#daughter of the moon goddess by sue lynn tan

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Ok, so normally I just...ignore creators who can't be bothered to include women, LTGBTQIA, and BIPOC authors in Fantasy Book Lists, but today I'm tired and grouchy and this goddamn video pissed me off because it's a vast majority of white dudes and their fantastical man pain. SO. I would like to just toss out some NOT white male fantasy authors because frankly I am *so tired* of white dudes retreading Tolkien and Robert Jordan forever. So let's celebrate some amazing fantasy authors who tend not to make these lists.

I'll give the author (and a book to start with).

- Mercedes Lackey (Arrows of the Queen)

- Tamora Pierce (Sandry's Book)

- Fonda Lee (Jade City)

- India Holton (The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels)

- NE Davenport (The Blood Trials)

- Naomi Novik (His Majesty's Dragon)

- Moniquill Blackgoose (To Shape A Dragon's Breath)

- CE Murphy (Urban Shaman)

- Sue Lynn Tan (Daughter of the Moon Goddess)

- Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights)

- Judy I. Lin (A Magic Steeped in Poison)

- Tasha Suri (The Jasmine Throne)

- Xiran Jay Zhao (Iron Widow)

- Jordan Ifueko (Raybearer)

- Chelsea Abdullah (The Stardust Thief)

- Tracy Deonn (Legendborn)

- Gabi Burton (Sing Me to Sleep)

- Brittany N. Williams (That Self-Same Metal)

- Juliet Marillier (Dreamer's Pool)

- Stephanie Burgis (Scales and Sensibility)

- Allison Saft (A Fragile Enchantment)

- Chloe Neill (The Bright and Breaking Sea)

- Olivia Atwater (Half a Soul)

- Heather Fawcett (Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faerie)

- MA Carrick (The Mask of Mirrors)

- Kristin Cashore (Graceling)

- Marie Brennan (A Natural History of Dragons)

- Maya Ibrahim (The Spice Road)

- HM Long (Dark Water Daughter)

- Aparna Verma (The Phoenix King)

And these are just the ones I can see on my bookshelves by turning my head without moving from my chair. There are DOZENS of others who I apologize for missing and who are absolutely worth reading. If I missed one of your favorites, add it to the list with a reblog, and let's stop defaulting to filling fantasy author lists with white dudes.

#fantasy novel #fantasy books #books and reading #books #books and novels

[wutheringmights]

If a book has a pretty cover, it's not allowed to be bad. Yet, that's exactly what I got from "Daughter of the Moon Goddess" by Sue Lynn Tan. It's a 1/5 for me, folks.

This was a really infuriating book to read because I didn't need it to be good. I just wanted it to be fun, and yet no element of it worked for me.

The plot was episodic at best and unfocused at worst. Plot points that could have been books within their own right were introduced and solved within the span of a couple of chapters. Think everything from adapting to court life to going on magical quests to seek out legendary dragons.

Not only that, but many plot points were solved by the biggest contrivances in the world. For example, our main character was able to spike another's drink with the petals of a flower she found in their garden WHILE on the way to trick them. This was premeditated. She did not know the flowers were there, but there would have been no way her plan could have happened without them.

Don't even get me started on how the villain's entire scheme only worked out for them by pure chance. They were about to give up when it turns out by sheer coincidence that the main character was going to get her hands on the magical plot device they had been seeking for hundreds of years.

Speaking of which, the characters were flat beyond belief. I don't mind characters being simplistic or even archetypes, but they have to at least be entertaining. None of them were. The love rivals were infuriating in how similar they were. Our main character could not stop narrating about how much she hates lying and how she was deceiving everyone, while at the same time never once thinking anything through.

How bad is she at thinking things through? Imagine it's 2010 and President Barack Obama killed your mom. You have sworn revenge. Then you meet Sasha Obama at Martha's Vineyard, and she invites you to her home: the White House. So you go to the White House, only to remember that's where Obama lives when you see him sitting in the Oval Office.

Not only is our main character dumb enough to do that, but she did do that. All of that actually happened in the story, sans two-term president Barack Obama.

The rest of the characters? Not worth mentioning. They were nothing.

The genre of the story was also very confused. There were times that the world seemed to operate on fairy tale logic and others were it was trying to be realistic. For example, the main character was immediately good at archery because her dad is a legendary archer. Alright, sure. I can get behind that. But then the villain's plot involved tricking the enemy kingdom into violating a treaty of nonaggression so that they could justifiably wage a war against them without their allies lending aid. Huh? That's their scheme? To avoid an international incident?

I'm not even getting into how the rushed plot points pushes the characters from a fairy tale to a court drama to a war story to an adventure quest without succeeding at any of them.

I guess I could call this novel a romance, but none of the romances work either because the author merely assumes you want these characters to end up together and, therefore, does not even attempt to show the characters falling in love. In general, so much character development is hidden behind strange time jumps of anywhere from a few weeks to whole years passing.

Most of all, the way this story was written drove me nuts. Yes, there is some pretty, flowery language that more or less passes as feeling old and magical. But no amount of metaphors can cover up that the story just TELLS the readers what every character is feeling. At no point does the prose SHOW.

(I have some extended thoughts about how this novel's prose made me contemplate my own craft, but it's late and I want to go to bed soon. I'll come back tomorrow with some musings, so look forward to that).

So, yeah. This is a no from me. I really tried to like it, but I mainly felt like I was wasting my time. I'll probably dump this book the next time I de-clutter my bookshelf. I'm just glad that I didn't buy the sequel when I saw it on sale.

#god i didn't even mention all the areas where it was obvious an editor came back and told Tann to cover up a plot hole #i wanted this book to be good! i wanted it to feel like a silly webtoon!!! it just did nothing right!!! #ok that's a lie. i liked the last chapter where they visited the dad's grave and cleaned it up. that was sweet #me rambling #me reading #daughter of the moon goddess #daughter of the moon goddess by sue lynn tan #the daughter of the moon goddess #bookblr

[afterblossom]

I have the great honor of illustrating Sue Lynn Tan's phenomenon Series Tales of the Celestial Kingdom 🏹🌙 with the cover and interior illustrations! I cannot wait to show you all!💖🙌🏻

#tales of the celestial kingdom #daughter of the moon goddess #heart of the sun warrior #sue lynn tan #illustration

[smokefalls]

Some scars are carved into our bones—a part of who we are, shaping what we become.

Sue Lynn Tan, Daughter of the Moon Goddess

#Sue Lynn Tan #Daughter of the Moon Goddess #quote #fiction #fantasy #romance #ya #2023 reads

[thepaige-turner]

#books #booklr #bookblr #bookstagram #bookworm #reading #YA #mine #daughter of the moon goddess #sue lynn tan

[fantasybooktournament]

#daughter of the moon goddess #sue lynn tan #the kingkiller chronicle #kingkiller chronicle #patrick rothfuss #the name of the wind #round 2 #polls #fantasy book tournament

[vensulove]

we should appreciate the flower, regardless of it’s roots

#have another one in a different color scheme ! #daughter of the moon goddess moodboard #daughter of the moon goddess #sue lynn tan #the celestial kingdom duology #book moodboard #chinese mythology #Chinese mythology moodboard #chang’e #chang’e moodboard #kinda #mat’s moodboards #fantasy moodboard #blue moodboard #blue aesthetic #moon #moon aesthetic #moon moodboard

[fatalwhims]

i am going to ramble about Heart of the Sun Warrior into the void in hopes that someone will actually browse the tags and join me because i need to gush about this book through incoherent rambles

Wow how do I put into words how this book (and duology) made me feel?? Tan had me guessing throughout the entire book about who would be endgame. Just when you think the scale tips one way, she follows it up with a tender scene with the other boy (?? ok technically man, but we’ll affectionally say boy because they are my boys). It swung back and forth so much that tbh I got frustrated at one point and legitimately thought that Xingyin wouldn’t end up with either. 

With Wenzhi’s last scene in DOTMG I had a feeling that he would be endgame. So I’m surprised that even with that feeling, I was so unsure throughout the entire book. With Xingyin + Wenzhi’s conversation before the final battle and the finality of the word “Friends” and Xingyin’s monologue: “a part of me mourning the end of something precious, that never truly had a chance to begin”, I thought that was it. I convinced myself that the “I love you” when he died was just her speaking in the moment. Yes it was a truth, but not the truth. And with Wenzhi dead I didn’t think there was any chance that she would end up with him in the end.

Unless he was reborn as a mortal. Which brings me to the ending... oh the ending. It was such a beautiful resolution. What a way to bring Wenzhi and Xingyin back together, but also involve Liwei. With his death, I thought the only way Wenzhi + Xingyin would end up together was if he was reborn as a mortal and she found him. But to have Liwei send him down so that he could regenerate his immortal self, to do this out of love for Xingyin to see her be happy...we love to see growth! And not just growth of Liwei, but also Xingyin in her decision to wait for the elixir of immorality. It’s the classic tale of an immortal falling in love with a mortal and having to watch them die and then find them again in each new life. Tbh it’s a tragic curse, but there was so much joy in Xingyin’s thoughts as she describes all the moments that they would share together, that it filled me with hope instead (that and the fact that it shouldn’t be centuries hopefully). And the resolution really comes full circle with Chang’e and Houyi’s circumstances. 

My thing with love triangles is that I feel like the author can sometimes force their resolution by just writing out the one who isn't chosen by giving them less screen time. For a while I felt like that's what Tan had done. Liwei just didn't have as many opportunities as Wenzhi here to prove himself or do something for Xingyin. Wenzhi had the pivotal role of getting the scroll from his father and then casting the enchantment, which was the key part that tethered them together and allowed for the sacrifice. Liwei was imprisoned for part of the novel. Etc. Etc. But as I thought more about Wenzhi's death and how he gave his life for her and thus his crown, I realized that Liwei could have given up his crown too. Ok yeah, it's easier for Wenzhi to do that when he knows it's a choice of life or death. Maybe if Liwei was tasked with the same decision to save her, he would give up that duty as well (tbh he probably would). BUT in the aftermath, when he still wouldn’t make the choice and help her heal... when he still believed that she would be able to live there, despite how much he could sense her hurting, that was when I knew that Liwei just couldn't choose her over everything. And he admits it when they meet for the final time. I guess all this to say that, I’m glad that Liwei did have his chances and his choices and that he wasn't just written off as shitty guy.

#dotmg #hotsw #daughter of the moon goddess #heart of the sun warrior #sue lynn tan #tbh i have more thoughts but this is a little too unhinged already #also if you follow me and see this very random post on your dash #this is your sign to read this duology please lmao #celestial kingdom #*my post

[unadulteratedfunmusic]

Daughter Of The Moon Goddess / Heart Of The Sun Warrior US / UK

#Daughter Of The Moon Goddess #Heart Of The Sun Warrior #Sue Lynn Tan #Celestial Kingdom #ya books #young adult books #fantasy books

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Little Moments with Massive Impacts

I absolutely adored Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun God, and there is something lush and comfortable and quietly gripping about Sue Lynn Tan's writing. When Tan's original duology ended, I was satisfied, but honestly this is one of those worlds where I would happily take anything more the author was willing to give us. And she has given us some new small moments and an epilogue that just wrapped my heart in a warm blanket and squish hugged it. Let's talk Tales of the Celestial Kingdom.

SPOILER WARNING!!! I am going to spoil not only TotCK, but DotMG and HotSG. BE WARNED.

This little short story collection is divided into three main sections: "Dusk," "Twilight," and "Dawn." Each section covers moments before, during, or after the main duology. The only story from Xingying's perspective is the last one; the other stories are from the perspective of other characters.

"Dusk" focuses on Chang'e and Houyi and expands their relationship before Xingying's birth. It also explores the toll killing the sunbirds took on Houyi and the choices that led to Chang'e taking the immortality elixir to save her own and Xingying's life. Seeing their relationship and their clear love for each other before decades of grief and change have colored and complicated it was a delight. Chang'e and Houyi in this version of their tale are fiercely in love, and that is ultimately what makes their story so tragic.

I also loved that, despite the brevity of the stories, the emotions were clear, complex, and communicated effectively. That can be hard to do in short form (I have always been terrible at it; I like to have a little more space to really wallow in feelings when I write) and I've never been a major short story girl; I like novel-length stuff. But I was entirely here for this reimagining of the Chang'e myth.

"Twilight" fills in spaces that were implied but not explored during the DotMG and HotSG timelines. We get a little more Liwei and Xingying as students, with a quick little adventure just as Liwei realizes he is beginning to fall in love. We also get a little more Wenzhi and Xingying in the Celestial army, also as Wenzhi realizes he is falling in love. I absolutely adore seeing Xingying through their eyes, and it was very instructive to see how they perceive their relationship with Xingying. I was ALWAYS a Wenying (Xingzhi? I dunno, reblog with your preferred ship name) girl, because quite frankly Liwei had too many Prince Jonathan of Conte vibes for me to think he was a good idea. Getting into Liwei's head just strengthened that perception, and while I can understand that he and Wenzhi were both inherently flawed characters...frankly I could support Wenzhi's flaws a lot more smoothly than Liwei's. (Honestly y'all, I might actually need to slap Liwei, especially when he's out here being an UTTER DICKHEAD).

Our boys aren't the only perspectives in "Twilight." We also get Shuxiao and Mengqi's mission to free the Celestial Emperor from Wugang. We are always here for BFF Shuxiao, and honestly if we were ever to get another short story collection in the Celestial Kingdom, I want a slice-of-life first date for these lovely ladies, because they have SUCH A SPARK. Like, we get one short story for them. It is 19 pages. And yet I am HERE for them to have a long, happy life snarking off at each other. The chemistry was just beautifully done. Give our girls their own book.

Finally, "Dawn" gives us a little more from Wenzhi in his mortal life, and Yingxing inserting herself into it. It's darling, and I appreciate the subtle nuances and differences that highlight that yes, this is definitely Wenzhi, but it's not Wenzhi the Prince of the Demon Realm. And yet he and Xingying are still perfect for each other, still love each other. And they have their first mortal date at Wenzhi's favorite tea house. It's DARLING.

What the final story does, however, is give me the ending that I desperately hoped for--but notably did not get--at the end of HotSG. The end of that book gives us the hope that Wenzhi and Xingying will have an immortal life together with Wenzhi's memories and experiences as an immortal restored to him. It was a wonderful, uplifting end to a book that had a lot to do with grief, but the thing it didn't do was make it too easy. Which I think is so important for good storytelling.

That said, actually getting Xingying and Wenzhi reuniting as immortals, and--for Wenzhi--picking up after he had just sacrificed himself for Xingying was SO. SATISFYING. We had the hope, we knew it was a possibility, and that's often what we have to sit with and exist with in real life. That's fine. But every once in a while--a very great while, it seems--we get the fruition of that hope and promise. We actually get the unambiguously happy ending and we, along with Xingying, remember that happiness is crucial.

Y'all, the end of this collection is so soft and happy, and I'm so deeply grateful that it's in the world with me.

#sue lynn tan #tales of the celestial kingdom #daughter of the moon goddess #heart of the sun warrior #xingying #wenzhi #short story collection #ya fantasy #chinese mythology #chinese literature #books and reading #books #books and novels #books & libraries #book recommendations

[literiry]

[Liwei] Heart Of The Sun Warrior // Sue Lynn Tan

#heart of the sun warrior #the celestial kingdom duology #liwei #li wei #daughter of the moon goddess #dotmg #sue lynn tan

[smokefalls]

… pain struck my heart so sharp and clear—it fractured—only kept whole by a slender thread of hope.

Sue Lynn Tan, Daughter of the Moon Goddess

#Sue Lynn Tan #Daughter of the Moon Goddess #quote #fiction #fantasy #romance #ya #2023 reads

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor's son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

#book: daughter of the moon goddess #author: sue lynn tan #genre: fantasy #genre: retelling #genre: historical fiction #genre: mythology #year: 2020s

[from-books-i-read]

"Some scars are carved into our bones - a part of who we are, shaping what we become."

Daughter of the Moon Goddess - Sue Lynn Tan

#the celestial kingdom series #daughter of the moon goddess #sue lynn tan #books #quotes #xingyin

[alyciadebnamcareys]

“As a child, my mother had cautioned me against looking directly at the sun, telling me the brightness of its glare could blind me. Perhaps it was something her own mother had told her [...] Today, I had finally dared to gaze at it, allowing its radiance to blaze through me unhindered, spilling through my veins until I was aglow. Never did I imagine such luminous joy existed, and never again would I be content to remain in the shadows.”

― Sue Lynn Tan, Daughter of the Moon Goddess

#daughter of the moon goddess #dotmgedit #dotmg #xingyin #prince liwei #captain wenzhi #sue lynn tan #bookedit #book rec #gif

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

It’s always autumn in my heart, but when the weather starts agreeing with me, it’s the best 🍂

#booklr #book photography #book picture #open book #daughter of the moon goddess #sue lynn tan #fiction #fantasy #bookworm #bibliophile #book lover #book nerd #book aesthetic #book community #books and tea #cozy #cozy aesthetic #my photos #mine