Title: |
Heart of the Sun Warrior |
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Author: |
Sue Lynn Tan |
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Category: |
Fantasy / Science Fiction |
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Rating: |
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Date Reviewed: |
March 27, 20025 |
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eart of the Sun Warrior was a major disappointment for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the duology, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, but this follow up book was a chore to finish. It literally took me months to slog through; I kept setting it down when a plot point annoyed me and picking up different books that looked more interesting. Finally I forced myself to read to the end so that I wouldn't have repeat the cycle of checking it out of the library and then keep renewing it. The best thing about Heart of the Sun Warrior is that it features another beautiful eye-catching cover. |
Several plot points truly frustrated me, I slammed the book in disgust and set it aside. I will explain in the spoiler section, but don't read that section unless you have already read this book.
Heart of the Sun Warrior is a romance. The heroine, Xingyin, is now a powerful archer in the Celestial Army with a magic bow. Two princes are both madly in love with her: Liwei is the good prince, full of light, understanding, courage and every other positive adjective you can think of. Liwei is the heir to the Celestial Throne, he is the most eligible bachelor in the heavens, and Xingyin loves him completely. But also competing for her hand is Wenzhi, the dark prince, second in line to the throne of the Demon Kingdom. In the first book, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Wenzhi betrayed Xingyin and she cannot forgive him, no matter how much Wenzhi now professes how he has changed.
The plot has Xingyin completing various quests or completing rescues. Retrieve this artifact, find that treasure. In these endeavors, Wenzhi and Liwei both aid her as best they can. For whatever reasons, these tasks the Xingyin must overcome seemed like deliberate obstacles Tan invented just to find a reason for Xingyin to be thrust into dangerous conflict and have Wenzhi and/or Liwei come to her aid. I did not enjoy how powerful Xingyin has become in this novel compared to Daughter of the Moon Goddess. She can shoot her magic bow, she can make magic shields. Heal people. Hurl blasts of wind against of her opponents. When she fights the immortal soldiers of the Celestial Army, they seem as threatening as the armored storm-troopers in the Star Wars movies; those bumbling stooges get mowed by the hundred despite their armor, and they never seem to be able to inflict any harm on the Jedi heroes.
Because it took me so long to read Heart of the Sun Warrior, I had time to realize several troubling issues. The Celestial Emperor and Empress have been on their throne for a thousand years (or has it been 10,000 years?). But their only offspring is Liwei, and he is only in his early twenties? Why doesn't he have dozens of siblings? Indeed, given that the inhabitants of the Celestial Kingdom are immortal, why isn't it overrun with people? Is the murder rate extraordinarily high? (Immortals can be killed, being immortal apparently means you don't age once you reach your prime.) Tan never addresses this issue.
I don't know if I would read another book by Tan. Daughter of the Moon was great, and Heart of the Sun Warrior was a big letdown.