Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Jan 23

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Have you ever looked at a full moon, seen how beautiful it looked and tried to take a picture but then, as usual, Ms. Luna decided she wasn’t ever going to be photographed?

That’s how it is with this book; if you only stare at the cover and try to take a picture, you will not be able to truly capture the true beauty of this book unless you read just like you will not see the true beauty of the moon unless you look at it with your own eyes.

This book is Sue Lynn Tan’s debut and wow. It’s phenomenal. I don’t think I have truly seen a bad review of the book. That is how good it is.

One thing I really liked is that, at some points, I thought the book would end in order to give anticipation for the second book but it ended up not being like that and the ending seemed very wrapped up so I am very excited as to what Tan will think of for the sequel (it is a duology). One thing that a lot of first books in Fantasy YA duologies do is that some sort of information is dropped on the protagonist and their companions/friends/etc., which gives reason to have a second book but I like how this one finished because I genuinely have no idea what the problem will be in the sequel (well, to a certain extent I can guess as all who have read the book can but I don’t know how the story will progress)

The world-building is genuinely fantastic. I love how all the Empires are divided and the descriptions make me feel like I am there with the characters. I really like how Xingyin is very strong and how she grows as a character. I think the strongest part of this story was the friendship that grew between Xingyin and Liwei. It was so, so well written and I adored every single moment. Which says something because I am very picky with my romances in books!

The book is split into three parts which really divides the story and makes it easier to have a time jump. The ending of part one genuinely made me sad, like Liwei, why did you have to do that 😭Their relationship was amazing though!

I can’t really go on without going into spoilers but here’s the gist:

Part One: Xingyin escapes and enters the Celestial Empire disguised as someone whose mother isn’t the Moon Goddess because otherwise that is very bad news for her and her mother. She meets Liwei (precious boi) and a friendship blooms (or is it just a friendship?)

Part Two: Xingyin is now part of the Celestial Army. She is quite the expert at archery and has climbed the ranks (in a sense). Enter a mysterious someone. Did Xingyin already forget her friend Liwei?

Part Three: A twist happens and Xingyin is sent on a particular mission. Another twist happens and Xingyin has to prove herself to the Celestial Emperor and Empress that she is a true warrior of the Celestial Empire and is not, by any means, a traitor. Then they all live happily ever after :) Well, in a sense but then again, it’s a duology so we’ll have to see what happens next!

And that’s all! I am really happy that my second book read of the year 2022 is another 5 star! I definitely do think that no other book will compare to this one this year and despite rating Eye of the World 5 stars as well, this one definitely tops Eye of the World!

You can get the book here!