Daughter of the Moon Goddess, by Sue Lynn Tan, is inspired by the story of Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, who was banished to the moon after taking an elixir of immortality intended for her husband. It follows Chang’e’s daughter, Xingyin, who has to flee the moon to remain hidden from the Celestial Emperor, first working in a household in the immortal realm and then becoming the learning companion to Liwei, the Crown Prince. As she learns to fight and wield her magic, growing close with Liwei, she begins to focus on how to gain respect in the realm so that she can free her mother, going on a variety of quests and facing betrayals and hardship as she tries to do what’s best for her family.

Everything about this book is amazing. I cannot recommend it enough for any fantasy fan.

Xingyin is such a wonderful heroine; I absolutely adore her. Her character development over the course of the book as she grows stronger and more confident in herself is so compelling to watch. She faces numerous moral quandaries over the course of the book, always trying to find a balance between what’s best for her family and what’s best for all of the other people that she cares about. She’s absolutely amazing.

The other characters are all really well-written as well. I love Liwei, even though he’s very frustrating sometimes. He’s caught between his relationship with Xingyin and his duties to his kingdom for much of the book, which is interesting to read about. Wenzhi, a captain in the army and another love interest, is a compelling character as well. Xingyin’s friends, mentors, and all of the other characters feel complex and three-dimensional too.

In addition to Tan’s skill at writing her characters, her world-building is spectacular as well. The magic system is well-written, and I really appreciated the inclusion of elements of Chinese mythology and folklore, such as dragons and the story of Chang’e. Additionally, despite there being a complex hierarchy and relationships between different kingdoms and beings in the book, Tan always weaves in that history in such a natural way that it feels like the reader is simply discovering those stories alongside Xingyin. The world is beautiful and magical and complicated, but it never feels like Tan is infodumping or like she is saying too little. She strikes a natural balance between the two.

The plot is wonderful as well. It’s a bit more on the character-based side than the plot-based side, which is unusual for a fantasy novel, but that doesn’t mean that the plot is underdeveloped or unimportant; it just feels less important to the reader than Xingyin’s personal journey. I did really enjoy her quests as she gradually learns more about history that has been relatively hidden in her kingdom by the Celestial Emperor, as well as the growing tensions among the kingdoms in her world. Tan weaves all of the different threads together skillfully, never letting one plotline drop for too long, and bringing them all together in unexpected ways.

The love triangle trope in this book is really well-handled. Both of the love interests are compelling, and Xingyin’s relationships with them are deeply woven into the plot, rather than it just being a random side plot as romance can often be in fantasy books. I was truly as deeply invested in that aspect of the book as I was in all of the other plotlines. It is skillfully and realistically developed, and I throughly enjoyed it.

The prose is simply beautiful to read. There are beautiful descriptions, and the writing is simply so well-crafted that reading this book is a joy. It feels like a fairy-tale in both its plot and its writing, and is truly just so well-done.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess is the first book in a duology, and I can’t wait for the next book. Sue Lynn Tan has become an auto-buy author for me just with this one book, so I can’t wait to see what she does in the future.

I honestly cannot rave enough about this book. It is a stunning debut, and a must-read for any fan of fantasy. Xingyin is a compelling heroine, her development is enthralling and believable, the worldbuilding is stellar, and every aspect of the plot is entangled so skillfully that one can’t help but be invested in every aspect of the book. Although marketed as adult fantasy, I would say that it probably straddles the lines between that and YA, though I truly believe that anybody could enjoy it. I would recommend this to absolutely anybody and anybody who likes fantasy, mythology, or is simply willing to give any exceptionally-well-written book a try.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.