Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

The Gist: A lush and romantic young adult fantasy about how far a daughter will go to save her mom.

Series: The Celestial Kingdom, #1

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Format: Paperback

Rating: 5-stars

•••

I had low expectations of Daughter of the Moon Goddess since it’s a young adult fantasy. It has been a while since I’ve gravitated towards or enjoyed young adult books. But after finishing this book in early January, I knew it was a contender for my favourite book of the month (spoiler: it is my favourite book of January).

Daughter of the Moon Goddess follows Xingyin, the naïve daughter of the moon goddess. Her mother has been imprisoned on the moon by the celestial Emperor for ascending to immortality without his permission. Xingyin has been kept secret in fear of what the Emperor and Empress would do if they learned she inherited her mother’s immortality.

The story picks up when Xingyin uses her magic, which alerts the Emperess that all is not as it seems on the moon. To protect her daughter, the moon goddess plans to hide Xingyin at the home of a servant. But, the intruding forces of the Emperor leave Xingyin stranded in the celestial kingdom with nothing but the desire to free her mother.

A Magical Quest

The plot was deceptively simple – Xingyin wanted to free her mother – but it explored the complexities of navigating an unknown kingdom and culture. I appreciated that the story also demonstrated the tension of Xingyin wanting a fresh start with her new friends and feeling honour bound to save her mother.

I loved how Daughter of the Moon Goddess utilized the heroic quest narrative – fighting mythological monsters, finding magical artifacts, and travelling to different kingdoms – to progress the plot and Xingyin’s character development. The world-building became rich, especially as the author explored the nuances between the immortal and human realms.

Beautiful Writing

The writing was incredibly whimsical and lush, yet didn’t wander into purple prose. The fact that the writing was so beautiful elevated the world-building, constructing a world that gods and goddesses casually walked through. It also lent a mythological bent to the story itself, suggesting that not only is Daughter of the Moon Goddess inspired the legend of Chang’e but that Xingyin’s story is a legend in the making.

A glorious future beckoned on the horizon. Yet I still clung to a shred of my past, as a flowering peach blossom tree yearning for its fallen bloom.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

The Love Triangle

This book is the first love triangle I’ve read in years, and it didn’t frustrate me! The first relationship is between Xingyin and the Emperor’s son, the crown prince. Interestingly, their relationship follows the friends-to-lovers trope but becomes fraught once the Hero’s duties as crown prince begin to intrude on their idyllic relationship. Also, there’s tension over the fact that his parents are responsible for the imprisonment of Xingyin’s mother.

I don’t want to reveal who the other love interest is (because of spoilers), but it also follows the friends-to-lovers trope. I enjoyed how there was a lot of groundwork between Xingyin and her love interests before their romance was introduced. Additionally, the love triangle didn’t feel like Xingyin was wishy-washy with her feelings. There were good reasons her relationships with both men developed into more and also broke apart.

The love triangle’s set-up mirrored Xingyin’s character development. She grew as a person throughout the ups and downs of her love life. But what I loved the most was how the love triangle was about Xingyin needing to be happy by herself before deciding who she wanted to date.

In Conclusion

Daughter of the Moon Goddess was such a great book. It was my favourite read in January because of its character development, world-building and romance.

However, I was a bit frustrated by Xingyin’s two-dimensional bias against the Demon Realm when she knew the celestial kingdom rules were not good. But I hope her bias will be addressed and developed in book two.

I’m excited to discover how Xingyin will develop her magic. I hope that book two avoids the predictable “bad” vs. “evil” plot.

Buy Daughter of the Moon Goddess

*These buttons contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclaimer here.