Reviews with content warning for Torture - Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

67 reviews

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

elaineyh1216's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Having grown up listening to and reading Chinese folk tales and watching Chinese fantasy dramas, this book was right up my alley. The original folk tale of Chang'e and Houyi was familiar to me, and I really enjoyed this reimagining and extension of the story. Xingyin, the titular Daughter of the Moon Goddess, is a relateably flawed heroine. She's impulsive, hot-headed, and passionate, a combination of characteristics which frequently gets her into trouble. But she's also able to reflect and acknowledge her mistakes and correct course as needed.

Sue Lynn Tan's writing style is lyrical with longer descriptive passages than most modern novels I've read. For readers who don't like long descriptions, this book is probably not for you. I personally really enjoyed the beautiful lyricity of the writing and the exquisite descriptions. The world building, fighting, and magic system reminded me of some of the Chinese historical/fantasy dramas I've watched recently, so they were familiar to me. Like classic Chinese novels and dramas, the plot is more episodic. While Xingyin's ultimate goal,

freeing her mother from her imprisonment by the Celestial Emperor

, is always on her (and the reader's) mind, the story follows a tight series of adventures that are linked and ultimately leads to a final climax.

There is a love triangle (rectangle?) in the story. While I'm normally not a fan of love triangles, this one was written well in my opinion. I like both romantic interests as characters, and we do get to know both guys pretty well. The romantic plot is really left a bit open-ended at the end of the book, so I'm wondering if it will be resolved in the sequel.

I do think that the plot does drag a little bit at some points of the book, but that's because there's so much happening that any lull between the adventures felt slow. There were some really extensive internal monologues that got a bit repetetive. Like many other reviewers said, I think this book could be a tad shorter. But overall, I really enjoyed Daughter of the Moon Goddess, and I look forward to continuing the adventure with Xingyin in Heart of the Sun Warrior.

Content Warnings

theespressoedition's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

Just some quotes I loved:

What use were adventures when there was no one to share them with?

Today, I had finally dared to gaze at the sun, allowing its radiance to blaze through me unhindered, spilling through my veins until I was aglow. Never did I imagine such luminous joy existed, and never again would I be content to remain in the shadows. and never again would I be content to remain in the shadows.

kings were not always as just as in the stories, and the mercy of gods was sometimes flawed.

Not everyone’s past was a path through sunlit fields. We each had our own corners that we preferred to leave in the shadows.

Content Warnings

modernmatilda's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow! I don't read a lot of long fantasy books, but this one blew me away and I'm so glad I read it. The audiobook narrator is amazing, the writing is stunning, the fierce female protagonist is amazing, and there are dragons!!
Definitely one of those emotional damage kinds of books, but in the best way. So glad my book club read this book.

Content Warnings

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

ong's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reading this feels like reading poetry. How Sue Lynn Tan describes everything is just 100/10 spectacular beautiful amazing stunning. As one of chinese descent, it’s nice to finally read a fantasy book with familiar lores. From the tales to the food, the dresses and action scenes which I can easily picture in my head from years of watching asian dramas, my heart was filled with warmth the entire time.
Now onto the characters. Xingyin. Our 小星。At first so untouched by the realities of the cruel world out there, now a warrior, survivor, savior and more. Very in theme too that she was never shown what healthy love & relationships looks like so when she was thrown in a ‘love triangle’ she couldn’t made up her mind ever and felt unworthy.
Liwei. What can I say. 10/10 best of all of us.
Fuck people in power by the way.

Content Warnings

mollieweitzman's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is very well written and true to itself!! So good as an audiobook! I seriously flew through it, such a fun fantasy! One thing that drove me crazy was the time skips. There’s no indicator of how old Xingyin is at any point and she’ll be in the celestial kingdom for a few chapters but all of a sudden it’s referenced that she’s just been there for years??? At least it was consistently done that way but it made it impossible to tell how much time has really passed when “years” is just referenced in passing inner monologue. The author also uses a lot of foreshadowing in her descriptors of certain characters which made the relationships very predictable, some people might like this like I liked that I was able to guess certain twists but other times I wish I’d been more surprised. Xingyin can definitely be a little annoying and frustrating sometimes as many MCs often are but again it’s very consistent and she stays true to herself. I’m excited to read the next one!!

Content Warnings