Cover Image: An Arrow to the Moon

An Arrow to the Moon

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Member Reviews

Unfortunately this was slightly underwhelming, and not at all memorable in my opinion. Such a shame because the concept was strong and I wanted to love it.

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I absolutely loved this book! The premise immediately hooked my interest and it was filled with twisty characters and such intense plot! The romance was so beautifully done and filled with aching prose.

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I really enjoyed what I read of this before I switched devices and realised the file had been archived, so can't give a full review. I love Emily X.R. Pan's writing, it's pacy and witty and conveys a great sense of atmosphere, and I look forward to reading the published edition of this book soon!

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Really enjoyed this one. Beautifully written and such an interesting setting. Fantastic mythology and a collection of well fleshed out characters both the good and the bad. Though didn't quite get the Romeo and Juliet retelling comparison - it's nothing like it except for two families who hate each other with kids who fall in love. That being said it was still a really good read.

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This unfortunately just wasn't what I expected it to be. I enjoyed the starting portion of this book and getting to know the main characters, however it lacked the whimsy and magic that I thought it was going to hold. The mythology throughout was intriguing - I was expecting it to delver more into that, but ended up being quite mundane and lacklustre.

Perhaps just not for me.

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I loved the idea of this one more than I enjoyed the actual finished story. The Chinese mythology was intriguing but the execution didn't quite land for me.

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My copy of the book ran out and the file is archived. I do own a physical copy of the book so will hopefully get around to reading this one soon! It just hasn't forced itself onto my tbr yet!


So sorry!!!

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Starting off, I had high hopes that this would be a delightfully strange read. But then it immediately became super mundane with only a touch of magic, and it just felt... boring to me. I feel awful saying that about a book, but I just didn't feel entertained by it at all, mainly because I didn't feel emotionally invested and a quarter of the way in, there was not yet a distinct plot being set up. So there wasn't much to keep me going, which is why I decided to DNF.

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A unique concept with the magic that Emily X R Pan can weave so well, I expected to love this book as much as The Astonishing Colour of After. Unfortunately, this book did not quite take me on the same, enchanting journey. While I adored the opening third of the novel, I felt that the middle became a little lost. Instead of becoming more invested, I lost interest as the pace dropped and the chapters became somewhat repetitive and predictable. I was hoping it would pick up again but the novel's conclusion happens so fast that the build-up seems to be for nothing.

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A retelling of our favourite classic of forbidden lovers: Romeo and Juliet, An Arrow to the Moon added a delightful spin to it, filled with magic and lyrical writing, strong and resonant characters, this was truly a testament to the beauty of YA fantasy! Incredibly heartened to see Emily X.R. Pan continue to pour her heart into her books!

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Thank you for my earc of this book.
I enjoyed but didn’t love this one. I think the writing itself was really good and the characters well developed, the story just wasn’t for me but I can 100% see others loving it!

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I’ve finally finished this book and oh my god it’s so beautiful I loved every second o laughed and I absolutely cried my heart out

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I enjoyed this book, the characters are well written and relatable. I found it a little confusing sometimes, I think you have to really concentrate on the storyline with this book otherwise you can miss minute details that are relevant later on.

The writing style of the author is lovely, it felt like reading a fairytale. I would recommend this book.

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This was a highly anticipated read for me because I had really loved the authors previous book. Unfortunately this didn't quite live up to expectations.

This book has been marketed as Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese Mythology but on read it is definitely more heavily influenced by the Chinese myth. This is great because I loved the parts that did focus on this and the more fantastical element towards the end of the book. My problem is that it took too long to get to this point and it shouldn't be that I'm only really enjoying the last 3rd of the book.

I will pick up more from this author in the future because when I enjoy their work it's some of my favourite writing I've read but this book unfortunately landed right in the middle for me.

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Over the past few years I’ve heard amazing things about Emily X. R. Pan’s writing. So, I was excited to see what I thought when I picked up An Arrow to the Moon. It tells the story of Luna and Hunter, two Asian American teenagers in their senior year at high school. When Hunter transfers to Luna’s school they are unexpectedly drawn towards each other. Maybe it is because they were born on the same day seventeen years ago or maybe it is because they both have overbearing parents. We see the star-crossed lovers fall for one another when they both have so many reasons they should be avoiding each other.

This is an excellent take on the Chinese mythological tale of Houyi and Chang’e with Romeo and Juliet vibes throughout. Emily X. R. Pan’s writing makes this story read beautifully. It is lyrical and it flows excellently. I do have to say, at times I found it a little bit confusing and had to re-read passages. But, I managed to get my head around it and enjoyed the story.

I enjoyed that this story is told from a variety of POVs and in short chapters. This helped keep my interest on the story. I found it interesting to see each character and learn a little bit more about them when their chapter came around. Despite the fact there are so many characters and constantly changing POVs, all of the characters have they own unique voices and you can tell them all apart.

I liked Hunter and Luna but I didn’t connect to them in the way that I thought I would do. That made it difficult for me to completely enjoy the story. It was interesting to see how both Hunter and Luna dealt with the issues that they faced. It was entertaining to see how the pair discovered themselves throughout the story and learnt more about each other too.

There are so many points of tension in this book. I just wish that in a couple of cases this tension was escalated further. Certain issues reached their point of tension but then had an anti-climactic ending. Some of these points of tension were truly shocking though and I enjoyed those. That is why I just wish that the other points had been shocking too.

I’m really glad that I picked this book up and immersed myself in its story. I will certainly be picking up more books by Emily X. R. Pan in the future because I am excited to see how I find her other books.

Overall, I would certainly recommended An Arrow to the Moon if you are a fan of mythology retellings. It was a lot of fun to read and I am sure so many more people will thoroughly enjoy it too.

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Thank you to NetGalley for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book is straight up beautiful. I love a star-crossed lovers sorta vibe, a Romeo & Juliet retelling, etc. And I love it even more if there's magic involved! The fact that this was pitched as Chinese mythology meets Romeo & Juliet had me SO excited.

The prose is beautifully crafted and made for really easy reading. The short chapters helped with keeping this novel really pacy, too. I loved getting to see little flashes of the story from different people's point of view! I loved that we had such a wide cast of characters to follow and learn about.

Sadly, I could not make myself excited about the plot. There were aspects of it I really enjoyed (the artefacts plot line especially) but I struggled to make myself pick the book up to find out how it ended.

This book was an easy read overall. It's a well written contemporary romance with aspects of magic and I think a lot of people will find it a very enjoyable read.

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So they spent an entire book dealing with their parents, Luna dealing with her parents future college plans and Hunter being worried about Cody being in a physically abusive household. Only for the final chapters, Luna FLOATS AWAY INTO THE MOON, TAKING CODY'S PET BUNNY AND HUNTER'S LIKE, DO YOU KNOW WHAT, GOOD LUCK WITH THE FAM I'M OFF TO FOLLOW MY GIRL AND THAT WAS IT THAT WAS THE WHOLE BOOK

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Romeo and Juliet retelling??? In space???
I was sold as soon as I heard that Line and wow this book was amazing. The romance was swoon worthy and I literally want to be a part of this world. The writing was gorgeous and I fell in love with the characters almost immediately. I feel like the author could expand on this world even more, I'd love to see more stories set here.

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Took me a little while to get into this one but once i was i really enjoyed it.

Dubbed as a 'Romeo and Juliet' retelling with a mythological elements had me hooked but the way the story was i just could not delve in straight away. I still did love the story and enjoyed the romeo and juliet aspect but don't think it would be one i would re-read or share much.

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I really loved the premise of this book, but sadly it just I wasn't everything I’d hoped for. I enjoyed the characters, I thought our main protagonists were very cute and I liked their relationship. I can only think it was the story or writing didn't connect with , it felt contrived at times and a bit over the top. I’m sure plenty others will enjoy this more than I did though

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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