Actual rating: leaning towards 3.5. stars

Daughter of the Moon Goddess is one of those books that made me feel several things, and left me in a conflict with myself as I have found myself loving the lush worldbuilding, the lyrical prose and most of the plot but I also had to struggle during times with the story which I mainly blame on the pacing. Should I rate this book higher because it was a magical ride? Or should I take in consideration that there were longer periods where I found myself … falling asleep as I was reading, during the middle of the day?

Now here‘s the thing. Daughter of the Moon Goddess IS a beautiful story. The worldbuilding is so vibrant, enchanting, incorporating elements of Chinese mythology, introducing us to such a unique setting. I surely wouldn‘t mind to read more installements, or books overall, in the Immortal Realm. The world was the first thing that pulled me into the book. The second was the lyrical prose that allowed me to vividly imagine every part of this world I have fell in love with. I knew I would love the story, and impatiently I kept turning the pages as I was excited to learn more about the Moon Goddess herself, about Xingyin, the secret-kept daughter, about her heritage, and what else this realm has to offer. Then Liwei came into the picture, and I just couldn‘t help myself but immediately fall for the Crown Prince of the Celestial Empire. I loved what role he played in Xingyin‘s life, and the beginning of their relationship just had so much to offer already. But shortly after, I started having problems with the plot - which I mainly blame on the pacing.

Between time jumps, a slow middle part, and some characters scenes that seemed were moving too fast, I found myself caring less and less for some particular interactions. While I hadn‘t mind the time jumps early in the book, despite the fact that they took away a good portion of the relationship development between Liwei and Xingyin, I was still able to enjoy their dynamic because the very first scenes they shared were so promising. But later on, we get introduced to a potential second love interest, and once more the time jump takes away what would have helped to understand the ground on which the relationship between Xingyin and Captain Wenzhi was built. While I did enjoy the set up of a love triangle of some sorts, I couldn’t take the relationship to the latter love interest seriously. Unlike to her relationship with Liwei, their fist encounters didn‘t offer much insight, and unfortunately, we also missed a lot of the protagonist‘s own character development. I just had to accept where she was in life now, what she had already accomplished. This is where the storyline started to feel a bit dragging. While the plot itself showed us different aspects of the world and was vital to where we were supposed to go, and I was able to enjoy some visits to other kingdoms (like the part where she is at the East Sea), I couldn‘t completely invest any feelings to what Xingyin was going through. I didn‘t see any proper risks, and I became indifferent towards the characters‘ goals and dreams. I found myself very often dozing off as I was reading the chapters, and hoping for some twist, anything that would speed up things.

Thankfully, that did happen. The pace quickened in the last third of the book. After a twist that truly put the characters‘ goals at stake, I found myself once more engaged by the plot. I loved in which direction the story was heading, I finally felt the risks tickling, and once more was flipping those pages. The last third of this book really made up for the slow-paced middle part, and I was once more enthralled by the plot. However, when the ending was reached, the story felt more like that of a standalone as everything wrapped nicely together, which leads me to wonder what possibly could happen in the sequel. While in my current state of curiosity I would have immediately picked up the sequel, I don‘t know if I will have the same feeling when the Heart of the Sun Warrior will come out. This is something that we‘ll only find out in the future, I guess.

Overall, I can highly recommend this book to anyone who adores an enchanting and lush worldbuilding and beautiful prose. If one anticpates the dragging middle part, then the twist towards the end of the book as well as everything revolving the ending will make up for it, and reward one with a beautiful story and some characters that might stay in your heart.