As a debut novel, fairly solid first person pov Chinese mythology inspired fantasy. It kind of feels like a novelization of an anime series at times while reading it, very YA Protagonist female lead feel to our lead. It manages to wrap itself in one book, but is billed as a duology - Id pick up the second book, honestly. I don’t know how long this book’s details will stick, but not as bad as it could be.

Actual rating: 3.5

A huge thank you to the publisher and netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let's discuss the pluses, shall we? Because they are plentiful. The book begins with a whimsical type of storytelling that is reminiscent of fairytale and myths and folklore. Which is fitting, considering that the story of Chang'e is a long told tale of a Chinese goddess. The story is about the daughter of Chang'e, and spans several years of the daughter's life. Fittingly, as the years pass and the story progresses, the writing shifts to that of an epic or an adventure story. The shift is subtly and nothing offbalancing.

The world-building was fantastic in the sense that it was well fleshed out, yet not overbearing in the descriptions. Which is something I appreciate. I like to know and see where I am, but do not need five pages of description for one item/location.

The fault in this novel, for my personal taste, lies with the lack of connection I felt with the characters. There were none that I found myself looking forward to reading about. Not only that, but I felt the relationships between themselves also lacked connection, which left a hollow sort of feeling while reading. It left me not caring about what happened to who and who went where. Not to mention the unnecessary romance dramatics that drove me bonkers through the entire book. It broke of the motion of the story.

I received a free eArc version of this work in exchange for an honest review; thanks to Avon Books, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the opportunity. All opinions are my own.

This story is absolutely lovely and a must read for fans of fairy tale reimaginings, strong female protagonists, and anyone interested in proper fantasy adventure stories.

This review will contain minor spoilers.

The legend of Chang’e and Houyi has always been one of my favorite romantic myths, and I loved the clever idea that the reason for their separation and Chang'e's immortality was not selfishness or foolishness, but from a desire to protect herself and for the love of a child. Our main character Xinyin grows up on the moon with only her mother and one other Celestial (disappointingly not Jade Rabbit) as a companion. She is a sheltered, strong-willed, and curious child who is separated from her home and her mother as a result of a childish mistake. The main journey in this story follows Xinyin as she explores other parts of the Celestial Realms and Earth in a somewhat classic hero's journey. And it was great!

The worldbuilding is spectacular with many different cultures, creatures, and settings explained in vivid and lush language. I think even readers who aren't as familiar with Chinese or other Asian mythologies there is enough her to provide appropriate context. There is definitely a fairy tale aspect to some of the encounters and experiences that Xinyin has, but I really appreciate that we are shown her making mistakes, getting stronger, and making reasonable decisions. The relationships feel organic and authentic, and I definitely appreciated the twists and turns of all the attachments formed and broken in this story. The inevitable love triangle was also very well set up and handled with a minimum of saccharine. We end up caring deeply about these characters and the realms. There was set up for future books and I would absolutely love to see more in this world.

The pacing of this book was a wonderful surprise. There was so much that happened in a single book and I very much appreciate that the story was told in one comprehensive tale - there were absolutely arcs in the story that could have been stretched over multiple books but the language and story were so tightly woven and there wasn't the word bloat or convenient skip that I was expecting. We get all the details, they are well told, and the story is complete.

Fans of Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey will absolutely love this book. I would say you'll probably also like this if you also enjoyed Thorn by Intisar Khanani or Shielded by KayLynn Flanders. This is the kind of fantasy adventure where the protagonist is strong, and clever, has reasonable challenges, the villains are indeed villainous and also there are DRAGONS!

I absolutely am adding this one to my shelf.

This was a fantastic and melodic read. Not only was it incredibly vivid in imagery, it was completely engaging in every sense. Beyond enjoying the writing style the actual story was amazing and plentiful in twists. It had elements of adventure, romance, betrayal, and best of all fantasy and folklore. I really enjoyed the strong moral character in the main protagonist and her ability to understand she had an obligation to her own personal growth. I really loved reading about the Celestial kingdom and uncover the lore of the dragons. I cannot wait to see what the second part of this duology will cover.

thank you to netgalley, avon and harper voyager for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

daughter of the moon goddess is a retelling of the legend of chang'e the moon goddess but it follows her daughter xingyin as she discovers herself outside of the life she's always known.

the writing of this book was very beautiful, it was lyrical and descriptive without being over the top, and while there is romance in this book, it is not necessarily the main focus which i enjoyed.

the focus was on the main character xingyin, an interesting protagonist who is determined to do anything to save her mother but she doesn't lack empathy and is always trying to do the right thing. this was more of a plot driven book and the author managed to do that so well and it was definitely my favorite part of the book.

my main issue was the pacing of this book, while the last 35-40% of it were so action packed and intriguing the pacing of the first half fluctuated a bit, at times it felt like everything was happening at once and other times it dragged on a bit. also some side characters also fell a bit short for me but other than that this was an incredible debut novel and i can't wait to read the next part of this series!

Inspired by the legend of Chang’e, Daughter of the Moon Goddess follows Xingyin, who has spent the majority of her life in solitude, only living with her mom, Chang’e, and Ping’er. As the daughter of Chang’e and Houyi, Xingyin’s existence has been kept hidden from the Celestial Emperor, who exiled Chang’e for stealing the elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares, alerting the Celestial Goddess, Xingyin is forced to flee to protect the ones she loves. With nothing else on her, Xingyin finds her way to the Celestial Kingdom, and ends up learning magic and archery alongside the Crown Prince.

One of my favorite things about Daughter of the Moon Goddess was how lyrical, and breathtaking Sue Lynn-Tan’s writing was. With easy to understand world-building, and xianxia-inspired fantasy, I truly felt like I was transported into Xingyin’s world. It was so easy to picture myself in her shoes, as she went through her quest, learning different skills, fighting alongside her friends, and interacting with dragons (any other words would be too much of a spoiler), and I absolutely adored it. I loved reading the world through Xingyen’s eyes. As our main character, I found her unwavering strength and love for her family to be inspiring, and reminiscent of xianxia. She thinks with her heart, she's brave, clever, determined, and never loses sight of where her priorities are. I loved her character arc, and watching her grow and develop.

While I’m not the biggest fan of love triangles, I will say that I absolutely loved Prince Liwei. He was so soft-hearted, kind, and so sweet, and I couldn’t help but root for him! In a sense, he reminded me of Takkan from Elizabeth Lim’s Six Crimson Cranes. Xingyin and Liwei’s friendship turned romance was endearing, and I enjoyed how their relationship progressed.

The majority of this story hinges on miscommunication, and for Xingyin to have a secret identity, and while miscommunication in books is one of my most hated tropes, I wasn’t bothered by this in Daughter of the Moon Goddess at all, as it served a purpose and helped move the plot forward. I also really appreciated that all miscommunication was addressed, and worked through.

Sitting at 512 pages, Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a little longer than what I usually prefer in a book, but I didn’t find that to detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I normally read books all in one sitting, but I knew with this one that I’d have to pace myself — since Daughter of the Moon Goddess is broken down into three parts, I read one part each night for three nights in a row. That being said, I found part one to be the hardest to get through, as there was a lot of world-building, and background that we were given. Even still, I’m relieved to say that Daughter of the Moon Goddess is the length it is for a reason, and by the end, I found myself wanting more. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Xingyin, and our lovely cast of characters just yet. Fortunately for me, it looks like it’s the first in a duology, although I’m not exactly sure what to expect from the second book yet, as most storylines seemed neatly tied up in Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

XingYin is the daughter of the Moon Goddess, Chang'e. However, Chang'e is trapped in the immortal world for drinking an elixir gifted to her mortal husband, making her an immortal being. The Celestial Emperor believed her actions dishonorable and kept her within a home, making her control the cycle of the moon. One day, when the Celestial Empress checks up on Chang'e, she realizes another person containing power living with the Moon Goddess. Xingyin has to leave her mother immediately, to conceal her mother's deceit and stumbles upon the Celestial Prince, LiWei.

The story revolves around the lengths a person will go to in order to save someone they love. XingYin is such a relatable character, demonstrating feelings of jealousy, judgment, and sadness in a young woman's life. The story shows how relationships can be difficult, and how the people you love will always find you. XingYin is such a powerful, female lead, who shows that hard work will get you where you want in life. I absolutely devoured the feminism in this book.

I enjoyed the Chinese culture embedded within the food, the clothes, and even the characters. It was so diverse and beautiful to see my own culture demonstrated in such a beautiful work of art. I enjoyed every second of this book, and the world-building/plot building was incredible.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess releases on January 11, 2022. Please put this amazing read on your tbr's and preorder a copy!

What a gorgeous retelling! I was totally swept away into the world of the Celestials by Sue Lynn Tan’s sublime prose and descriptions that make the scenes leap off the page. Xingyin is a heroine full of hidden depth, fighting for family and love and herself. The glittering court of the Emperor is full of danger and deception, and the love stories will absolutely wreck you (in the best way!)

3.5 stars

to be honest, my feelings regarding daughter of the moon goddess are mixed. on one hand, this is one of my highly anticipated releases of 2022 and i was so excited to read it that i might’ve raised my expectations too high. on the other hand, this book didn’t move me at all – i didn’t connect with any of the characters and i didn’t quite care about what happened to them.

i have to say i did enjoy the writing quite a lot. it’s lyrical and flowery without turning into purple prose. the detail sue lynn tan adds to each scene, the carefully placed descriptions of clothing and other small features add a certain liveliness to the novel. the author took her time with the worldbuilding – one can definitely tell the setting is a well thought-out one, but this unfortunately slowed down the pacing quite a lot.

the first part is almost in its entirety just a way to explain the world and how its magic, but it dragged a lot. there was barely any character or plot development and i was bored for a good 30-40%. it does pick up after that and the last 30% was phenomenal – and yet the book could’ve been better with a shorter first part as it considerably messed up the pace.

xingyin was an interesting character, but i didn’t understand some of her actions at all. especially in the context of her relationships – i truly hated the back and forth she did between the two love interests and the love triangle truly brought the book down for me. i loved how fierce she was at some points of the novel. however, i feel like she was a bit over-powered because she manages to master the bow in just three months, while she never picked up a bow before those three months. there are other cases like that when she’s amazing at something after the minimal amount of training.

the side characters were interesting, but i didn’t really care for them. besides the love triangle, it felt like everyone else appeared in the book whenever xingyin needed help and promptly disappeared afterwards.

the plot itself was interesting, but the book was weirdly paced and disjointed. the scenes didn’t really flow into each other – it read as if we were just skipping from one quest to another. the book focused more on the relationships between liwei/xingyin/wenzhi than xingyin’s development as a character, and i truly wished that wasn’t the main focus of the novel as i was really interested in the myth and her attempts at freeing the moon goddess. it’s why i really enjoyed the last part a lot more than the first two – the twist was fun, even though i expected it and i loved reading about the dragons and the story behind them.

all in all, this is an impressive debut novel and i’ll definitely check out the next book in the series and the author’s future works. while the book wasn’t perfect, it was an enjoyable read + the world is such an interesting, detailed one.

This is a tough review for me because the beginning of this book felt like a magical fairytale reminiscent of Tamara Pierce’s writing style. I thoroughly enjoyed the myth and culture of this world that the author built. I think this book probably could have been condensed as it had too many expositions and climaxes. At first I thoroughly enjoyed the love interest especially when Xingyin recognized that the prince couldn’t be hers and she needed to be stronger outside of his protection to become a soldier. By The time I got to part three of this book I was so frustrated with the entire love triangle constantly going back and forth then back again. It was like story whiplash I didn’t know who I was supposed to want her to be with. It was completely ruining the beautiful story that had started so long ago. The entire last third of the book felt rushed and boring. I think the concept was really cool the execution a little lacking.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the arc preview of this book.

The story takes place in the Celestial Kingdom of gods and goddesses. Xingyin grows up on the moon with her mother, but all is not as it seems. She learns some dark truths and is forced to flee.

She finds herself alone in a world that ranks power and privilege over kindness and compassion. She fights her way into that privileged world, but there is much she must learn and accomplish where not everything is what it appears.

Her growth as a person was an integral part of the story in my opinion. Her ability to see how her actions and mistakes cause her own downfalls made Xingyin a great character. Her flaws gave her something to strive to better despite the same flaws causing her problems that affected other people.

I enjoyed this book. I really wish I could have had it visually unfold on a screen with the beautiful costumes and scenery like many of the Xianxia and Wuxia dramas I've watched.

I didn't know it was part of a duology until after I read it, but the ending made much more sense when I found out. It's actually stated on the description, but I missed it. Oops!

I definitely want to read the next book.

Thanks again NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for allowing me to preview the book.

If you had told me this was a debut after I read it, I would not have believed you. The writing is beautiful, the prose engaging. This story was one I was vaguely family with (mostly due to Netflix's Over The Moon) and to see it in this way was fantastic. Reviewing it is difficult, though, because, from about 30%-60%, the pacing slows to full drag. It then picks up, and you want to rate it five stars.

The world-building, while slow, was necessary for connection to the characters. The story had me wrapped up enough to continue to the end, and I'm really glad I did that. Xingyin is a fantastic main character, who is interesting and consistently true to herself. If you enjoyed Six Crimson Cranes, you're likely to enjoy this book as well, with a similar writing style on a brand new story.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. Rich with cultural elements, gorgeous writing, characters you can really fall in love with, and a story that sweeps you away. I laughed, cried, and gasped so many times while reading. I had so many emotions that I had to stop reading at some points just to process my thoughts.

There are not enough words for me to express how much I loved this story. While there was romance, the main love story was the love Xingyin has for her mother and how she will do anything to set her free. Liwei is a royal who does not act the typical way a spoiled royal would. He is kind from the beginning, and I loved their relationship. Wenzhi is a hard but caring general who really takes Xingyin under his wing. I adored these characters, and after some twists and major turns, my heart ripped out and stomped upon, Sue Lynn left me wanting more and more.

I can’t wait for more. My heart needs it.

Thank you to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This novel is a retelling of the Chinese myth of the moon goddess Chang’e, but really with a focus on her daughter. I’m not a huge fan of how literal the title is, but I do think that it highlights one of the things I loved most about this book, that main character Xingyin is consistently motivated by her love for her mother and the desire to set Chang’e free from her imprisonment on the moon, which drives and sustains her through the difficult choices she makes as a female warrior with a talent for archery. I think she’s a heroine I found myself rooting for as a result. There is a love triangle (that is actually very well done and doesn't feel overly cliche) and a lot of swoony romance, but I appreciated that Xingyin was driven by familial affection and duty first and foremost.

Tan’s writing in this debut is lush and atmospheric. There’s a bit of world-building involved and the magic system can sometimes feel a bit vague, but I did really love most of the details she lingers on in establishing the Celestial Kingdom as a setting. I’d say that tonally, the first-person perspective in this book reminded me faintly of Madeline Miller’s in Circe, lyrical and solemn-- which is my favorite kind of writing!

Was this book as jam-packed as an Asian historical-fantasy drama? Yes. Did I thoroughly it and find it entertaining? Yep! As a few other reviewers have pointed out, a lot happens in this book. Every chapter it sort of feels like you’re being hurtled along from one new arc to another. But I didn’t find this to be particularly jarring; after the slower start of the first few chapters, it was really hard to put the book down.

I feel the book ends in a solid place and could stand alone, but there is a sequel to come so I’m curious to see how Xingyin’s story will continue!

This was so so good. I was really surprised when I ended up enjoying it much more then I had originally anticipated: this was perfect and exactly what I was looking for. If anything this felt more whimsical to me and it’s really one of my favourite attributes of anything it was perfect! 5 out of 5 stars!

Daughter of the Moon Goddess has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen. The descriptions of the world, the clothing and the food were also beautiful but sadly the plot and the characters fell a little short for me.

I cannot believe this is the author’s debut book! I loved every second of this book, from beginning to end, the world building was amazing and the writing was so descriptive and beautiful. I will be recommending this book to everyone who loves reading about legends and myths being retold. I can’t wait to get my hands on a hard cover copy, and for the second book!

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy of Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan.

Going into this read I did not know what to expect. I had vague knowledge of the myth of Chang'e, but Daughter of the Moon Goddess expanded on the normal narrative in such a beautiful way.

The story starts off with the main character living on the moon with her mother, not knowing much about the history which led them both to be confined there. Xingyin starts looking for more answers to her unkown father and why they are alone on the moon. With the visit of the Celestial Empress her safe world is shattered and she is forced to flee.

This kicks off a roller coaster of adventure involving forbidden love, monsters, betrayal and ultimately sacrifice for the better of the world. The writing was beautiful and the story was definitely arresting, as I could not put the book down!

I would recommend this to fans of Elizabeth Lim, Julie Kagawa and anyone looking for that fairy tale book that explores something a little less well known. Cannot wait for this book to hit shelves! And that cover is GORGEOUS!!!

One of my most anticipated reads! I love this book! The Legend of Chang'e has been a wonderful Chinese mythology that captivated me since young and I love that Sue Lynn Tan has a retelling! Her writing prose is just lovely. I love the captivating world she's built. I can't wait to read more of her work!

I.. WHAT IS THIS BOOK?

I knew I wanted to read this based purely on the book cover and the fact that it was inspired by the legend of Chang'e. I knew it had a lot of potential to be good.. but I was not prepared for the emotional roller coaster it took me on.

5/5

Seriously amazing journey, amazing characters, amazing world building... I want to live in this world.

Also... I DON'T EVEN LIKE LOVE TRIANGLES BUT I LOW KEY LOVED THIS? Its not even the main focus (which thankgoddness) but its done so well that your heart just swells and breaks with every interaction.

So much happens in this book that I cannot believe there will be another.. I also cannot wait for it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.. I feel blessed to have experienced this book early and not having to wait until 2022.