Author: Emily X.R. Pan
Rating: 2/5
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Hunter Yee has had a perfect aim for as long as he can remember but literally everything in his life has gone off-course. Luna Chang feels stifled by her parents’ expectations and wants to bend the rules in the card game she’s been dealt. When the two teenagers’ paths meet, romance blossoms and strange truths are upended.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
When an artefact is excavated, light streams out and lands somewhere across the globe in the USA. Two children are born at the same time. Hunter and Luna meet at a party where they play Seven Minutes In Heaven. Luna has a way with the fish in a tank. Hunter is kicked out of his private school and attends Luna’s school. The two become friends especially after Luna’s exhales make Hunter feel better when they’re in a bus accident. Both were sick as children and moonlight and Chinese remedies healed them. In Hunter’s case, his parents owed a debt to a man named Rodney Wong. That’s why the Yees are constantly on the run (they even changed their last name). Hunter wears a bracelet that makes him invisible and has protected the family. For his brother’s birthday, Hunter gives Cody a rabbit named Jadey. Cody finds a book in his possession that has random stories in it about the moon lady and an archer who were banished to Earth. The Yees and Changs hate each other because the fathers both competed for the same position of tenured professor and Luna’s father got it. Hunter and Luna start dating and sleep together. Luna’s father keeps a hexagonal artefact that he found from Hunter’s father’s car. Luna finds out that her mother has been cheating on her father. She also learns that her father applied to Stanford early decision and hid the acceptance letters from her. Luna takes the hexagonal artefact. She and Hunter agree to run away especially because Wong knows where the Yees live now. Hunter has this uncanny ability to find cash everywhere so he’s saved about $29,000. He leaves $28,000 for his family and leaves the car. Wong goes after him. So does Cody. Luna and Hunter return to the moon and its orbit respectively. No one remembers what happened except for Cody. The book reveals to him that it’s Jadey (the rabbit?) and the rabbit goes with Luna into the sky.
Plot and Pacing
I really wanted to like this book. I’ve heard fantastic things about Emily X.R. Pan and, come on, it’s being marketed as “Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology.” What’s not to love? Unfortunately, this book was just not my cup of tea. I wish Hunter and Luna had more time together to properly explore Hunter’s past especially with the whole “on the lam” storyline. I still don’t fully understand why the Yees were constantly on the run and paranoid about everything. The inclusion of the hexagonal artefact felt shoe-horned in and by the time it made its appearance in Luna’s hands, I had pretty much forgotten about its existence. The rivalry between the Changs and Yees didn’t feel real either. I know this is fiction so duh, things aren’t meant to be real BUT I just couldn’t believe that the families would hate each other so much about one job position. I wish the conflict and drama between the two had been more explicit rather than just, “Don’t you dare talk to the Chang/Yee girl/boy!” There were no stakes set by either Hunter or Luna’s parents.
There were many opportunities for escalating the tension in the book. Luna finds her mother cheating on her father, she learns her father has been hiding her university letters, she has those weird dreams. But each scene felt almost passive? I don’t know if that’s the right word. I never felt that Luna really acted on anything, she just let things happen to her. And then the one time she is proactive (i.e. running away with Hunter), they’re both floating in the sky and she returns from whence she came? It felt like an easy, anti-climactic ending. Even Hunter’s arcs weren’t all that immersive. I really empathised with him and I thought he was very thoughtful and caring especially when it came to Cody. However, I just…I don’t know, sometimes he came off as a bit cliche with the “misunderstood bad boy” personality type.
I’m not entirely sure what message I was meant to glean from this book.
Characters
I could relate a bit to Luna especially this part:
Really, she wanted…something different. She wanted to be the type of person who took charge of her own life and went off on epic journeys. Someone who did daring, unexpected things. Why couldn’t some mage appear, like in the fantasy stories—a sorcerer summoning her to become her true self?
It’s literally all I’ve ever wanted. I wish this craving had been explored a bit more rather than just having Hunter almost be the antidote to the desire. I would have loved to see Luna understand that sometimes you have to create your own magic in the mundane or build your own adventure. While Hunter pushed her to be more bold and daring, it was always him initiating actions. For true growth, Luna should have initiated one or two actions of her own.
As for Hunter, I don’t think he really developed as a character. He didn’t really have a conflict other than his need to break free of his family. Which he did in the end. I couldn’t understand what his inner turmoil was. To be loved? To feel worthy of greatness? It just wasn’t clear.
Writing Style
I think part of the reason this story lacks cohesion and immersion is the way Pan used a LOT of POVs including characters who I, frankly, didn’t give a rat’s arse about. For example, there are so many chapters from Wong’s perspective. WHY? I didn’t care about him at all! This would have been so much stronger if those other chapters had been from Hunter and Luna’s perspectives and their relationship had been fleshed out a bit more. Like I said, I really wanted to like this book but, on the whole, it was rather underwhelming.
Earnestly Eccentric 