Heart of the Sun Warrior: The SUNDAY TIMES bestselling sequel to the epic DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS: Book 2 (The Celestial Kingdom Duology)

Product Information

There were times when a group of characters were together, then Shuxiao would say something and I had to remind myself who she was. Her friendship with Xingyin in Book 1 was terribly developed and the result was glaring. Why is the worldbuilding still so shoddy? Why does the immortal realm feel so tiny? How do the powers even work? Why is everyone able to just summon a cloud and travel wherever they want? Why do they conveniently forget this fact whenever it could be useful? What is the mortal realm? Is it only ancient China? The author should've let him actually die in Book 1 if his character was going to be nerfed this hard in the name of a ship - and this is coming from someone who was rooting for Wenzhi!

Heart of the Sun Warrior - Sue Lynn Tan Book Review Heart of the Sun Warrior - Sue Lynn Tan Book Review

This time around I had a better time more consistently. I think it helped that we dropped the triangle. It was very clear the entire book where the reader was supposed to care about in terms of the romance arc, and the narrative was focused on building that up and so those beats just felt a lot more close to home. I didn’t know what to expect with this second novel as the first one ended without a cliffhanger. Xingyin was at home with her mother and all was well. But, as soon as I started this book a sense of unease was immediate and I knew something terrible was about to happen, and it did. I loved the ending a lot, dabbing my eyes, giggling softly. Mythology, folklore, fantasy and romance couldn’t be combined so much better!

Discussion

Xingyin loses what little braincells she had and makes some of the most ridiculous decisions for the sake of plot. She does not develop as a character in the slightest as everything falls into place for her. Also, could she not shut her mouth in dangerous situations for TWO SECONDS??? Xingyin may be amongst the worst protagonists I've encountered in the genre AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING. Some may call this true love at its finest. I call this crap. Wenzhi emotionally scarred Xingyin for the rest of her life and destroyed any chance she had at a happy future with either himself or Liwei. He knew that his death would haunt her till her final days. He cared less about Xingyin than he did about "conquering" her heart over Liwei (made very obvious in their stupid catfighting over her).

Heart of the Sun Warrior – HarperCollins Heart of the Sun Warrior – HarperCollins

Source: Physical ARC gifted by the publisher (this in no way affects my review which is honest and unbiased) The love triangle could win an award for the daftest of all time. Even YA love triangles aren't usually handled as poorly as this.

That’s one thing I adore about Tan’s romance writing, as someone who usually can’t stand love triangles or anything of the sort, this feels like more than a simple love triangle. You can tell that Xingyin is in love with both men through Tan’s writing and story and you know the anguish she feels, it doesn’t feel like a triangle that was put in for the sake of it, as some stories can feel like? It’s a believable romance, and you fall in love with both characters as Xingyin does. As an unspeakable terror sweeps across the realm, 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. Xingyin needs to stop this evil raising in expanse of sacrificing her life as Liwei and Wenzhi fight beside her! I also found the pacing really difficult I can see why people have decided to put this book down, it doesn't flow nicely from chapter to chapter it seems to bounce around and never really settle. There were some repetitive moments/sentences too. This story was great! I enjoyed the read and audiobook. Love is more complicated in this book as well as family. I loved the twists at the beginning and at the end. I enjoyed the men fighting for love. There's more actions and adventures in this story I believe. The ending was good but I was hoping the new Celestial King would also get a happy ending.