Romance novels were never really stories I had taken much interest in. While I do appreciate romance in stories I’ve read, I’ve always stayed clear of romance centered novels as they often tend to focus more on the physical side of romance while I prefer the tender and sentimental moments instead. With that being said, there are also rather unhealthy tropes and stereotypes that come with the genre. When I picked up Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan and read that it was a Fantasy Romance novel, I was conflicted. On the one hand, I love fantasy novels based on mythology. On the other hand, romance novels often disappoint me. I’m happy that wasn’t the case here.
Character Development
9/10
Xingyin proved to be an interesting yet confusing, but ultimately a compelling protagonist as she endeavours to free her mother from her imprisonment on the moon. Xingyin’s story is a roller coaster of emotions as she goes from the lowest lows to a position of happiness and pride even if brief to fall once more. Throughout this story, she matures in a way I didn’t expect. Despite everything that happens to her, she never loses sight of her main goal of saving her mother but grows into her own person with new goals and dreams for the future. Through heartbreak and tragedy, Xingyin learns to harden herself and not be a helpless girl like she was in the beginning.
While Xingyin proved to be a compelling character, the supporting cast of characters and the antagonists all tend to be rather flat and uninteresting. What’s odd is that they all seem to have an interest in Xingyin that comes off as a bit excessive and unearned. In most cases, it makes sense as Xingyin proves herself to be knowledgeable and a capable warrior, but especially in one specific and important case, it came off as rather forced for the sake of the plot. While it was rather jarring when thought about, it wasn’t enough to take away from Xingyin and her growth as a character.
Plot
8/10
The story is incredibly fast paced and has so much taking place, even more than one would expect for a book of this size. That being said, the moments where the story slowed down and focused on critical moments of importance really help to emphasize the enormity of what was happening. There’s special care taken to focus on what is going on in Xingyin’s mind as she navigated the new challenges facing her. Everything felt monumental to Xingyin’s development and, for a roughly 500 page book, was rather impressive not to have anything that felt like unnecessary filler. There are some parts of the story that developed in a manner that felt rather forced, however, which didn’t ruin the story but was a bit jarring at the time.
There was one thing to note that, while minor, was rather hard to ignore. It was rather strange how after the initial tragic beginning, the vast majority of the characters, outside of the principal antagonists, almost instantly took a liking to Xingyin. It wasn’t to the extent that everyone instantly fell in love with her (with the exception of one that felt unnatural and worse as the story progressed) but it teetered on the line of unbelievable. Normally this isn’t too much of a problem, but it did seem like the avenues of her character development and plot progression were made significantly easier because someone (specifically a man) took an interest to her. While it didn’t diminish her own accomplishments and development as she persevered and even rebelled against those men, it was hard not to notice that.
Worldbuilding
8/10
When I read that this was a book based on Chinese mythology, I was quite excited. Mythology and history are two of my greatest interests of study and I absolutely love learning about those from different cultures. In Daughter of the Moon Goddess, focusing on the tale of Chang’e and Hou Yi, Sue Lynn Tan does a really good job of intertwining parts of the myth into the story and into Xingyin’s character growth. I’ve read different versions of this story and it appears that she uses a version I’m unfamiliar with or her own version of the myth. Whichever it may be, she explains it’s importance and relevance to the main story very well which strengthens the foundation of the world established. It felt like certain parts of the world could have been explored more to better set up certain events, but what was established worked well.
Writing Style
10/10
I cannot remember the last time I had read a book written with such elegance and care in the word choice and length. The way the sentences read so smoothly from one into the other without any awkward moments or abrupt endings leading into new scenes. The way that, despite the paragraphs and the chapters feeling incredibly long and dense, it never felt exhausting to read nor did it feel like exposition was being dumped onto the reader to sort through and figure out. There was a very smooth rhythm between Xingyin’s inner monologue and the events unfolding all around her. The action scenes flowed smoothly from moment to moment just as the dramatic scenes had those long moments of tension that were reflected in Xingyin’s thoughts and feelings. Altogether it makes a 500 page book feel like a joy to read rather than a slog to endure.
Score
8.75/10
Raph's Cozy Musings 