Diverse Reads: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Author: Sue Lynn Tan

Title: Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Genre: Fantasy

Publication Date: January 11, 2022

Number of Pages: 503

Geographical Setting: The moon, the Celestial Kingdom, 

Time Period: unspecified

Series (If applicable): The Celestial Kingdom #1

Plot Summary:

    Xingyin is the daughter of Chang'e, the woman who stole the elixr of immortality from her husband, Houyi, and was banished to the moon as punishment by the Celestial Emperor. The Emperor is unaware that Chang'e was pregnant, and to protect Xingyin, Chang'e forces her to ignore and suppress her magical abilities which appear as white orbs in Xingyin's mind. One afternoon, Xingyin is drawn to her powers and grasps them, which alerts the Celestial Empress. The Empress visits the moon to investigate the disturbance, and out of fear for Xingyin's safety, Chang'e tasks Ping'er to take her away from the moon. The two are headed to Ping'er's family home when the Celestial Army intercepts and separates them.

    After falling from the cloud Ping'er had conjured with her magic, Xingyin is alone and has to figure out her own survival. She gets a job working as a handmaiden for the daughter of an influential family, which leads to her becoming the learning companion of Prince Liwei, the son of the Celestial Emperor and Empress. The lessons she learns along the path of accomplishing the goal of freeing her mother from her imprisonment on the moon helps Xingyin learn who she is in her core along with what she wants for her life.

SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

    Xingyin is forced to flee her home in the middle of the night, gets separated from Ping'er, the one person besides her mother that she knows, and is forced to find her way on her own. She quickly decides that breaking the enchantment on her home, which is essentially a prison for her mother is top priority for her and begins to try to find a way to do so working in a noble's home. She also realizes the only way to keep her mother and Ping'er safe is to lie about her parentage. She eventually meets Liwei, who she finds out later is the crown prince. He is secretly observing those who may possible become his companion during lessons, and after meeting Xingyin, decides that he wants her to be that person. After winning the competition, she is tasked with serving Liwei along with attending lessons. This is her situation in life for the next two years as she learns how to control her magic, defend herself, and many other lessons. Her and Liwei grow close and even develop feelings for each other, but at the banquet for his birthday, the Celestial Emperor reveals that Liwei is engaged to the Phenix Princess. This devistates Xinyin, and makes her realize that she must change course in order to save her mother.

    Her new course leads her into the Celestial Army, where she is trying to earn the crimson lion talisman. Once she is able to obtain this gift from the emperor, she believes she will be able to use it to set her mother free. She goes on dangerous missions with Commander Wenshi, and they begin to grow close. She struggles with her feelings for Wenshi and Liwei, trying to figure out what love means for her and if she can even think about that when she feels like a fraud for lying to everyone currently in her life. Eventually, after many dangerous battles that almost killed her multiple times, she is able to earn the talisman. She reveals that she is the daughter of Chang'e and Houyi, enraging the Emperor and Empress. Her father earned the elixr of immortality for shooting down 10 sunbirds that were wreaking havoc on the mortal realm. What isn't revealed in Houyi's story at the beginning of the book is that the sunbirds were relatives of the Celestial Empress, and the elixr was meant to be used as a punishment. Xingyin's revelation causes the Emperor to give her a task to accomplish instead of granting her wish. Xingyin must collect pearls from the four great dragons and bring them to the Emperor.

    Along the way to discovering the first location of a dragon, her feelings for Wenshi grow, which solidifies her decision to go with him once this task is completed. She is able to free the first dragon and gain it's trust through the use of a jade bow she discovered on one of her missions with Wenshi. The dragon goes off to free the other three dragons from their imprisonments, and they reveal that their pearls contain their life force, and that whoever has the pearls has control of the dragons. The dragons are in pursuit of peace, and if their pearls are used to force them to participate in a war they will die. Xingyin has constantly struggled with the fact that she is having to fight these beings that are sometimes at a disadvantage to her, and now the fact that the dragons can be forced to participate in a war that will kill them has her second guessing if she can take their pearls. She does decide to take them and is immediately knocked out by Wenshi, who is them revealed to be the second prince of the Demon Realm. This realm is feared for their ability to control the minds of anyone and anything. She is imprisoned by Wenshi and grows to resent him. She learns that he was ableto convince his father to make him the successor to the throne if he was able to bring the dragon pearls back to the Demon Realm, and that he plans to start a war with the Celestial Empire. Xingyin manages to escape with the pearls and warn the Celestial Army about Wenshi's plans. After the Celestial Army is able to get away from the Demon Realm's army, Xingyin learns that Liwei broke off his engagement and they sneak off to figure out how to separate each dragon's life force from their pearls. They are able to do it by Xingyin willingly sacrificing half of her life force. 

    The two return to the Celestial Emperor and Empress and hand over the pearls. The Emperor immediately realizes that something is wrong with the pearls, and that is when Xingyin reveals what she did. The Emperor is furious and attacks her with a lightning bolt to the chest, all while courtesans watch and the Celestial Army eventually comes to intervene on Xingyin's account. Because of the intervention of the army, Liwei, and the opinions of the courtesans, the Emperor releases Chang'e. Xingyin immediately returns home to release her mother and recover from losing half her life source. When she first met the dragons, the Black Dragon revealed to her that there was a grave for the brave warrior Houyi, and she tells her mother this. One of the many times Liwei visits, he takes Xingyin and Chang'e to the mortal realm for them to be able to mourn the loss of a husband and father.

SECTION CONTAINING SPOILERS IS FINISHED!

    In my opinion, Xingyin is a character that everyone can identify with. She struggles with the responsibility she feels for freeing her mother and wanting to understand and express her feelings for the two men in her life. This story is more focused on Xingyin's growth into adulthood than it is in trying to be a love story. I love that in multiple scenes, Xingyin is the one to save Liwei; she is FAR from a damsel in distress. I will forever highly recommend this title for anyone interested in mythological fiction or looking for a female character who has to overcome adversity to become the heroine she was always meant to be.

Subject Headings:

Magic 

Mothers and daughters

Mythological fiction

Fantasy Fiction

Appeal:

 According to Wyatt and Saricks, the fantasy genre has six specific characterisetics:

1. Detailed settings depicting another world.
2. Story lines featuring good versus evil.
3. Tone ranges from humorous to dark.
4. Characters often attain special magical gifts.
5. The pace is initially slow, but picks up after the author has finished setting the scene.
6. Language and style varies greatly. (Wyatt and Saricks, 2019, p. 124)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess follows every characteristic outlined. There is a plethora of detail, from describing how Xingyin feels as a daughter that never gets put to bed by her mother, a companion to the prince, a soldier in the Celestial Army, and eventually a savior. The tone tends to be more on the serious side, but it’s Jess art to convey the seriousness of Xingyin to her task of freeing her mother. There is obviously a great deal of magic, and the author put a great amount of detail into describing the world she designed in the clouds. 

The other aspect that I enjoyed from this book is the retelling of the story of Chang’e. For a more detailed explanation, Mythopedia has a great explanation: https://mythopedia.com/topics/chang-e. While there is no explanation of Chang’e being pregnant in the myth, the author does a great job of explaining the many different Chinese holidays and customs. She even includes Mandarin characters throughout the story when describing the gates outside of the various palaces. Sue Lynn Tan was inspired to write this series from a compilation of fairy tales from around the world. She was born in Malaysia, studied in London and France, and is currently living in Hong Kong with her family.

3 terms that best describe this book:

1. Atmospheric

2. Dramatic

3. Empowering

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Liu, T. T. (2023). The Chinese myths: A guide to the gods and legends. Thames & Hudson.

Chinese mythology is a complex tradition of storytelling. Tao Tao Liu explains the traditions in a consistent and entertaining manner that teaches readers of the different traditions and festivities associated with the myths. He even goes into detail about the different gods, goddesses, dragons, and monks from stories influenced by Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

Common Appeals: Chinese mythology

Shen, A. (2018). Legendary ladies: 50 goddesses to empower and inspire you. Chronicle Books.

This title focuses on the goddess of mythology from Aphrodite to Lakshmi, and through artwork and essays explores the feminine divine to encourage empowerment in readers. 

Common Appeals: Mythology, women’s empowerment

Roberts, J. (2004). Chinese mythology A-Z. Chelsea House.

Ancient Chinese emperors were revered as the direct descendants of the gods that ruled the heavens and nature. This title covers everything from the legends of the Eight Immortals to Confucius and provides an insightful view of the myths from this ancient civilization.

Common Appeals: Chinese mythology

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

Parker-Chan, S. (2021). She who became the sun. Tor.

The Zhu family lives in a famine-stricken village in China in 1345. The eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness while his sister, the second-born daughter who is clever and capable is fated for nothing. When bandits attack the village, it leaves the two siblings orphaned, and Chongba succumbs to his despair and dies. His sister then takes on his identity to enter a monastery. There she learns that she is capable of doing anything to ensure she survives and avoids her destiny of nothingness, even claiming her brothers greatness for herself.

Common Appeals: Fantasy fiction, Chinese history

Verma, A. (2023). The phoenix king. Orbit.

Elena Aadya is the heir to the throne and the only person in her family that cannot command the Eternal Fire. As her coronation approaches, she will do anything to prove herself to her father. The arrival of the notorious assassin Yassen Knight to pledge fealty to her father causes Elena to be on guard to see if he is hiding something. As the threat of war looms over the kingdom, Elena and Yassen play a dangerous game of intrigue and betrayal that could bring an end to the world as they know it.

Common Appeals: Fantasy fiction, magic

Shannon, S. (2019). The priory of the orange tree. Bloomsbury Publishing.

This title follows the story of three women, Queen Sabran the Ninth, Ead Duryan, and Tané, as they play their part in preventing an ancient enemy from destroying their world. Queen Sabran must conceive a child to secure the line of succession, all while assassins are actively trying to prevent that event from happening. Ead Duryan is a member of a hidden society that is using magic to protect the queen. Tané has trained her whole life to become a dragonrider, but because of a decision she has made, her future may unravel in ways she never thought  possible. 

Common Appeals: Fantasy fiction, dragons, magic

References

Wyatt, N. and Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. ALA Editions.