I was finally able to read the first book, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, the second time I picked it up. I blame the narrative style, it was a bit of a task to get used to, otherwise, it’s a good story, if you excuse the very one-dimensional characters.

I am never one to complain about narratives not being dialogue-intensive, but there was just something about the world-building here that kept me frustrated even though I wanted to know what happens to the characters. It might be the sense of wonder that the book retains throughout without letting the reader get familiar with the setting and the customs of the world. There’s something new, some custom, ritual, manner of events, that is always introduced at every major scene. I am new to Chinese mythology settings for fantasy fiction, I’ll admit that. I read a bit more of Korean mythology in fantasy but the Chinese counterpart is definitely more complex and multifaceted than I could have anticipated.

This story is about the daughter of the moon goddess, Chang’e. Chang’e is held prisoner on the moon by the Celestial Emperor and Empress. She has allegedly stolen the Elixir of Immortality from her husband, a mortal warrior, and now has ascended to the Immortal Realm with her daughter, Xingyin.

But the Celestial Empire doesn’t know about her daughter, so when the Empress drops by to threaten her following Xingyin flexing her powers, Chang’e sends her daughter to the Mortal Realm for her safety. Xingyin soon finds her way into Celestial Kingdom and inside the residence of the Emperor and the Empress by impressing the prince, Liwei, with her candor. At this point, as a reader, I am thinking, “Oh, I know where this is going.” It was so predictable that I was actually surprised that this was happening, this is taking into account all the events and so-called twists of book two, Heart of the Sun Warrior.

Xingyin’s primary mission is freeing her mother and impressing the Celestial rulers enough to excuse her secret presence on the moon all these years. But she keeps getting distracted — a prince, a quest, betrayals, rescue missions, kidnapping and some moping around. As someone who has lived in isolation on the moon, she doesn’t have trouble blending into her espionage role, but at the same time, she is incredibly naive with her actions and misplaced trust.

She is a great warrior without much practice, she inherited her skills from her mortal father. She makes friends in high and low places. But she does nary a thing to improve her station in the eyes of the Celestial rulers, in fact, she keeps worsening it. Her interactions with all the characters were frustrating, but the courtly interactions were doubly so. This situation very conveniently subverted in the sequel.

I, honestly, I read the sequel to know how the tangle of relationship dynamics would be fixed. The resolution felt too serviceable for me.

So Liwei is not a nice MMC to root for. He lies, he takes no initiative to soothe things between Xingyin and his parents, he is possessive without actually standing up for her when required, and he completely forgets to mention his existing betrothal. I cannot fathom, for the life of me, why these two end up together (Ah, spoiler! Well, they don’t really. Ah, spoiler!). 20% into Heart of the Sun Warrior , he asks her to marry him without resolving any conflict between their parents or even talking to his parents about his decision or even taking power for himself. He is still bowing down to the will of his father and expecting Xingyin to fight for him. Why would she?

She does. I don’t know why. It doesn’t even read like she’s much in love with him and she eventually comes to that understanding.

I actually find the story about Chang’e and the mortal warrior to be more fascinating than the sob fest these two have going on for the most part of both books combined. This left me feeling wanting more of Xingyin and Wenzhi’s story.

Wenzhi was an accomplished general in the Celestial Army and Xingyin served in the army with him. He has been portrayed as a mysterious character with a lot of politicking going on in his side of the plot but we only get glimpses of them and in a very flat manner.

I still loved the world the author built of mystic and magic. I wouldn’t actually mind a sequel or revisiting this world from a different character’s perspective.