I didn’t know I needed a collection of short stories about these Celestial Kingdom characters until I read this book. Each story expanded on the relationships between some of our favorite characters, giving them even more depth and making me, personally, appreciate them even more.

It’s hard to narrow down my favorite stories because I really do just love these characters so much, but I really appreciated Chang’e and Houyi’s story. After reading Tan’s notes at the end, the entire compilation of stories made more sense (she even recommends a reading order between the short stories and duology for those who come to the series for the first time). She notes that this story is a reimagining of the myth that the Celestial Kingdom duology is based on. Getting to witness both perspectives was amazing - it was a breath of fresh air after witnessing events through only the eyes of Xingyin for the last two books. It deepened the affection I had for both characters and sets the groundwork for all the events to come in both Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior . (I LOVE background stories!)

While I loved the fun, character-shaping stories that take place in the “Twilight” section of the book, my indisputable favorite stories were Wenzhi and Xingyin’s in the “Dawn” section. These take place almost immediately after the conclusion of HotSW and we see Wenzhi’s perspective and thoughts after he meets Xingyin for the first time as a mortal. They’ve arranged to meet for dinner because he is so drawn to her. He goes through the motions of preparing an elaborate dining experience and we watch as their date unfolds from his POV. It’s all absolutely heart-wrenching and swoon-worthy.

Xingyin’s entry is the epilogue, and how appropriate it is for her only story to be the final one. I felt a sense of closure with the end of HotSW: happy to imagine the life that Wenzhi and Xingyin would go on to live together, but this was real closure. They’ve lived together now for over a decade (her as an immortal and him as a mortal) and Wenzhi desperately wants them to marry so they can be together in every way. She’s been refusing him for quite some time, biding her time until Liwei delivers on his promise to provide another Elixir of Immortality. It is in this story that we witness a reunion between Liwei and Xingyin in the mortal realm, and he provides her the promised elixir. Grateful, she asks Wenzhi to consume the elixir to restore his memories and immortality. Upon doing so, they are truly reunited after all these years, and they return to the celestial realm to live for the rest of their immortal lives.

I couldn’t imagine a better ending to a beautiful love story or a better addition to a beautiful duology. Thank you so much for providing these bonus stories to the readers who have loved these precious characters.