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A review by tanaz_masaba
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
1.0
I am the problem, it's me.
For real though. Highly appropriate Taylor Swift references aside, this book is hit-or-miss, you'll either love it or you won't. And I...am not quite fond of it. That's not an issue with the book itself, it's just a very personal preference.
Sounds ambiguous? Here's my explanation for those who care to read.
As a person who is a big fan of Fantasy and love stories based on mythology, I had a lot of high hopes for this book, and for the right reasons too. This book is an extremely lush, vibrant fantasy, and from page one I was blown away by the gorgeous world-building. The story is deeply rooted in Chinese mythology and the legend of Chang'e, and anyone who enjoys high fantasy and adventure would be absolutely mesmerized by the story.
However, I had a lot of trouble with the narration style, and, after plowing through the first quarter of the book, I had to admit that this is just not my cup of tea.
I think the biggest issue for me with the storytelling here is that for a book that is set in such an exciting, fantastical, dreamy setting, we spend too much time inside the main character's head. The lack of dialogue was off-putting and even the way our protagonist expressed her thoughts was difficult for me to get into.
Definitely, I do not expect the daughter of a moon goddess to think and speak the way we do in the real world, but I also was not expecting her sentences to be so....dry. It felt like the author was trying too hard to make her character speak formally, which only becomes an issue when the tone does not feel truly conversational or immersive.
I hate giving up on books, but if I am going to complete my goal of 50 books this year, I cannot keep pushing myself to read a book where I cannot enjoy a minute inside the main character's head.
For real though. Highly appropriate Taylor Swift references aside, this book is hit-or-miss, you'll either love it or you won't. And I...am not quite fond of it. That's not an issue with the book itself, it's just a very personal preference.
Sounds ambiguous? Here's my explanation for those who care to read.
As a person who is a big fan of Fantasy and love stories based on mythology, I had a lot of high hopes for this book, and for the right reasons too. This book is an extremely lush, vibrant fantasy, and from page one I was blown away by the gorgeous world-building. The story is deeply rooted in Chinese mythology and the legend of Chang'e, and anyone who enjoys high fantasy and adventure would be absolutely mesmerized by the story.
However, I had a lot of trouble with the narration style, and, after plowing through the first quarter of the book, I had to admit that this is just not my cup of tea.
I think the biggest issue for me with the storytelling here is that for a book that is set in such an exciting, fantastical, dreamy setting, we spend too much time inside the main character's head. The lack of dialogue was off-putting and even the way our protagonist expressed her thoughts was difficult for me to get into.
Definitely, I do not expect the daughter of a moon goddess to think and speak the way we do in the real world, but I also was not expecting her sentences to be so....dry. It felt like the author was trying too hard to make her character speak formally, which only becomes an issue when the tone does not feel truly conversational or immersive.
I hate giving up on books, but if I am going to complete my goal of 50 books this year, I cannot keep pushing myself to read a book where I cannot enjoy a minute inside the main character's head.