Book Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just like Legendborn and Iron Widow, this book right here has soared into the top five books I love this year-and it’s only the second month of the year. Sue Lynn Tan has written a wonderful world full of gods, goddesses, demons and love. It is inspired by the legend of the Moon Goddess Chang’e, and it is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read in a long time.

The story is about the title character, Xingyin, the daughter of the moon goddess. She is trying to free her mother from her enchantment that was placed on her, as punishment for drinking an elixir. One day, she left her home because of a visit from the Celestial Empress and the fact that she sensed someone at the home. Leaving her home was painful, but she had to do it as she left to escape the Celestial Goddess to go to another kingdom so she can live a better life.

That better life starts out by serving a very horrid girl. She had to lie about her family as she worked, and it was one of those days where she met Crown Prince Liwei. The two talked a bit, and then (I honestly forgot the name of the girl Xingyin served honestly, she was trash) and then invited the both of them to a contest. Xingyin won the contest, and she and Liwei are together a lot-training, going to school…falling in love.

But Xingyin doesn’t want that, even after she finds out Liwei is going to get engaged to another royal. She joins the Celestial Army and is right next to a man named General Wenzhi. The both of them go on adventures and encounter monsters like the bone devil and the Governor Ruyi when she is finally rewarded with what she craves: a seal and a wish for whatever she wants. She reveals herself as the daughter of the moon goddess, and everyone is up in an uproar about it. Even though it was just a simple wish, and she had to hide it for reasons, the Celestial Emperor came up with a task for her: get the pearls from the dragons.

And she does, only to learn that the Celestial Emperor once controlled the four great dragons. So Xingyin comes up with an idea: she’s going to return the dragon’s essence to them. She does so, and then danger strikes when she’s kidnapped by Wenzhi-and is revealed that he’s a demon prince and he had feelings for her (shocking-and this happened before she released the dragon’s essence to them). Thanks to his younger brother, Xingyin escaped the Demon World and went back to the Celestial Kingdom, where she gave the pearls back to the Emperor (who was fucking furious) and learned that Liwei broke the bethrothal to his betrothed, because he was in love with her.

This book was so good and I think EVERYONE should read it. It was slow at first, but then it ramped up, and I loved every bit of it.

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