Title: Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (The Celestial Kingdom #2.5)
Author: Sue Lynn Tan
Genre: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: February 2024
Format: Audiobook
Length:  5 hours

Read if you like: the original Celestial Kingdom duology, Chinese mythology, mythological retellings, unique magic, themes of friendship and love, prequels

Rating:

The Celestial Kingdom duology is a favourite of mine, so ever since this novella released, I’d been keen to find a reason to pick it up. I had a long drive planned several months ago and knew that it was the perfect opportunity to listen to the audiobook the full way through, and I’m glad that I did!

The Celestial Kingdom world and characters are just as enchanting in this novella as they were in the original duology. I loved the opportunity to see from new perspectives, and I particularly enjoyed getting more backstory into some of the key events that led to the duology in the first place.

If you liked Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior, this novella is the perfect chance to return to that original story. I’d definitely recommend this one to fans of the series.

The Book Synopsis: Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan

Tales from the Celestial Kingdom collects nine spellbinding stories—two previously published, seven original, including the epilogue to the duology—set in the enchanting world of Sue Lynn Tan’s stunning debut. Filled with magic and mythology, friendship and love, these stories intertwine through the past, present, and future of the two novels, told from the perspectives of multiple characters, including Chang’e, Shuxiao, Liwei, and Wenzhi.

The Review

What a lovely foray back into the Celestial Kingdom this was!

It’s been some time since I read the original duology for this series but that didn’t stop the pure joy I felt at being immersed back into this world. Tan has weaved such a beautiful tale with the most wonderfully intricate relationships and I loved getting a peak into the before and after of some of my favourite characters from these stories. Her take on Chinese mythology is enchanting and these short snippets of backstory provided even more context to what was already a mesmerizing series.

It was also a delight to get to see stories from other perspectives in this book. I particularly enjoyed getting to see the Moon Goddess’s perspective of how and why she drank the immortality elixir. We know the story from the original books, but Tan did a marvellous job of giving it extra weight through the first-person narrative. This story really sets the stage for every event we know in the original duology so the extra context was so enjoyable.

As far as prequels or novellas go, this one was top notch. I loved returning to this universe and would definitely recommend this book to lovers of the original Duology.