Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Hunter Yee has perfect aim with a bow and arrow, but all else in his life veers wrong. He’s sick of being haunted by his family’s past mistakes. The only things keeping him from running away are his younger brother, a supernatural wind and the bewitching girl at his new high school.
Luna Chang dreads the future. Graduation looms ahead, and her parents’ expectations are stifling. Then her life is turned upside down by the strange new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across the town of Fairbridge.
As Hunter and Luna uncover hidden secrets and navigate the feud between their families, everything around them begins to fall apart. All they can depend on is their love . . . but time is running out, and fate will have its way.
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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