Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Celestial Kingdom, Book 1

By: Sue Lynn Tan

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

The bestselling debut fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess.

A young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm, setting her on a dangerous path where those she loves are not the only ones at risk…

*THE INSTANT TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

THERE ARE MANY LEGENDS ABOUT MY MOTHER…

Raised far away on the moon, Xingyin was unaware she was being hidden from the Celestial Emperor – who exiled her mother for stealing the elixir of immortality. But when her magic flares and reveals her, Xingyin is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, Xingyin makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. In disguise, she trains alongside the Emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, despite the passion which flames between them.

Vowing to rescue her mother, Xingyin embarks on a quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, Xingyin must challenge the ruthless Emperor, leaving her torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos…

Inspired by the legend of Chang’e the Moon Goddess, this captivating debut weaves Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of love and family, immortals and magic.

“A breathtaking debut novel that will sweep readers away. Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish. I love this book.”
¯Stephanie Garber, #1 NYT bestselling author of the Caraval series

“This vivid, unputdownable debut effortlessly whisks us into the celestial realms of Chinese high fantasy. A captivating treat for lovers of Chinese fantasy dramas and newcomers alike.”
¯Shelley Parker-Chan, bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun

“A lush, dreamy gem of a novel.”
¯Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass

“Strikingly evocative, tense, and heartfelt, Daughter of the Moon Goddess leaves you dreaming of dragons.”
¯Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

©2022 Sue Lynn Tan (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

A highly enjoyable emotional rollercoaster

I wish I had listened to this books sooner. It’s a beautiful tale of love, loss, family and honour steeped in rich and beautiful Chinese mythology. Sue Lynn Tan has done an amazing of weaving a tale with ancient roots for a modern audience. Action packed, beautifully written and clever, this book is a must-read for any mythology lover.

Incredibly generic

I am starting to narrow down YA tropes with female POV characters. Main character is special in a way that she cannot let other people see, for some reason she has to distance herself away from her family and find herself on her own in unfriendly environment, where she has to debase herself to survive in the world she is now forced to be a part of. Eventually she will attract the attention of the weirdly down-to-Earth equivalent of a princeling in this world who is struck by how different she is, and whose attention she will probably garner by being bullied by the puddle-deep NPCs in whatever fantasy world this takes place, where the magical coat of paint is just trying to emulate a high school dynamic through some prismatic light. Naturally, she is a strong independent woman that needs no man and won't strive to attain the princeling's attention (it could be the son of a most prominent family, rather than a princeling if it is not a monarchy-like setting, mind you, it's still a coat of paint signifying the same fantasy), which will ultimately make the princeling even more attracted to the MC. Eventually she'll obviously return that attention, even if it goes through enemies-to-lovers arc, which is another peak of originality, but not before she manages to climb her own way to the top without his help, earning the respect and fear of those who previously scorned her, while beating rivals who keep underestimating her and looking down upon her because of her low initial standing. She may also be the savior of the world or, at the very least, the kingdom throughout this adventure.

There can be variance based on the skill of the author, this tropeism may come with more or less impressive prose or witty dialogue, which would make the reading of the same schlop more or less entertaining (less in the case of this specific book). There may be a magic system and world lore that is more or less developed: the usual trope is "the less magic or lore the better, wouldn't want to draw attention away from the high school emulator, at most we can put in some detail in anything special that the MC will eventually have an affinity for", and that would never have too much attention put in, as "fantasy" is never the primary in the "YA fantasy" combination. And no, just because it has a coat of some sort of cultural paint it doesn't make it more original, it actually makes it even less, as the worldbuilding that is used only for another high school emulation (to attract a teenage reading crowd I suppose) becomes even less imaginative. The "Folk of Air" and "Scholomance" series had a fair bit more quality to the coat paint they applied over the same concept, for example.

I am writing this review two hours into the book. I strive to be fair in my judgement of books and if by the end I see something that will even slightly swerve away from established tropes, I'll happily update this review, as I do plan to finish what I started. If you don't see a paragraph starting with "Edit" below, it means I finished the book, and found absolutely nothing that would defy my initial expectations. A note about the performance - it is passable, but forgettable, I was sincerely surprised I had no other books in my library from the same narrator, as it sounds like most other YA narrations, maybe she also took a cue from other release and thought "Hey, this clearly sells, might as well do the exact same thing".