Book Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

I’ve been wanting to read the Daughter of the Moon Goddess series by Sue Lynn Tan for a while now and I bought the books during a sale earlier a few months ago. I finished the first book a couple days ago and was transported to the magical world created in the book.

The novel follows Xingyin, a young woman who has lived her whole life on the moon. She grew up knowing her mother is the moon goddess and her father was a mortal who had slain the suns. What she didn’t know is that her mother kept her a secret and no one knows she exists. Her mother was exiled to the moon by the Celestial Emperor for offending him. When the Celestial Empress pays a visit to the moon and suspects Xingyin’s mother is hiding something, Xingyin has to escape in order to protect her mother.

Now Xingyin is living amongst other immortals and trying to survive as well as keeping her identity secret. Over time Xingyin becomes the study companion to Liwei, the Emperor’s son, and they become best friends. But when forbidden magic threatens the kingdom things become more dangerous for Xingyin and may either help her or hinder her from getting closer to getting her mother’s exile lifted. While all this goes on, her and Liwei’s feelings for each other continue to grow but his duties as heir to the throne mean the two can’t be together without causing a scandal. On top of that, Xingyin begins to grow close to Wenzhi, one of the greatest warriors in the Celestial army. Can Xingyin free her mother? Can she keep her identity secret?

I loved this book and the magical tale Tan weaves through beautiful imagery and inspired by Chinese mythology. It’s seriously so gorgeous and I could picture everything and all the food in the book. I loved all the characters and it was such a good story. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the love triangle since I’m not typically a fan of that trope and this one kept going back and forth. I’m not sure which guy I like more, but right now I’m leaning towards Liwei but I can’t say why without spoilers!

I’m looking forward to starting the 2nd book and see how it all concludes although I heard the companion book with the short stories set in that world has the epilogue that really ties up the story so I’ve just ordered that!

Read this if you want a fantasy romance based on Chinese mythology with a strong fmc and the love triangle trope.

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