Daughter of the Moon Goddess

 Book Title: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Author: Sue Lynn Tan

Series: The Celestial Kingdom Duology #1

Date Started: December 10th 2021

Date Completed: December 17th 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Ultimately, Daughter of the Moon Goddess wasn't for me, and the cutesy romance was not enough to keep me around. I made it 19% of the way through and had been considering giving up from very early on. I wanted to give it a chance and see how the early story developed, but more and more I realised most of my problems were with the writing style and general storytelling decisions which weren't going to change. I don't think it's a bad book, but its style is not something I want to invest more time into.

This book reads like middle grade, probably aspiring to jump into teen themes a little later in the series. There's so much inner monologuing (with a protagonist who collects information pretty slowly) and little actual drama in the outside world. Xingjin really didn't seem that bothered by anything happening to her, including what you'd imagine are some pretty traumatic experiences.

I'm also slightly sad that the worldbuilding is a little sparse. We get some little tidbits of what I believe to be Chinese myth (apologies if I'm a little off), but considering this is literally set on the moon there's very little description or aesthetic inclination to help us build what I imagine must be a fantastical empire on a celestial body - a really cool and unique thing to this story.

The reason I gave up where I did was the lack of direction in the actual story. Xingyin is supposed to get somewhere to escape the events at the beginning of the book, but she isn't very rushed to do so. I sort of forget she had that goal. Every obstacle she faces on the way to that goal is also very easily tied up without much input from the protagonist herself.

As I say, I don't think Daughter of the Moon Goddess isn't worth reading, it just isn't for me. I was expecting something aimed at a higher age range, whereas this reads very middle grade to me - nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I was expecting and lends itself to a few of my pet peeves that just makes reading it not as enjoyable an experience.