This book was stunning - heartfelt, magical, lush, and full of adventure. I could not have asked for a more perfect continuation of Xingyin’s story.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess has been one of my favorite reads of 2022 thus far, and this book, somehow, rose above it. This was an easy 5 star read. Sue Lynn Tan’s writing is so lyrical. Her descriptions make you feel as if you are standing in each scene, a part of the drama, love, and journey of each character.

The ending of book one drew us into a false sense of peace and safety, I was curious what conflict book two would stir up to spur our heroes back into action. We start on the Moon, where book one ended, but things quickly go south as Xingyin and her mother are forced to flee their home and the Immortal Realm is threatened by great evil, unforeseen by our heroes. With the help of her two loves, Liwei and Wenzhi, we are taken on a magical journey where we encounter old friends, new dangers, and discover the importance of love. I was on the edge of my seat! I cried, I laughed, I smiled. You will feel ALL the emotions throughout this book.

One loose string book one left to be tied is the love triangle. Now, I am usually wary of reading love triangles but Sue Lynn Tan handled this one perfectly. My heart, too, is torn between the Celestial Prince and the Demon Prince as each character brings out a different, wonderful part of Xingyin. However, Tan handled Xingyin’s split heart so beautifully, as she struggles with Wenzhi’s betrayal, as well as her trepidation at one day becoming the Celestial Empress should she marry Liwei. Cue the drama! I absolutely ate it up, switching who I was rooting for until the end. No spoilers, but I LOVED the eventual resolution.

Overall, the draw of these books remains the strength and perseverance of our MC. Xingyin is strong, stubborn, graceful, and fierce. She is both fearful and brave and does not back down from a fight, especially if anyone she loves is in danger. I absolutely adore her.

This duology is easily one of my favorites of the year and I look forward to rereading it one day.

*Huge thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts/ review.*

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan, in exchange for an honest review.

“Some might think us weaker for our love, but it gave us strength we did not know we possessed.” ~ Heart of the Sun Warrior

⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5 ——————————————

This book is enriched with culture, love and action! I really enjoyed the major events that went down, it was heart wrenching, intense and allowed us to see other sides to the characters we haven’t seen before. What I loved most was reading about the redemption arcs of certain characters. I liked that characters were complex and each had their own story to tell. Overall, I enjoyed how most the characters, even the bad guys, had a great conclusion to their story.

For me, the book felt very fast paced and had almost too much plot going on for one book. It resulted in the reading flow feeling disjointed and rushed at times.

The love triangle. Xingyin’s indecisiveness allowed her to think it was okay to lead people on thinking there was hope in their relationship, when there was none. This is not okay. I did not like how the deciding factor for Xingyin's love story was based on her preferred lifestyle choice rather than selecting the individual she would want to be with. Despite this, the theme of love and sacrifice is definitely an impactful one which will leave readers feeling heartfelt and emotional.

📌 Read this series if you like:
- Plot twists
- Love triangle
- Chinese Mythology
- Fantasy (duology)
- Complex characters
- Redemption arc
- Fast pacing

This is book 2 of the Celestial Kingdoms Duology, following the first book Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for allowing me this arc copy of this book.

Heart of the Sun Warrior is the last book of Sue Lynn Tan’s duology. It takes place about a year after the first book.

Xingyin has settled back on the moon. Her life is calm with the prince and her friends. Until visitors come. Her life explodes once more with more at stake.

I read the first book in January so when I started this one I recognized some names but forgot others. It took me a few pages to get into the story. Once I recalled the first book, I was hooked once again.

The story of Xingyin new adventure with old acquaintances and friends while finding secrets of the past are effecting the future and the whole existence of the worlds. It was amazing. It drew me in as we traveled to old and new places in the immortal and mortal worlds.

The only thing I could poo poo is the love triangle. That trope makes me pull out my hair in frustration especially when the is a seesaw between the two love interests. I wanted to scream, “choose someone already!”

Other than that, it was an excellent book. It gives me the Xianxia hit for my craving of this genre.

We need more Xianxia and Wuxia books!

Thank you again NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this amazing arc copy!

Thanks to NetGalley & Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sue Lynn Tan has an incredible future ahead of her. The Daughter of the Moon Goddess has been one of my favorite reads of the year, and Heart of the Sun Warrior did not disappoint in concluding Xingyin's story. Having grown so immensely from the struggles that occurred in DOTMG, we proceed on precisely where it left off. However, the good times don't last, and quickly Xingyin is forced into a desperate situation to save those she loves. Heart of the Sun Warrior continues with everyone's favorite love triangle, whilst poor Xingyin is still at war with herself over the two men she loves so endlessly. The rollercoaster of emotions this book sent me through was traumatizing, yet the ending left me so full. Through and through, Xingyin is absolutely a main character that one can resonate with. Torn between two loves, and just as capable of making mistakes as we all are. In the end, this duology has 100% settled me on Sue Lynn Tan's future books as being an autobuy. It's astonishing that this was her debut series, and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4.5 stars

A big thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC!!

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan had big shoes to fill after the amazing Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Overall, I really enjoyed this sequel. The world-building and relationships were created beautifully, to the point where I was rooting for both romantic interests. I think the finale was perfectly heartwarming and heartbreaking. The reason I would give a 4.5 instead of 5 stars was because the book seemed very long at some points. I wasn’t eating up every word like I would for a 5 star book, but it was still such a lovely ending to the duology. I am looking forward to holding the book in my hand when it releases!

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan is a phenomenal follow up to the Daughter of the Moon Goddess. The story is engaging and the writing is lush, airy, and atmospheric. I do not know much about Chinese mythology, but this story has inspired me to learn more. I became invested in the characters and their stories and I am adding Sue Lynn Tan to my auto-read and auto-buy list!

A beautiful sequel. The world is still gorgeous, and I love Xingyin and her growth by the end of the novel. This was a very good end to the duology, and I think that it can be hard to wrap up a duology well as was done with this.

This was the perfect sequel to the perfect book! After the ending of the first book, I was so excited to read this one and I'm happy to declare that I was definitely not disappointed! I can't talk about the love triangle without spoiling a lot of things but let's just say that I was very happy about the resolution. This duology is one of the best ones I've ever read.

Holy Moly , This was a wild ride .

As soon as I finished Daughter of the Moon Goddess , i was hungry for the sequel . Never did I imagine that I would be approved for the sequel (I SCREAMED when i saw the mail ) . So deepest thanks to netgalley and HarperVoyager and Avon for providing me the ARC of my most anticipated reads 😊
And It did not disappoint . Our girl , Xingyin is relishing her fraught and hard won peace on the moon with her mother , However all is not peaceful in the moon or the Celestial Kingdom as thieves show up on the moon to steal the laurel seeds and Minister Wugang is promoted to General and schemes to usurp the Jade throne and conquer the realm . After an attack on her home led by evil Wugang and his undead army,Xingyin flees her home with her mother ,Liwei ,Wenzhi but not before attendant Ping'er is killed 😭. Xingyin and gang travel to various places in the Immortal Realm to gather allies to take back the celestial throne . The love triangle is back, though not as prominent and Xingyin finds herself torn between the two princes . At the same time ,they encounter old and new friends , shrewd rulers and enemies old and new . Wugang advances , seemingly unstoppable and time is running out . If peace is to be restored in the realm , Xingyin will have to make tremendous sacrifices.........

Sue lynn tan really outshone herself with Sun Warrior . It had me squealing with joy , brimming with hope , my heart riddled with anguish and grief ,crying like a baby , and at the end l was feeling epic . The most epic of all endings . And sheesh the character growth was HUGE and INCREDIBLE .

Xingyin is no longer the naive girl we meet in DOTMG . She has seen and experienced losses close to her heart , she rethinks her deepest desires and no longer bears grudges . She stays true to her heart till the very end . Xingyin spends the majority of the book distrusting Wenzhi and refusing to forgive him for the betrayal in the first book but by the end after he sacrifrices his life to save her , she sees that he is capable of selfless love and that he loved her until the very end . She mourns his death and berates herself for being stubborn and prideful . She realises that a life with Liwei in the celestial palace is not what she truly wants or needs and it makes sense for who she is as a character . Xingyin doesnt want to live a burdensome life in the celestial court and she has to be shrewish and cunning to survive and she had seen enough losses . Wenzhi is reincarnated as a minister and Xingyin vows to start anew free from their past and not to repeat the same mistakes. I need an extended epilogue please Sue . Give my babies true happiness 😭😭 or feature them as a cameo in your new book . Xingyin is courageous , strong and compassionate

I can see that Liwei will be a better man and king than his father before him . He respects Xingyin's choice to not become empress and marry him . He gives his blessing to Xingyin to start a life with Wenzhi in the mortal realm . He is so sweet and considerate ,

Wenzhi is so adamant on righting his wrongs and repairing his relationship with Xingyin . He lends his support ,fights beside her and protects her . His redemption arc was really great and i enjoyed every moment of it . Though Xingyin was late to realise it , she acknowleged in the end that she deeply cared and loved wenzhi all this time . Wenzhi is such a complex man .

All im going to say that after reading the Sun Warrior you will not look at Moon goddess with the same eyes . The characters are taken to new depths and you will question everything you ever known

This was a DNF for me. While I enjoyed the first book, I found it slow and the writing to be not overly engaging. I thought the second book might pick up but unfortunately it did not. It did not hold my attention.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This sequel accomplished what few do and matched, if not outshone, its predecessor.

"Love is a privilege, not a possession. We can't control our own feelings, much less those of others. Sometimes love means letting go - for yourself, if not for them."

It's so hard to get in to fantasy sometimes because the author stays at surface level in world building and the magic doesn't make sense or isn't fully explained. That is *not* a problem with Sue Lynn Tan. Her world is immersive and fully constructed, the magic is meticulously and beautifully explained, and the story is emotionally evocative and wrenching. This author isn't just going on my guaranteed to read anything new that comes out TBR, they're going on my immediately stop what I'm reading and read any newest work list. Astronomically talented, I'm so very grateful I found their work, and hope we get to revisit these characters and this world in future novels.

I am sad and hollow

First, thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an advanced copy of this spectacular and gut-wrenching book.

The writing is excellent. The plot is intricate. The characters are engaging. It is everything I wanted from this book. The cover is beautiful, bright, full of hope and perfectly reflects all of the emotions I had coming out of the first book. I was deceived. Not only did this book call me out on some obvious deep rooted issues within myself; I have never cried this much over a book. I feel absolutely wrecked.

The art in all of this is how the author laces the deeper meaning of everything with the action and adventure. I want to say it was overwhelming but ultimately, I am still left wanting more. I also feel like maybe I need a therapist.

Overall, this duology was a spectacular reading experience. One I wish I could have for the first time again.

Holy love triangle. And the fact that it lasted for 96% of the book is impressive. When I tell you I screamed, I cackled, I choked on my water… this book has the kind of salacious crack in it that is hard to describe, but you know it when you encounter it. I realized by chapter 3 that Heart of the Sun Warrior would not be the same kind of experience as Daughter of the Moon Goddess, and I was skeptical of it at first. Where DOTMG is much more of a slow burn where we get to spend lots of time just vibing with the characters for the first act, HOTSW is immediate chaos and drama. By part 2 of HOTSW I decided to just roll with it and not let my expectations of what it would be like put a damper on what it actually is, and I really enjoyed the wild ride that is Heart of the Sun Warrior.

This book is extremely plot driven, especially compared to its predecessor. There is no more character growth for Xingyin or anyone else. She actually does a lot of really dumb, annoying things that seem to contradict the kind of person she was in DOTMG. Liwei and Whenzi are insufferable. They’re about to fight! Oh wait, now we’re on the next page and they’re getting along and working together. He’s gonna dump Xingyin! Oh wait, she’s melting into his arms in the next paragraph. We’ve got zombies and reanimating… is anyone actually dead? And it’s the bendiest plot I’ve read in a long time. You will need to apply suspension of belief to enjoy this. Don’t ask too many questions or be too critical. I’m giving this book 4 stars because even though it has a lot of technical issues, I had a ton of fun with it.

I’m really excited for Sue Lynn Tan’s future projects. But please have mercy on us readers… I don’t think I can handle another love triangle like this.

This piece of art blew me away. I enjoyed every second of it as it only improved upon the first book. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

3.5 stars.
This book was one of my most anticipated books of 2022, and I was unfortunately pretty disappointed by it. Maybe my expectations were too high, but there was very little plot, way too much emphasis on the love triangle (which I am rarely a fan of), and it just felt very slow. I think the book could have been edited down to 3/4 of the length at least. Just like with the first book, the writing is very beautiful and I love the world and the characters but I am honestly not sure this book needed to be written—I was very satisfied with the first one, which was one of my favorite books of 2021. I definitely recommend everyone still reads Daughter of the Moon Goddess, but maybe pass on this one.

I'm writing this as I'm wiping tears from my eyes and face. This was an absolute beautifully written part two of the story and exactly what we needed to pick up after Daughter of the Moon Goddess and gave us the ending we needed.

The love-triangle romance was not overwhelming at all to the plot and action of the story and in my opinion, it complimented it so well. The trickery, betrayal, unexpected allies we get to learn of was not predictable; there were times I caught myself reeling because the story was going a different way than I was thinking. The sacrifices and heartaches I read tugged on my heartstrings, hence the tears streaming down my face (although luckily Im not an immortal!).

I give this a 4.5 out of 5, I only wish we have an epilogue or some idea of how the two characters will reunite in the end. Not going to name names to spoil, but you need to read to find out who!

Thank you NetGalley and @Avonbooks and @HarperVoyagerUS for this eARC. Super excited I have a hardcover preordered!

Before Reading:
I’m extremely excited for this— and I’m glad that this book is my first ARC. I have high expectations for this book; I really liked the first one despite the flaws. The first novel had issues with pacing that really impacted my opinion of the book and I’m hoping that’s changed in this one.

30%:
So I’m not entirely sure about the pacing again. It does seem like important events don’t take enough time and other scenes are dragged out. I could be wrong, but it’s shaping up to be similar to the first book.

60%:
I have officially changed my mind; I rather like the pacing in this book. Some moments were meant to be less drawn out for a valid reason. Also, side note, I viciously hate the empress.

Finished:
Uh. Oh, my GOD. This is so good? The ending is mind blowing and awful and both very satisfying and unsatisfying. Yeah, I do think there were some pacing issues, but I did read most of it on a flight so my perception of time (in general) was very screwed. I am definitely happy with the sequel as someone who LOVED the first book and even bought a physical copy to fully read it after the first chapter. I can’t wait to see everyone react to this stunning sequel.

So thankful to receive this as an ARC from NetGalley!! Daughter of the Moon Goddess was stunning in its beautiful writing and retelling of Chang’e as the Moon Goddess.
Heart of the Sun Warrior primarily focuses on Xingyin and while she is the daughter of Chang’e she also has her father’s traits. There were lots of new adventures and trials that Xingyin faced, while also having her heart split between two princes. We meet a few new characters and revisit many favorites from DOMG #1 and go more in depth to the complex characters in the Celestial Kingdom.
I loved how it ended with a note of hope, but from my perspective this is definitely a Duology!

I was scared to read this book because I love Daughter of the Moon Goddess so much. This one did not disappoint. The plot and characters were just as mesmerizing as the first book. The writing is beautiful and heartfelt. I can’t wait to see what Sue Lynn Tan writes next. 🤩🥰

Heart of the Sun Warrior takes place a year after the conclusion of Daughter of the Moon Goddess. This story follows Xingyin, along with her family and friends, as she fights to save the Celestial Kingdom.

Much like the first book in the duology, I was immediately captivated by Tan’s writing and storytelling. She does such a great job with world building, and she is able to create such beautiful imagery within her story.

Xingyin’s character development and growth within this story is amazing to read, and she’s definitely not the same character that starts at the beginning of the first book.

Throughout the story there were times were I felt like there was too much happening and the plot got lost. I never felt confused but sometimes it seemed like there were unnecessary things happening within the story.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I think it provided a really satisfying conclusion to the duology!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon/Harper Voyager, and Sue Lynn Tan for an eARC of this book!