I'm a big fan of world mythologies, so.. naturally I was incredibly excited when Sue Lynn Tan's 'Daughter of the Moon Goddess' was announced.
Inspired by the legends of Chang'e, the Chinese goddess of the moon, Tan puts her own unique spin on the origin.. and turns it from a classic parable into something more tragic and heartfelt. While the choice certainly allowed me to be more invested in the result of Chang'e's story, something still feels slightly off about this story.
Of course, I enjoyed the rich use of symbolism and the relatively elegant prose. Unfortunately, I also felt like most of my favorite quotes were simply modernly rephrased proverbs, rather than the creative nature of the author.
Initially, there's a burst of urgency.. spiriting Xingyin away from all that she has known. Due to that, there's not a lot of time spent on side character development which I kept expecting to change, but for the most part.. it never did. Prince Liwei might be the only real exception to that and so, he's also the only other character I really felt able to connect with.
Ironically, it feels like we get to know the Empress better than any of the other tertiary characters, including those we see in day to day events. All of which really just leads to a feeling of imbalance within the story. There are so many potentially interesting characters, some of which are clearly meant to be moving.. that just don't do anything for me because of the lack of evolution.
Overall, the story just appears more substantial than it is to me, and I feel a bit sad about it. I'm always happy to see representation of my mixed-Asian heritage in modern media and if I'm being fair, Tan did a much better job than some of the bigger names out there. But as lovely as the story is, it's still only slightly more than mediocre.. and I'm on the hunt for that author who will achieve the extraordinary.
(I received this title as an ARC, but also purchased two copies. All opinions are mine and freely given.)