on sight, and she's not exactly nice to them either. Can we leave this kind of thing back in the 2010s PLEASE. It doesn't make the main character look any better.
The romance is terrible. There are time skips that leaves out crucial relationship development, both for Liwei and Wenzhi. Years pass by just like that, and they instantly jump from being good friends to love declarations. No build-up, no chemistry, nothing. It's a lot of telling instead of showing. Despite the beautiful writing, it really feels like beauty with barely any substance. It remains flat throughout and delivers no emotion during crucial scenes and even during the climax.
Memories of our time together flashed before my mind: our years of friendship, our few stolen days of love.
WHERE? You mean the years that got conveniently skipped?
After the Eastern Sea, Wenzhi and I went from one campaign to the next, at times not returning to the Celestial Kingdom for months at a stretch. We fought terrifying monsters, ravenous beasts, and—most recently—the fearsome spirits that plagued the eastern border, close to the forests of the Phoenix Kingdom.
Great. Even more time skip and telling instead of showing.
Xingyin is later tasked to retrieve pearls from the legendary Four Dragons, and being a Mary Sue, she accomplishes this seemingly daunting task in the span of ONE chapter. Two if you count the journey and not the actual battle. Maybe if the book gave more space for the battles instead of the romance and endless descriptions of clothes, this would've been a more engaging read.
Alas, not even delicious romantic angst and endless pining could save this story for me. At first I considered torturing myself further by reading the sequel for the pretty cover, but by the time I reached the end of this book, the willpower and masochism to do so had left me completely. Should just spend the time on better books.
I really wanted to love this so I'm sad. 😭😭😭
I love this. It's been a while since I've read something like this. There were a few forgettable characters but nevertheless, kinda, maybe? important but to me they solidified the questionable plot holes so I let it pass. The main characters reminded me a lot of Juliette and Roma but in a friends to lovers plot- that might be a little biased because I love those two. The way Xingyin was so determined, meanwhile Liwei was just chill af.
Speaking of chill, y'all know I love everything about dragons. I'm such a sucker for anything that involves them. What really got this book 5 stars was of course, the dragons AND how chill they were. I guess I've been reading and watching too much of fighting dragons that reading about the true mystical and peace loving ones was such a breathe of fresh air. Te quiero mucho.
Me ha encantado! Uno de los pocos libros este año al que le doy un 10!!
Me gusta mucho como escribe la autora: Como describe los espacios, no se enrolla mucho pero te explica los suficiente como para hacerte una clara idea del sitio.
Como escribe a los personajes, sobretodo la protagonista, todos son fáciles de reconocer y parecen personas reales que toman decisiones conforme sus creencias.
En cuanto a la historia me ha gustado mucho también. No ha habido ningún trozo que se me haya hecho pesado y me ha enganchado desde el primer capítulo. Tiene la acción y el romance perfectamente balanceados para una historia de este tipo.
Sinceramente uno de mis libros favoritos ♥♥♥
This was very new genre for me as I have very recently drifted more towards fantasy and was very pleasently surprised.
Xingyin is a well written character and I think the whole “love myself more” arc was quite refreshing as many books I have read tend to have female characters that will flung themselves at first love interest.
With this said, the 2 male characters did not “stick” with me as much, I found Wenzhi incredibly difficult to get to know but also his motive towards the end of the book does not feel like the real motive nor what he really wants. Liwei felt much more like a character I would understand but there I also struggled to really understand his reasonings or the way he reacted to Xingyin's decisions.
The ending when she finally got to tell her mom she was no longer imprisoned did bring me tears.
The story was amazing and I was left many times surprised by how scenes turned out as it was very predictable, I think however towards the end that it almost became too many twists which brings down the rating for me.
Over all, incredibly pleased with this book and already looking forward to read the second one!
Specific rating: 4.6 stars out of 5
What a read! To be honest, I did my best to push through the beginning three chapters of it since it was a lot of world-building, character introduction/building, and forming of conflicts for the main character. It was a bit of prose that I did need a bit more enthusiasm to go through as I wasn't used to the way it felt too paced and prose-y. Including my own struggles in getting through a reading slump, the first few chapters felt like a hill to climb.
When I got to Xingyin's time in developing herself though, I couldn't drop the book! As much as the book was a fantasy or folklore fantasy, it was more of a coming-of-age story within a fantasy/folklore world. The romance felt more of a second priority in the story, and I liked how it felt that it moved along in the background while the main story and character arch developed before me. It was a teenage romance, and yes it did get frustrating at times, but I loved how Xingyin was mature in areas that affected her mindset and naive in the more ambiguities of falling for someone and loving someone. It was like Howl's Moving Castle in a way, where the romance was a consequence of the story beats/archs. The friendship/romance did feel natural after I got used to the way the book was written, and I felt for both of them so much.
“Her kindness was a warmth in the winter of my misery.” Pg 28
A lot of beautiful phrases and messages!
I'm happy to have read this book! Not a 5-star book, but I wish I can rate it higher than just a 4 star.
Reads like a c-drama and very soap opera like, enjoyed beginning but couldn't stick with the constant changing of the fmc
A beautiful Chinese legend, romance, betrayal, a strong female main character (who remains strong throughout the story), powerful friends. A bit predictable, otherwise I would've given it 5 stars.
I love the retelling of myths, folklore stories, fairy tales and I love it more when is done with excellence, staying true to the country's culture and allure.
I ll be honest, I never read or knew the Chinese stories and I do know that this book, only takes part of the myth of the moon goddess and creates new stories, however, this is a story that makes you fall in love with the Chinese legends, that creates in you the need to search for more stories and learn more things about the history and legends.
The battles, the romantic essence of it, everything was just perfectly written and it helped create a part of the fantasy world in your mind.
Yes, some parts of it were slow and the thoughts of Xingyin are some times boring, but in a book with so many fight scenes and adventures it needs a few pages of lower pace to keep you going.
I am now eager for the second part!
It's been a while since I've read something that had me this hooked. This Chinese mythical tale was jam-packed with everything in one magically captivating storyline. The beautiful writing with all the illustrious descriptions made for quite a lovely experience (one that I can already imagine as an animated movie)
Definitely a book you could read if you wish to escape reality and enter a dimension of magical and mythical fantasy
Cannot wait to delve myself into this world again with the second book in the series
This seems to be the year of Asian fantasy for me and for book publishing in general and I'm not complaining! I've enjoyed them all, but I think this one was my favourite. I loved the world, the characters, the story and Sue Lynn Tan's beautiful writing. She manages a lyrical tone without getting bogged down in it. I really wanted a fantasy I could get lost in, but wasn't so dark or grim, but also not so YA as to be cringey. Daughter of the Moon Goddess towed that line so well. I wanted to visit and live in the world Sue Lynn Tan created, her words paint a vivid picture of a place filled with magic and beauty, light and darkness, dragons and palaces in the clouds. Xingyin, the main character, isn't a sap, but steps up to the plate learning to fight and manage her way through court politics with missteps and mistakes, but always learning and moving forward, not pitying herself and I loved that about her. The romance was also really good. It isn't love at first sight or dripping with teen lust, but one that develops out of friendship and isn't smooth sailing always. Overall a wonderful journey and a fascinating fantasy world I can't wait to return to in the next book. Highly recommended!
This book was a lot. There was easily enough plotlines to make a trilogy. At times I almost wish it was a trilogy. The world was so lush and vivid. I couldn't get enough of it. But the pacing was incredibly fast. One moment characters are fighting and the next they're relaxing in the garden. Read too fast and you miss things.
Much of the writing and plot twists are full of YA tropes, but the immortal realm had me eager to learn more.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely. This was a great break to the average day and the author built a beautiful world. Predictable? Yes. But I couldn't put it down. And I can't wait for the sequel.
dnf
this book was incredibly boring somehow and i dont know what went wrong here
the setting and the characters had so much potential, but the execution....