Daughter of the Moon Goddess

A Novel

By: Sue Lynn Tan

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

The acclaimed national and international bestseller

“Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

“An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense.""—BookPage, starred review

A captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.

Narration sadly detracts from book experience

I adored this book for the Chinese mythology and heart-warming simple YA love story. I'm sad to say that the narration was bad enough to make me cringe - dialogue sounded stilted and unvaried. 100% recommend the book. The audiobook, not so much.

A phenomenal debut from Sue Lynn Tan

A dazzling debut novel by sue lynn tan following the mythology of the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e’s. We follow her daughter, xingyin, as she infiltrates the celestial emperors kingdom to fight for her mothers freedom. A powerful fantasy novel about bravery, honor and love.

I was on the edge of my set the whole time I was listening! Natalie is an auto buy for me. Any time she narrates books it makes the story so much better! And she just made Xingyin’s story come alive.

Amazing Story! Lovely Narrator!

I thoroughly enjoyed this incredible tale full of harrowing moments, a dangerous quest, romance, and dragons!!

With wonderful characters and exquisite world-building, I enjoyed it so much! It’s the kind of story where you’re upset when life gets in the way of reading it!

With Friends-to-Lovers, hidden identities, a triangle, and plot twists! This story covers all the fantasy bases!

I realize there is a sequel coming but this works as a standalone, too.

And the narrator gives an incredible performance! Highly Recommend!

Captivating from the start!

Love the story, the lore, even the narrator is great! Some of the love story is familiar as many books have the same bones as this one, but the story as a whole is really enjoyable. Can’t wait for the second one!

A Chinese Xianxia Drama

The story of how an innocent girl, in order to survive and free her mother, had to hide the truth of her parentage from those she formed a bond with and serve the enemy court she despised.

The conflict of shame, loyalty, personal goal, being hardened or remaining good, are decisions she grappled with constantly as the stakes increased. But if you don’t like lots of character conflicts and contemplations, you may not like it. There are celestial dragons, quests, enchantments, teacher-student relationships, military camaraderie, sword fights, archery, enchanted weapons, battle strategies, court politics, manipulation, betrayal, sacrifice, loyalty, honour, hate and love, though the context is heavier on the developing ‘love triangle’.

If you like Chinese fantasy (Xianxia) dramas like Eternal Love, you will appreciate the tale as the world building is vivid and well-explained. The prose is lyrical though the author has favourite words she uses more often than I would have liked. The narrator is also very good at dramatising, though at first I found it a little too dramatic at times. But I quickly got used to her voice acting and enjoyed the story.