A fantasy story inspired by the legend of the Chinese Moon Goddess. This story follows a young woman’s quest to free her mother from her immortal prison while also learning to grow, falling in love, and following her heart. Xingyin has always lived on the moon, living a peaceful and quiet life with her mother who mourns for Xingyin’s father. When Xingyin’s magic flares up her existence is alerted to the Celestial Kingdom and now she must go on the run as she discovers that her existence has been kept hidden from the Celestial Emporer and Empress and should she be discovered they might not only destroy her but her mother. Xingyin now is hiding in the Celestial Kingdom with no money, no home, and no prospects.. until she accidentally befriends the crown prince and enters into a competition to become his study companion. So begins the blossoming of a friendship that turns into first love... too bad he is betrothed to another already. While studying Xingyin also starts to develop her archery and weapons skills... to the point where she is talented enough to be a soldier and so in an attempt to break apart from Prince Liwei and their complicated situation she joins the army with Captain Wenzhi, hunting monsters, fighting together, and bonding... and finding that she now has a second love and possible new home to return to, and a person to help her forget Prince Liwei. Along the way she also aids another prince, Prince Yanxi and protect his family from merpeople war and discover new secrets about the legendary dragons. It doesn’t hurt that this prince also develops feelings for her. Soon Xingyin is going between her feelings for Liwei and Wenzhi (like a lot. like constantly, I was definitely rooting for Wenzhi despite everything, he just seemed like the more interesting option compared to Liwei and come on, when it comes to it all, they have more chemistry and a better dynamic). Xingyin must not deal with her complicated relationships and find a way to save her mother without getting killed by the Celestial Emperor and Empress. The story has dragons, demons, merpeople, magic, romance, and so much going on. This definitely read like a cdrama (DEFINITELY) it felt like I was watching a cdrama show and honestly, I didn’t mind. While the love triangle trope is one of my least favorites and a female lead who can’t pick one partner, and is constantly juggling two love interests is tiring, the overall story was interesting. So while the story takes a bit to get into and some of the love aspects were irritating, it was an overall interesting read with a magical feel to it. I am excited to see where the sequel goes and how this duology ends (still rooting for you Wenzhi to be endgame).