Heart of the Sun Warrior

Update: bumping down a star. The more I think about the book, the more it infuriates me. And tempted to bump down to 2 stars. This book was a mess and her actions towards Liwei were very disappointing. He deserved better. Wenzhi was toxic. Actually they were all terrible for each other. She should have ended up with the sea realm prince. Or someone from a different realm altogether.


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What a wild ride.

I knew it would be hard to follow up Daughter of the Moon Goddess, but this mostly met my expectations.

First, it was great to journey back to the Celestial Kingdom, the Southern Sea and the rest of the immortal realm. It was nice to see familiar characters as well as meet a few new ones.

Now to unpack all the rest. (Apologies in advance for any misspellings)

The first 100 pages or so I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. Xingyin was making some foolish decisions and felt like a different character than the girl in book 1. The introduction of Houyi felt sloppy and rushed. And the introduction of Tao (was that even his name) felt completely unnecessary. The character was introduced as this important thief that even then Celestial Empress was aware of. Yet after his brief bit he fades into complete obscurity. The sole purpose was to bring the sister back into the writing.

Now the sister, what was the point of her introduction? To show that a mortal life is a good one? I thought she'd have a bigger part, like taking over for Liewi so that he and Xingyin could live a wonderful life together. Instead she's also a subtle background character that could have been removed entirely.

Xingyin and Leiwi's defiance of their celestial majesties. It was good to see these two together again defying the odds, but Xingyin's hesitancy for Leiwi felt lacking. Yes he broke her heart but I hoped that year between books would have led to some change.

But that made sense when her heart also belonged to another. Though I never liked Whenzi, he had a freedom to him that Leiwi did not. At least that's how the author portrays it. But in reality they are both trapped by the same issue. Either way, if Xingyin ended up with either man she would be a future empress. Which had me frustrated because Leiwi seemed like the better choice.

But the thing that stood out about everything was the stark difference of priorities for Leiwi and Whenzi. When it came down to it Leiwi put his duties and kindom first and Whenzi put Xingyin above all else. Still, I didn't like Whenzi after all he did to her in Book 1. Lying to her, emprisoning her. Yet her slow forgiveness of all of that.

The emotional rollercoaster of the love triangle was a lot and I was getting frustrated at Xingyin as she let her indecision reign.

But the Celestial Empress was wiser than we gave her credit for. Though I had hoped for a showdown between her and Xingyin where the empress says “Yes, you are worthy to take my place and marry my son.” Then all becomes clear as to why Xingyin was hesitant. But turns out it wasn't the empress at all. It was Xingyin's own indecision.

While the indecision and love triangle play centerfold, we also have the touching reuinion of Chang'e and Houyi. The relationship between father and daughter. And we find some semblance of peace for some characters.

Now to the main point of conflict. I did not like the big bag guy, General Wu. Not that you're supposed to, but the whole character arc itself was meh. It felt a bit like a Disney villian, whereas the conflict in book 1 was more on par with a Pixar tale where the main character must grow and learn a lesson.

Don't get me wrong, it was still good and the ending was.. an ending. It was sad and a fitting conclusion. But again, I felt a bit dissatisfied. As it progressed I thought “Really? Death? Eliminating the choice to pick at all?” That felt like a cheap way to end the conflict. I thought the elimination of one would lead the others to be closer. But in the end the pain persisted and we got a relatively good ending.

BUT did we get a good ending? Because yes they will have time in the mortal world together, but once the next immortal elixer is taken and the other ascends into the sky, isn't there the same issue where that character will once again take on the role of emperor and Xingyin will feel trapped in the empress role?

Overall I guess there was no way to win with either way. And I guess that' the point of story. That even life there are no winners. We just trod on through our decisions an the decisions of the world around us. Though I wish the two characters found their way back to one another, it would have been impossible after all that occurred.

I'm appalled at myself that I waited so long to read this sequel despite having an arc and absolutely adoring Daughter of the Moon Goddess. But what can I say, I fell into a bad slump around the time of the release of this book last year and I'm just trying to get back on track recently. I'm just glad I finally got around to it and it was everything I expected it to be and more.

The writing in this book is ofcourse stunning but that's not new. The author wowed me with her talent in her debut and I can say she has only improved. Every line is gorgeous, the descriptions are a feast for the imagination, and the way she manages to capture every single emotion with so much depth is just stunning. More than just reading, I can say that I felt this book. There's just so much pain and turmoil and sadness permeating the story this time, with some sweet moments in between, that I was completely swept away in those sad currents. And ofcourse having someone like Natalie Naudus narrate the audiobook helps immensely because she makes any book even better with her voice.

What I can say about the characters which I haven't already said in the first book's review. Xingyin, Liwei and Wenzhi are my favorite trio now and I just loved every charged moment between them. Xingyin goes through so much in this book and it was heartbreaking to see her having to make life altering decisions all the time for the purpose of saving her world, even though the world has never shown that compassion towards her.

Liwei has always been a sweetheart and even when things go bad, he is ever faithful in Xingyin's capabilities and their love. Wenzhi on the other hand has a lot to make up for after his betrayal but the change in his character is definitely one of the best parts of this duology and every interaction between him and Xingyin was fraught with deep emotion and conflict, which made for excellent reading.

We also get more development of a new villain, some unexpected heart wrenching troubles, and new characters who made the proceedings even better with their presence - but I don't wanna give out those details. All I can say is that all characters play important and well written roles in getting the story to its conclusion which left me a sobbing mess, but it's our trio who will leave a lasting impression on any reader. The yearning that Xingyin feels, the love and companionship that she desires, and the love she feels for both makes for a very emotional love triangle, leading to a finale which I absolutely did not see coming.

In the end, all I feel is that I haven't written a good review because this book deserves more. It's a stunning, heartbreaking but immensely satisfying conclusion to one of my all time favorite duologies, and if you are someone who loves either YA fantasies or cdramas and haven't checked these books yet, you are absolutely missing out. Also, if you like the audiobook format, you can never go wrong with picking up one narrated by the spectacular Natalie Naudus. Now that it's over, I can only eagerly wait to see what the author writes next.

I feel like Heart of the Sun Warrior did a good job at concluding the romance storyline from the first book, but with that being one of the few things not wrapped up in Daughter of the Moon Goddess there wasn't much left to get this book rolling. As such takes about half of the book for it to feel like something's actually happening, but at the same time it was hard to put it down.

Despite the slow start, this book/duology is a great read for anyone interested in fantasy and Chinese mythology


Disclaimer: book received via Netgalley