elusivek | Book: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Daughter of the Moon Goddess: A Novel (Celestial Kingdom, 1)
Sue Lynn Tan
Amazon Product Link

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +

I first heard of this book, maybe from the pop sugar challenge for duology (was it pop sugar challenge 2022 or 2023 though? Don’t recall). And this year after finding the joy of online library books (Thanks Queens!) I was able to start exploring the Libby app and kindle loans (I can wax poetic for a long time!). The wait for this book was long. But I was still reading another book (that’s proving to be a bit challenging and would take some more time), so when I saw the due date for this book coming soon, and that there was a queue behind me so I couldn’t extend the loan, I had to kickstart reading this (and practically ignore my work).

A deceptively long read.

Despite having lived in SE Asia all my life, although I’ve heard of some of the Chinese folklore, I didn’t know all of them and the connections. I knew of the Moon Goddess yes. I knew of the guy that shot down the 9 suns yes. I didn’t know they were husband and wife. Asked a friend, and she said “yeah they are husband and wife.” So at first I was approaching this as a “using folklore characters randomly to write a new story”, apparently it was really using those folklore canon to build the background for this.

(I only went to check that 1 point. I don’t know of the others. But I was satisfied when the first checkpoint passed LOL).

Again, it was deceptively long. When I reached a part where I thought “huh, this sounds like the ending is coming,” and then whoosh! A new facet springs out and the story goes the other way. But it was done nicely, not abruptly, so it did NOT feel like the story was being dragged out for the sake of dragging it out.

I enjoyed the final… twist? It wasn’t a deception. More an… argument of a loophole, but, okay.

Overall, I really enjoyed the read, and also enjoyed seeing the little snippets that I actually recognized from the "canon" folklore (admittedly, not much).

Possible spoiler or not, one just wishes to strangle that Minister Wu guy.

Returned the book early so the next person can loan it. Happy reading!

And now. Let the waiting begin to queue for book 2.