Last year’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess was one of my favorite fantasy reads of the year. I really loved Xingyin’s journey to free her mother the Moon Goddess. The sequel give us more of this amazing heroine as she battles to save her family, their home and even the fate of the empire. If you like a story with lots of perilous quests, twisting adventure and fabulous battle scenes… this story is for you. We get much more of the intricate character driven story of these Chinese based mythological characters in book two. The battle scenes definitely rival those of Kuang’s Poppy War series. I would not consider these books spicy in any way, but the love triangle between Xingyin, Liwei and Wenzhi gets even more complicated.
I really enjoyed this extension of the Chang’e story and getting to know more about Xingyin’s history. The magical elements and creatures of this one are just as unique and interesting as the previous story. Boy, did I not predict how Xingyin’s love life would go either… she finds herself more of a pawn than ever as she tries to save the realm from a very dangerous usurper. The emotions as Xingyin navigates her foes and her two suitors are heavy. The ending was definitely not what I expected but I really loved the storytelling.
Thanks to Harper Voyager via Netgalley for access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.
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