Daughter of the Moon Goddess review

5/5 stars

Recommended for people who like: fantasy, magic, Asian mythology, non-Western fantasy, epic fantasy, character arcs, starcrossed lovers, political intrigue

I loved this book! The setting was rich and the characters were interesting. The ending wrapped up nicely and I’m curious to see where Tan goes with the characters next (there’s definitely still potential conflict, even if everything seems nice).

We get to see several different settings in this book. Xingyin spends the least amount of time on the moon, I think, but even still the imagery was vivid enough in those few chapters that I feel like I got a really solid picture of it. I liked how Tan incorporated the idea that because the furniture on the moon was made of cinnamon wood that it smelled like that on the moon. It’s such a small detail, but it’s one of those things that I think really brought the world to life. The next major setting we get a good look at is the Celestial Palace. I did have a harder time imagining this setting, but I think that’s because it’s just…vast. The palace is opulent but also has a tranquil feeling to it (for the most part), but the further into the story we get, the more the opulence comes out. Xingyin travels a lot in the novel and so we get to see a broad look at the different places that makeup the ‘godly’ realm. I’m definitely intrigued by the other places and hope they come in at least somewhat in future books.

Character relationships are a huge part of what drives this book. A lot of what drives Xingyin is her love for her mother. She wants her mother to be free and is willing to push herself to (perhaps unreasonable) extremes to achieve that. The characters around Xingyin also serve to create different dynamics and a lot of them end up bringing both tension and relief to the story.

Xingyin herself is loyal and ambitious. As mentioned, a lot of what drives her is the desire to see her mother freed. That love really comes through so clearly, as does her love for her friends. She’s also ambitious, but not the kind of ambitious that drives you to climb the ranks, rather she’s the kind of ambitious that doesn’t care about status, but she truly believes she can be the best and she’s willing to do what it takes to prove it. At the same time though, Xingyin can be oddly humble, and not just with other people. She understands when she makes mistakes and acknowledges them. I enjoyed her narration and how she thought about things/the world.

Liwei, the Celestial Prince, is a surprisingly sympathetic character. Despite his parents’ behavior, Liwei is actually a decent person and is willing to reach out and help other people, even if they’re ‘below’ his station. He’s one of Xingyin’s friends, so we do see a good amount of him, but I still feel like I want to see his character more in the next book than I did in this one.

Wenzhi was an interesting character and another one of Xingyin’s friends. While they grew up differently, I feel like he and Xingyin do have somewhat similar backgrounds, even if they express it differently. Xingyin was kept on the moon due to her mother’s punishment and Wenzhi is trapped by the constraints of his position and different Celestial rules. For how important he is to things in the story, Wenzhi actually comes in fairly late. I’m interested to see what his role is in the next book.

Shuxiao is a member of the Celestial Army and befriends Xingyin when she’s training. She brings a bit of dry humor to things as well as a dash of seriousness that Xingyin plays off of well. Shuxiao is loyal and more interested in what she knows to be true than what people try and say is true. She’s also very family-oriented like Xingyin is, which is one of the reasons I think they get along well.

While a lot of what drives the book forward is the characters, there’s still a lot of plot and action. The first third of the book is very character driven, but then we get to see Xingyin adventuring a little bit and the remaining two-thirds of the book are pretty well balanced between character relationships and monster-fighting scenes. I liked getting to see some of the creatures of the world and how the ‘godly’ realm interacts with the human one.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one. I’m curious to see where the characters are going and how some of the things that happened in this book will play out in the long-term.