The Reasons We Love The Celestial Kingdom Duology
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Hi Bestie! I hope you are doing well! In today’s post, I give you the long-awaited Celestial Kingdom Book Review. This duology was such an experience. It was so wonderful that it ended up taking the number one spot for my favorite duology. Continue reading to find out why.
The Celestial Kingdom
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Growing up on the moon was an easy life for Xingyin. Xingyin lives with her mother on the moon. Exiled by the Celestial Emperor, for a transgression that he felt was unacceptable. When Xingyin’s magic flares, she unexpectedly calls the Celestial Empress and Minister Wu to the moon. What Xingyin doesn’t know is that she has been hidden from all. Now that her existence has been discovered she has to flee, leaving her mother behind.
Alone and powerless, she ends up in the Celestial Kingdom— the one place she shouldn’t have ended up. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn aside the Crown Prince, Liwei, in order to save her mother.
The Daughter of the Moon Goddess is whimsical. Watching as Xingyin moves into young adulthood, finding love, having her heart broken, and making enemies where she really shouldn’t. The world-building is wonderful. Feeling as if you are right alongside her in the Jade Palace, feeling the breeze, and looking out upon the stars.
I would also say that it was a bit repetitive at times. But, I loved the story and flow so much that I really can’t hold it against it. As the repetition helped to shape the story. This was a gorgeous debut.
Heart of the Sun Warrior: Book Review
I hate to say it but I loved it even more than the first.
The story continues in the Celestial Kingdom where the first left off, confirming speculation about Xingyin’s father, which was given in the first. Xingyin has won the Talisman, giving her mother the freedom she never dreamt that she would receive. While fulfilling her goals Xingyin makes some great enemies in Minister Wu, who after the Celestial Emperor finds his pride bruised appoints him as General of the Celestial Army, dismissing General Jianyun. The emperor feels like he has been the most trusted advisor and has earned this place but he was so WRONG.
Xingyin and her family are forced to flee her home once more, venturing to new lands of the Immortal Realm, encountering legendary creatures and monarchs who are discerning, gaining beloved friends and bitter adversaries. Overcoming past grudges and enmities to forge a new path forward is hard for her.
She can’t see past the betrayal although she cares for the person. Having to seek aid numerous times from the one person she feels like she just can’t trust, never imagining having to go back into her heart in order to forgive and move past it. The angst and love in this story are top-tier, and with the love triangle deepening, it has been everything I ever dreamed of. Liwei and Wenzhi both fight for Xingyin’s heart even if they can just get a piece of it. The Xingyin must uncover the truth of her heart and claw her way through devastation–to rise against this evil before it destroys everything she holds dear, and the worlds she has grown to love . . . even if doing so demands the greatest price of all, herself.
Of course, the book’s author is the magnificent Sue Lynn Tann
Thank you to the publisher HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC to review. Heart of the Sun Warrior releases on November 15, 2022.
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