Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a recent release by debut author Sue Lynn Tan. It’s been getting some good buzz which means this is the right book for a lot of people. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.
This book is not without its charms. The main character, Xingyin, is driven, skilled at archery, and brave in the face of her fears. She has a complex emotional inner life and a clear plan of how to achieve her goal of saving her mother.
Unfortunately, she falls in love with literally the first man she has ever met in her life.
Ok, maybe not literally. Some time passes between Xingyin leaving the moon, where she grew up with her mother Chang’e and their maidservant Ping’er, and when she meets Liwei. She’s possibly spoken to some men in her role as maidservant to a spoiled young woman. But Liwei is the first man we see her meet on-page.
YA Romance Tropes Will Be The Death of Me
I’m not one to dismiss the value of YA books. There’s a lot of brilliant, imaginative, diverse work being done in the category which is just as good if not better as the stuff being written for adults. I read YA without shame or guilt. But as I stare 40 in the face, I have a harder and harder time dealing with a lot of the romantic relationships that are being presented to young readers as something beautiful and desirable.
Look, it’s not that adult novels don’t have bad relationship models in them. But when I see an adult character making what I consider to be an unwise romantic choice, I comfort myself with the fact that they are an (admittedly fictional) adult. They are over the age of consent and if they want to consent to a relationship with a lot of red flags, they at least have some idea of what they’re getting into.
But with these teenage characters, especially the ones who have been sheltered from the world for one reason or another, I cringe when I see them ignoring age differences, power dynamics, toxic families, and other pitfalls.
Let’s Count The Red Flags
Here are some of the red flags I noticed in the relationships that Xingyin has with her two potential love interests.
First love interest is the heir and only child of the Celestial Emperor and Empress. Xingyin wins a contest to be his learning companion, but because she is a commoner, the Empress decides Xingyin should also serve as his attendant. Liwei is thus in a position of authority over her, and if she displeases him or he grows bored of her, she will lose her home and position (neither of them seem cognizant of this, although Liwei did already see one friend be removed from the palace because of familiar disapproval, so he is aware this could happen).
Second love interest is her superior in the military and early on tells her to refer to him by his given name rather than title. This erasing of boundaries is the sort of thing that adults in positions of authority do when grooming kids/teens. And once again, Xingyin is in a position where if the relationship goes sour, she can lose her position.
Both guys get all snippy whenever she talks to another guy. Like even when she’s not yet/not currently in a potentially romantic relationship with them. I find this sort of possessive jealousy really unattractive and concerning even in adult relationships, but it’s really worrying in a YA romance.
Remember how I mentioned that Liwei is the son of the Emperor and Empress? Those are the same people who imprisoned Xingyin’s mother on the moon! They are not aware of Xingyin’s heritage. They are aware, however, that she is a commoner, and the Empress especially does not approve of Xingyin’s low status. While it’s not impossible to have a relationship with somebody when their parents dislike you and major class differences are in play, it’s really difficult. And because Xingyin has such a small family, she doesn’t have a lot of people on her side to balance out that potential mess.
All of the characters involved are immortals, which means they age at different rates than humans. Xingyin’s age is never stated outright, but she and Liwei are studying together at a level that felt reminiscent of high school or maybe late middle school, not college. I can’t recall if Liwei was stated to definitely be older than her, but the other love interest is at least a hundred years older despite looking young. Even if they physically appear to be a similar age, that’s a big difference in lived experience, even more so since Xingyin was so sheltered in childhood (though neither of the love interests know that she grew up on the moon with two other people).
Oh, and when things seem clear that they’re never going to work out with Liwei, she agrees to leave to go home with the second love interest, even though they’ve never so much as kissed. You should really give a relationship a good test period before you basically move to another country for a guy, especially if you’re still heartbroken over someone else.
Of course, we can’t blame Xingyin for any of this. She is naive. There’s no real indication that her mother gave her so much as a talk about the birds and the bees, let alone how to watch out for the red flags of a controlling boyfriend.
Friends, if you find yourself and your child banished to the moon, or a tiny island, or a pocket dimension, and you’re sure you will never see another human being, you should still really have these important conversations with your child. Because let’s be real here, either your child will leave on an adventure, or some adventurer will stumble in and sweep them off of their feet, and then what are you going to do?
It’s Not All Bad
As I said earlier, this book has some upsides. Xingyin works hard to become a competent heroine. She may have some natural talent at archery due to being the daughter of the world’s best archer, but she also spends lots of time on target practice to become better. Even when she’s twitterpated by one boy or another, she never loses site of her goal of freeing her mother. She’s also concerned with the consequences of her actions, feeling guilt when harm comes to her fellow soldiers due to her actions.
What’s more, unlike a lot of books where the badass female main has to be “not like other girls”, Xingyin befriends a fellow female soldier. In fact, when she gets her choice of treasure from slaying a monster, her first thought is to pick out something for her friend. She’s even kind to her romantic rival. But she’s not a doormat or just blandly nice; it seems like she honestly sees the good in people and is able to recognize that, for instance, Liwei’s intended is someone she could be friends with in different circumstances.
There’s a lot of great, exciting action sequences, and the plot never drags. Xingyin is pretty much always doing something. The book is well-paced and I found it easy to read, even as I rolled my eyes at the romantic shenanigans.
Sadly Lacking in Diversity
While some Immortals were described as having darker skin or different shaped eyes, it was hard to tell if they were meant to look like different races on Earth, or if they were all intended to be basically Chinese, since this book is inspired by Chinese cosmology. There were some character descriptions that smacked of colorism to me as well, but I’m not really in a position to make an educated comment on that.
There were no LGBTQIA+ characters, disabled characters, or characters who were clearly intended to be neurodiverse, as far as I could tell.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess offers great representation for Asian readers who may be tired of rarely seeing themselves in fantasy novels, but sadly offers nothing for other marginalized identities.
Who Will Enjoy This Book?
I think Daughter of the Moon Goddess will have the most appeal for Asian readers, as well as for readers of other races who have a great appreciation for Asian culture. The majority of the book takes place across various heavenly realms and that’s pretty cool! Of course, enjoying the book will require a high tolerance for romance tropes.
I can’t really recommend this book to anyone who isn’t a hardcore YA fan, however. If you’re looking to dip your toe into YA, I’d suggest starting with something like Little Thieves (review here) or Girl, Serpent, Thorn (review here).
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