Sarah O'Connor

I received this book from Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

“The world is unfair to women. That’s why women need other women to teach them how to survive,” (Choi).

In 1924, Kim Na-Young lives a quiet life in the village of Daegeori where she cares for her sick mother and tends to her household with her best friend Yeon-Soo. But Korea has been occupied by the Japanese, and after a sudden tragedy in her village her father arranges for Na-Young to be married. Not wishing to be married, Na-Young convinces Yeon-Soo to run away with her so that they may decide their own fate, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that will effect not only their lives but the lives of those around them.

I was thrilled to receive All Things Under the Moon to review because I absolutely adored Ann Y.K. Choi’s debut Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety. I’d been waiting for Choi to write another book so was thrilled to not only learn about her newest book but get the chance to review it, and one so different from her debut novel. It pains me to say this book disappointed me.

I didn’t know anything about Japan’s occupation of Korea, and Choi does a wonderful job with the setting by educating readers through what her protagonist Na-Young experiences. There are great descriptions of Dageori and other settings that we visit in the novel, and I loved the friendship between Na-Young and Yeon-Soo, as well as Na-Young’s great love and dedication to her mother. But Na-Young can be a very hard protagonist to relate to. She’s incredibly naive and doesn’t think ahead about how her actions may affect others. This is understandable at the start of the book as it leads to a domino effect to everything else that happens, but through the years that we follow Na-Young I would have hoped she’d learn to be a bit more aware of the people around her. Sadly, this isn’t the case.

Another issue is the writing style. While Choi is a good writer, and the descriptions of settings are especially good in this book, we move very quickly through time when following Na-Young without seeing any real examples of her growth. From the start of the book to the end, having seen the challenges that Na-Young has faced readers would expect to see some change in her character but she remains the same naive girl from the start.

All Things Under the Moon gives a caring look at a part of history not many people are aware of, with a protagonist I think some young readers may relate to more than adults. I’m glad that Choi was passionate about this story and am eager to see what she will come up with next.

Publication: September 2 2025
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Pages: 320 pages (eARC)
Source: NetGalley (Thank you Simon and Schuster!)
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Canadian
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤
Summary:

In 1924, Korea is an occupied country. In Seoul’s secret, underground networks and throughout the countryside, rebellion against the Japanese Empire simmers, threatening to boil over. Kim Na-Young lives a simple life in the rural village of Daegeori, where she watches the moon rise and set over the pine-wooded mountains, tends to her household alongside her best friend, Yeon-Soo, and cares for her sick mother.
But the occupation touches every Korean life—even Na-Young’s. In the wake of a tragedy that stuns the village, Na-Young’s father arranges her marriage to a man she’s never met, and Na-Young and Yeon-Soo decide to flee, taking their fate into their own hands. That decision sets them on their own collision course with the occupying forces, resulting in a violent encounter that will alter both of their lives forever—in shockingly different ways.