Released: 2022
Series: The Celestial Kingdom #1
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Rating: 4 stars
Blurb: Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful 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, untrained, 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 Crown Prince, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the emperor’s son. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. When treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, however, 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. Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting, romantic duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice – where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.
I picked this book from my TBR list after watching Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, a creative take on the centuries-old Japanese story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. That film, while a fundamentally different style from many of their other productions, is beautiful and awash with elegant and heartbreaking storyboards. After watching, I eager to immerse myself further in Eastern myths.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess did not disappoint. The tale follows Xingyin as she fights to save her mother from the ire and harsh punishment of the Celestial Emperor, ruler of the moon and skies. Her mother’s crime, like many other issues in this book, is rife with complexity and humanity. In many YA books, there’s an urge to reduce issues down to right/wrong, yes/no, but this book supersedes that notion.
“Some scars are carved into our bones – a part of who we are, shaping what we become.”
Xingyin’s journey is essentially structured as a hero’s journey: gaining knowledge, entering the new world, finding friends and wise teachers, battling enemies, then returning home. However, within all of that is a story arc that is more gentle mountains than climbing Everest. She encounters several “big bosses” (as one of my creative writing teachers would put it!) and suffers large losses and wins in the span of a few chapters.
Typically, in the beginning of the journey, we are treated to a montage of the hero learning to fight or develop their powers. In this book, those montage moments are fleshed out into whole chapters, giving the entire book the feeling of an old video camera capturing the ordinary and extraordinary moments.
In some of those ordinary moments is where this book encounters some bright places. There is a love triangle (haters of the trope beware!) and the interactions between Xingyin and bachelor #1 and #2 bring a much needed feminist orientation to the book.
Bachelor #1 is your classic clingy boy: can’t make up his mind, nor sacrifice his own comfort, and thus pushing all of his problems onto Xingyin.
Bachelor #2 is the independent type: championed Xingyin’s accomplishments in a patriarchal society and accepting of any choices she makes… except the ones that mean she doesn’t stay with him for eternity.
Not great choices, tbh.
However, there are some revelations and character growth for both our bachelors and, to my utmost excitement, Xingyin brushes off their clumsy attempts to control her and distract her from her main quest from the get-go. You go girl!
“I hated him now because I had loved him then.”
The worldbuilding happens mainly in the context of Xingyin’s journey which works well in the interest of non-info-dumping, but it does lead to some reader fatigue when partnered with the episodic nature of the storyline. Thus, the four stars. I have to admit I was flagging around 1/3 of the way through the book, wondering when the climb to the climax would begin, particularly with a book of 500 pages!
Still, we get hints about the “final boss” throughout the book, which appeals to the Agatha Christie lover in me. The author unfortunately couldn’t escape the chaotic rush that is the denouement in fantasy. When all of a sudden the enemy is defeated but wait one last hiccup but wait it’s all good, all in the span of three pages. The slowing down after the quickening leading up to the final battle is tricky and I don’t think the author quite nailed it.
“My path, which had seemed a straight road, had taken a turn into the wilderness—and I was lost.”
Despite the pacing snafus, I thoroughly enjoyed the structure of the story arc, mainly because it’s different than what I’ve been reading lately, as well as the romance plotlines and Xingyin’s own development as a character. The writing is lush and imagistic, with beautiful descriptions of settings, clothing, and most importantly, food. I’m looking forward to more in the second part of this duology.
“A glorious future beckoned on the horizon. Yet I still clung to a shred of my past, as a flowering peach blossom tree yearning for its fallen bloom.”
Blue Eye Books 