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Fantasy is definitely not a genre I dabble in frequently, but I was drawn in by the stunning cover of "Daughter of the Moon Goddess" and the fact that it's a retelling of Chang E (æ϶ð), the goddess of the moon from Chinese mythology. Tan's story, however, focuses on Chang E's daughter, Xingyin, and her attempts to rescue her mother from her eternal prison on the moon.

The book is split up into three parts: the first, focusing on Xingyin's escape from the moon and her journey into the Celestial Palace where she hopes to persuade the Celestial Emperor to release her mother; the second, describing her rise in the Celestial Army; and the third, detailing her final mission to bring about her mother's freedom. There's so much packed into each section, but Tan does a great job crafting a strong, impassioned, yet flawed protagonist and creates such a vividly magical but believable world. While there are some predictable plotlines and relationships, I loved the journey I was able to go on within these ~500 pages.

I'm impressed that this is Tan's debut novel as her writing is quite strong; there's a number of repeated phrases and words she uses ("a heartbeat" as a measure of time, "thrumming", etc.) but I'm sure her writing will evolve with more time and experience. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this duology!