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Flesh and False Gods #1
Immortal Longings
Every year, thousands in the kingdom of Talin will flock to its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace hosts a set of games. For those confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies, competitors across San-Er fight to the death to win unimaginable riches.
Princess Calla Tuoleimi lurks in hiding. Five years ago, a massacre killed her parents and left the palace of Er empty…and she was the one who did it. Before King Kasa’s forces in San can catch her, she plans to finish the job and bring down the monarchy. Her reclusive uncle always greets the victor of the games, so if she wins, she gets her opportunity at last to kill him.
Enter Anton Makusa, an exiled aristocrat. His childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace, and he’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Thankfully, he’s one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, flitting from body to body at will. His last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.
Calla finds both an unexpected alliance with Anton and help from King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to mend Talin’s ills. But the three of them have very different goals, even as Calla and Anton’s partnership spirals into something all-consuming. Before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for—her lover or her kingdom.
Princess Calla Tuoleimi lurks in hiding. Five years ago, a massacre killed her parents and left the palace of Er empty…and she was the one who did it. Before King Kasa’s forces in San can catch her, she plans to finish the job and bring down the monarchy. Her reclusive uncle always greets the victor of the games, so if she wins, she gets her opportunity at last to kill him.
Enter Anton Makusa, an exiled aristocrat. His childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace, and he’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Thankfully, he’s one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, flitting from body to body at will. His last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.
Calla finds both an unexpected alliance with Anton and help from King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to mend Talin’s ills. But the three of them have very different goals, even as Calla and Anton’s partnership spirals into something all-consuming. Before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for—her lover or her kingdom.
372 pages, Hardcover
First published July 18, 2023
About the author
Chloe Gong
16 books23.9k followersChloe Gong is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Secret Shanghai novels, as well as the Flesh and False Gods trilogy. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and have been featured in the New York Times, PEOPLE, Cosmopolitan, and more. She was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2024. Chloe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, she is now located in New York City, pretending to be a real adult.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,483 reviews
March 22, 2024
Many thanks to Saga Press and Netgalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.
These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends: ☆☆☆☆☆
Foul Lady Fortune: ☆☆☆
Immortal Longings: ☆
Had my expectations not been through the roofs, my dislike for this work would have been less strong. The profound affection I hold for the These Violent Delights duology led me to eagerly anticipate another Shakespearean retelling by Chloe Gong, particularly within the realm of adult urban fantasy. As I now conclude this book, a bitter sense of disappointment lingers, and I am left regretful for having wasted my time.
At the outset of the book, I was captivated by the setting of San-Er, a place inspired by a historical area of Hong Kong. The vivid portrayal of the city authentically captured the essence of a bustling metropolis in East Asia, evoking nostalgic memories of the sounds and the dense urban landscape of my hometown. However, it seemed that Chloe Gong believed readers required an extensive amount of city description throughout the entire book. Frankly, I've read French classics with less information dumping than this. Gong's paragraphs seemed to repeat the same information, just phrased slightly differently. While I understand that this may not be the final version of the book, it felt more like an unedited draft, despite its considerable potential.
The worldbuilding was disappointingly average. If you're attempting to create a game similar to THG (a game that serves as a catalyst for the downfall of a system), it should possess a unique and exhilarating quality, with grandeur worthy of the players' efforts. In this book, the game itself was the least memorable aspect. The stakes were supposedly high, yet the lack of tension leading up to pivotal moments, due to the short and infrequent action scenes, was infuriating. Gong did make a point to repeatedly describe the games in paragraphs, though.
The political system presented in the book was one of the most poorly constructed I've encountered recently. If you're going to contrast the prosperous urban center with the desolate and rudimentary countryside or the business hub of Er with the slums of San, it's crucial to explain the mechanics underlying these differences. How is wealth generated? How does the monarchy afford lavish feasts, jewels, and gold? How are the armed forces organized? What about the management of the country's borders? Are there distinct institutions? How are various social classes treated by the legal system? Is there even a functioning court? One cannot write a semi-dystopian story without addressing these fundamental questions about establishing a government that won't crumble like a paper castle. Perhaps, a crash course "Politics & Institutions 101." could have been a good thing for this book, because while it's convenient to appropriate historical events and politics for a historical fiction, a fantasy world must be at least believable in its construction, particularly when incorporating the concept of a game like in THG.
Lastly, for the love of god, I wish authors in general would refrain from labeling every single character as morally gray. There is nothing ambiguous about it. The intentions of each character are explicitly spelled out, leaving no room for our own moral reflections. Every character adheres to a specific archetype, playing a predetermined role, which renders the book agonizingly predictable and, consequently, exasperating to read. (I guessed the plot twist at 30% and the ending at 50% LMAO.)"
And don't me get me started on the romantic relationship: there is more chemistry between me and my pile of Spanish homework. (But really, I don't understand how Chloe Gong, the same author who penned Roma and Juliette, could have written a relationship this flat.)
To conclude, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this book. In my personal opinion, Chloe Gong seems to lack the finesse of a seasoned fantasy writer, resulting in a rather poor attempt of the incredibly complex genre, despite the obvious potential. I don't see myself continuing with this series or checking out any future releases from Gong, except for the remaining books in the Foul Lady Fortune series, which still hold some appeal to me.
P.S. At my core, I am a hater.
You can also find me on my Bookstagram @shardsofdeadlove 💜
-------------------------------------------
pre-review:
...anyways
rtc.
These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends: ☆☆☆☆☆
Foul Lady Fortune: ☆☆☆
Immortal Longings: ☆
Had my expectations not been through the roofs, my dislike for this work would have been less strong. The profound affection I hold for the These Violent Delights duology led me to eagerly anticipate another Shakespearean retelling by Chloe Gong, particularly within the realm of adult urban fantasy. As I now conclude this book, a bitter sense of disappointment lingers, and I am left regretful for having wasted my time.
At the outset of the book, I was captivated by the setting of San-Er, a place inspired by a historical area of Hong Kong. The vivid portrayal of the city authentically captured the essence of a bustling metropolis in East Asia, evoking nostalgic memories of the sounds and the dense urban landscape of my hometown. However, it seemed that Chloe Gong believed readers required an extensive amount of city description throughout the entire book. Frankly, I've read French classics with less information dumping than this. Gong's paragraphs seemed to repeat the same information, just phrased slightly differently. While I understand that this may not be the final version of the book, it felt more like an unedited draft, despite its considerable potential.
The worldbuilding was disappointingly average. If you're attempting to create a game similar to THG (a game that serves as a catalyst for the downfall of a system), it should possess a unique and exhilarating quality, with grandeur worthy of the players' efforts. In this book, the game itself was the least memorable aspect. The stakes were supposedly high, yet the lack of tension leading up to pivotal moments, due to the short and infrequent action scenes, was infuriating. Gong did make a point to repeatedly describe the games in paragraphs, though.
The political system presented in the book was one of the most poorly constructed I've encountered recently. If you're going to contrast the prosperous urban center with the desolate and rudimentary countryside or the business hub of Er with the slums of San, it's crucial to explain the mechanics underlying these differences. How is wealth generated? How does the monarchy afford lavish feasts, jewels, and gold? How are the armed forces organized? What about the management of the country's borders? Are there distinct institutions? How are various social classes treated by the legal system? Is there even a functioning court? One cannot write a semi-dystopian story without addressing these fundamental questions about establishing a government that won't crumble like a paper castle. Perhaps, a crash course "Politics & Institutions 101." could have been a good thing for this book, because while it's convenient to appropriate historical events and politics for a historical fiction, a fantasy world must be at least believable in its construction, particularly when incorporating the concept of a game like in THG.
Lastly, for the love of god, I wish authors in general would refrain from labeling every single character as morally gray. There is nothing ambiguous about it. The intentions of each character are explicitly spelled out, leaving no room for our own moral reflections. Every character adheres to a specific archetype, playing a predetermined role, which renders the book agonizingly predictable and, consequently, exasperating to read. (I guessed the plot twist at 30% and the ending at 50% LMAO.)"
And don't me get me started on the romantic relationship: there is more chemistry between me and my pile of Spanish homework. (But really, I don't understand how Chloe Gong, the same author who penned Roma and Juliette, could have written a relationship this flat.)
To conclude, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this book. In my personal opinion, Chloe Gong seems to lack the finesse of a seasoned fantasy writer, resulting in a rather poor attempt of the incredibly complex genre, despite the obvious potential. I don't see myself continuing with this series or checking out any future releases from Gong, except for the remaining books in the Foul Lady Fortune series, which still hold some appeal to me.
P.S. At my core, I am a hater.
You can also find me on my Bookstagram @shardsofdeadlove 💜
-------------------------------------------
pre-review:
...anyways
rtc.
July 23, 2023
You know what this book reminded me of? *eye twitch* No, not the Hunger Games. *intense war flashbacks* LIGHTLARK 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Am gonna be crying for daysss at this monstrosity.
I'll be straightforward, this is not worth the money. The writing in this is so ridiculous, it's giving first draft.
❌ Lots and lots of info dumping throughout the book
❌ Slow paced
❌ Bland characters and an equally bland romance. There was no chemistry between the love interests and the characters are quite forgettable
❌ World building was confusing and I would have understood it better had the author not continued to info dump
✔️ Mao Mao the cat
✔️ The cover (which is not a credit to the author)
This was the first book I read of hers and am utterly disappointed. Idk if I should read the Violent Delights at all 🥲
~•~•~
Haven't read anything yet by Chloe Gong, so this will be a first. Fingers crossed 🤞
~•~•~
I NEED THIS ASAP
I'll be straightforward, this is not worth the money. The writing in this is so ridiculous, it's giving first draft.
❌ Lots and lots of info dumping throughout the book
❌ Slow paced
❌ Bland characters and an equally bland romance. There was no chemistry between the love interests and the characters are quite forgettable
❌ World building was confusing and I would have understood it better had the author not continued to info dump
✔️ Mao Mao the cat
✔️ The cover (which is not a credit to the author)
This was the first book I read of hers and am utterly disappointed. Idk if I should read the Violent Delights at all 🥲
~•~•~
Haven't read anything yet by Chloe Gong, so this will be a first. Fingers crossed 🤞
~•~•~
I NEED THIS ASAP
August 2, 2023
i can’t take this anymore. i have to dnf this for my own sanity because this was truly insufferable to read, my god.
this is not Chloe Gong’s best work. at all. it needs an editor— desperately. someone needs to sit down the chop the pages upon pages of info-dumping that was slowly making me lose my will to live. i barely know what the actual plot of the book is because i was choked to death with centuries worth of history about the city of San-Er— a fictionalised city Chloe Gong has created.
the way my eyes would glaze over almost immediately every time i forced myself to pick this up (heavy emphasis on forced) was just so demotivating. i know Chloe Gong writes rather slow expositions but the info-dumping was astronomical here. it felt like a history text book more than a fantasy book. she didn’t clearly weave the information throughout the narrative and instead does so with the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck with no tyres on.
it seriously took me weeks to get into it, and even then it wasn’t out of my own free will and enjoyment, more so the fact i was just kinda sick of it looming over my head and wanted to be done with it :/
the plot wasn’t gripping enough either— if you’re gonna do a Hunger Games style plot but make it monarchical rather than set in a republic... make it different, somehow. subvert it, make some intriguing critical commentary. do something different! the story’s intent was very similar to the Hunger Games: the people living in squaller, the games their only hope, the royal family using the games as a source of entertainment. when something as epic as the Hunger Games has been done before, i think you should just leave that type of plot alone. it didn’t have the complexity i think Gong wanted here because there was just so much going on with so many different characters. trying to keep up was truly exhausting. everything was too surface level to be interesting.
and what was even more exhausting was how none of the characters gripped me at all, so trying to latch onto something inviting or gripping just wasn’t in the cards for me. most of them barely had any dialogue for the first quarter of the book— it didn’t really feel like i knew them because being inside their heads through the inner monologues lacked personality and was just more generic info-dumping. i wasn’t spending time with the characters, i was just reading pages of info-dumping through their POVs.
there was no bite or grit or edge or excitement. they each felt exactly the same— equally boring and subpar with no personalities.
she was also trying to make everyone be too mysterious and edgy by not divulging much about them other than some vague comments here and there that were supposed to lure me in... but it wasn’t enough information to grip me. instead it just heightened my confusion. she didn’t set out character motivations for the games at all, i didn’t understand this edgy thirst for vengeance and why they all wanted to participate in the games. so i wasn’t invested in any of them as characters at all.
everything was just severely, painfully dull.
not enjoying a Chloe Gong book to this degree is also painful for me. i tried to commit but i am literally at my wits end, my GOD.
Chloe Gong has been spending too much time with Alex Aster and it shows— please stay away from the humble-brag nepo baby, i beggggg.
and weeks later, i have to come back and add the strange politics of “body jumping” in this book and how Gong doesn’t really acknowledge the grossly exploitative nature of this concept nor anything about consent — she has the two MCs have sex with each other while inhabiting the bodies of two random people and… oooof, there’s a lot of unpack there. i also read another review on Instagram mention the problematic nature of one of the MCs (it was either August or Anton, to me they’re the exact same person sowwy) body jumping into a child. again, so much to unpack there that i don’t have the nuance or brain cells to talk about… but once it was pointed out to me, the dots started connecting in my head about how deeply uncomfortable this all is but Gong really doesn’t portray it for what it is. i think i didn’t realise how gross the concept was because Gong doesn’t really portray the reality of how exploitive and dehumanising body-jumping is— she had the opportunity to have nuanced conversations regarding body politics, consent, free will, agency and autonomy… and she just doesn’t. she offers us a blasé explanation that it’s illegal but people do it anyways and that’s that :/
i ultimately think the book was just incredibly lazy and empty.
thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
this is not Chloe Gong’s best work. at all. it needs an editor— desperately. someone needs to sit down the chop the pages upon pages of info-dumping that was slowly making me lose my will to live. i barely know what the actual plot of the book is because i was choked to death with centuries worth of history about the city of San-Er— a fictionalised city Chloe Gong has created.
the way my eyes would glaze over almost immediately every time i forced myself to pick this up (heavy emphasis on forced) was just so demotivating. i know Chloe Gong writes rather slow expositions but the info-dumping was astronomical here. it felt like a history text book more than a fantasy book. she didn’t clearly weave the information throughout the narrative and instead does so with the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck with no tyres on.
it seriously took me weeks to get into it, and even then it wasn’t out of my own free will and enjoyment, more so the fact i was just kinda sick of it looming over my head and wanted to be done with it :/
the plot wasn’t gripping enough either— if you’re gonna do a Hunger Games style plot but make it monarchical rather than set in a republic... make it different, somehow. subvert it, make some intriguing critical commentary. do something different! the story’s intent was very similar to the Hunger Games: the people living in squaller, the games their only hope, the royal family using the games as a source of entertainment. when something as epic as the Hunger Games has been done before, i think you should just leave that type of plot alone. it didn’t have the complexity i think Gong wanted here because there was just so much going on with so many different characters. trying to keep up was truly exhausting. everything was too surface level to be interesting.
and what was even more exhausting was how none of the characters gripped me at all, so trying to latch onto something inviting or gripping just wasn’t in the cards for me. most of them barely had any dialogue for the first quarter of the book— it didn’t really feel like i knew them because being inside their heads through the inner monologues lacked personality and was just more generic info-dumping. i wasn’t spending time with the characters, i was just reading pages of info-dumping through their POVs.
there was no bite or grit or edge or excitement. they each felt exactly the same— equally boring and subpar with no personalities.
she was also trying to make everyone be too mysterious and edgy by not divulging much about them other than some vague comments here and there that were supposed to lure me in... but it wasn’t enough information to grip me. instead it just heightened my confusion. she didn’t set out character motivations for the games at all, i didn’t understand this edgy thirst for vengeance and why they all wanted to participate in the games. so i wasn’t invested in any of them as characters at all.
everything was just severely, painfully dull.
not enjoying a Chloe Gong book to this degree is also painful for me. i tried to commit but i am literally at my wits end, my GOD.
Chloe Gong has been spending too much time with Alex Aster and it shows— please stay away from the humble-brag nepo baby, i beggggg.
and weeks later, i have to come back and add the strange politics of “body jumping” in this book and how Gong doesn’t really acknowledge the grossly exploitative nature of this concept nor anything about consent — she has the two MCs have sex with each other while inhabiting the bodies of two random people and… oooof, there’s a lot of unpack there. i also read another review on Instagram mention the problematic nature of one of the MCs (it was either August or Anton, to me they’re the exact same person sowwy) body jumping into a child. again, so much to unpack there that i don’t have the nuance or brain cells to talk about… but once it was pointed out to me, the dots started connecting in my head about how deeply uncomfortable this all is but Gong really doesn’t portray it for what it is. i think i didn’t realise how gross the concept was because Gong doesn’t really portray the reality of how exploitive and dehumanising body-jumping is— she had the opportunity to have nuanced conversations regarding body politics, consent, free will, agency and autonomy… and she just doesn’t. she offers us a blasé explanation that it’s illegal but people do it anyways and that’s that :/
i ultimately think the book was just incredibly lazy and empty.
thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
February 20, 2024
3.5⭐️ I was planning to give this just 3 stars BUT IM NOT EVEN KIDDING THE GASP I GUSPED AT THE END had me bumping it up half a star. I listened to the audiobook. And I honestly really liked the world! I loved the games and found it really easy to understand everything. My biggest issue was I felt like there wasn’t really any chemistry between the two main characters?
December 30, 2023
chloe gong needs to put her pen down and take a deep breath.
releasing more than one novel per year between the ages of 21 and 24 sure sounds impressive, but when you actually take a look at what she's been writing, impressive isn't a word you'd use to describe it. as someone who's read all of chloe's books released so far (and actually enjoyed her debut), this book was so numbingly boring and juvenile that i had to fight to finish it.
this adult debut was comped to antony and cleopatra meeting the hunger games, and it was very much... not that. after reading the author's note, i know she didn't really intend for this work to be a shakespearean retelling- rather, she wanted to examine antony and cleopatra's "obsessive" relationship through a different lens, but i don't think she managed to do this either. as a disclaimer, i haven't actually read/watched the play that this is based on, but i'm sure that antony and cleopatra had more nuance to them than gong's anton and calla. anton jumps from body to body and never is really fleshed out beyond that, and calla is vengeful and wants to kill the king to supposedly fix all of san-er's problems instantaneously. that's it. there's no development that the individual characters go through over almost 400 pages. to me, the highlights of gong's young adult novels have consistently been the romance aspect, but she falls so flat in this book that i genuinely can't believe it was written by the same author. anton and calla start as reluctant allies who were forced to work together by the crown prince, august, and barely tolerate each other for the most part, only sticking together because they have to. then, suddenly, halfway through the book, they start having random intimately charged moments and are miraculously devoted to each other. there's no buildup and no chemistry to speak of, and there's barely any obsession between them either. the hunger games comp also made no sense, largely because the games themselves were absolutely nonsensical. the arena is somehow the entirety of the twin cities, civilian casualties are expected, and people willingly sign up for the opportunity to run around the city for weeks for a slim chance at glory. "body jumping" is supposedly illegal, but everyone seems to agree that no one can win the game without jumping at least a few times. because of how haphazardly the games were defined, the stakes were practically nonexistent, and i was more bored than anything else.
in terms of body jumping specifically... yikes. the premise of this power is actually interesting- certain san-er citizens can jump into other people's bodies and take over them completely- but the execution fell flat. jumping is supposed to be illegal, but everyone expects it to happen in front of or to them anyway. when their bodies are vacated, civilians just look around, confused about how they ended up where they are, and this is supposed to be normal. there are logistical loopholes that are never really addressed that i won't get into because i'm really not sure how to explain them in the first place. and of course, questions of consensuality arise and are never answered or, frankly, even addressed in the first place.
the amount of exposition in this book made it a pain to actually be immersed in the twin cities of san-er. gong writes gramatically convoluted paragraphs to describe the most mundane characteristics of the city instead of naturally incorporating these details into other scenes where something is actually happening, which, honestly, feels like a complaint i would make about a debut novel, not an author's fourth one. what's more, none of these paragraphs actually get into the sociopolitical issues that plague san-er. there is no discussion about how corruption at a high level affects the rest of the social classes; instead, there are tons of redundant, surface-level mentions of poverty, making it clear that gong doesn't actually understand the politics of her own fictional kingdom. consequently, i don't understand why this was classified as adult either. excessive exposition, some gore, swearing, and a sex scene don't make a book adult if the author is determined to view politics through the lens of a precocious liberal teenager.
immortal longings was painfully boring and ultimately didn't deliver on any of its promises. at this point in her career, chloe gong just doesn't have enough mastery over her craft to tackle the complexity that is expected in an adult fantasy. there's genuinely no shame in this, but the fact that she obviously only surrounds herself with writers and editors who are too eager to praise her for doing the bare minimum is only working to hurt her.
releasing more than one novel per year between the ages of 21 and 24 sure sounds impressive, but when you actually take a look at what she's been writing, impressive isn't a word you'd use to describe it. as someone who's read all of chloe's books released so far (and actually enjoyed her debut), this book was so numbingly boring and juvenile that i had to fight to finish it.
this adult debut was comped to antony and cleopatra meeting the hunger games, and it was very much... not that. after reading the author's note, i know she didn't really intend for this work to be a shakespearean retelling- rather, she wanted to examine antony and cleopatra's "obsessive" relationship through a different lens, but i don't think she managed to do this either. as a disclaimer, i haven't actually read/watched the play that this is based on, but i'm sure that antony and cleopatra had more nuance to them than gong's anton and calla. anton jumps from body to body and never is really fleshed out beyond that, and calla is vengeful and wants to kill the king to supposedly fix all of san-er's problems instantaneously. that's it. there's no development that the individual characters go through over almost 400 pages. to me, the highlights of gong's young adult novels have consistently been the romance aspect, but she falls so flat in this book that i genuinely can't believe it was written by the same author. anton and calla start as reluctant allies who were forced to work together by the crown prince, august, and barely tolerate each other for the most part, only sticking together because they have to. then, suddenly, halfway through the book, they start having random intimately charged moments and are miraculously devoted to each other. there's no buildup and no chemistry to speak of, and there's barely any obsession between them either. the hunger games comp also made no sense, largely because the games themselves were absolutely nonsensical. the arena is somehow the entirety of the twin cities, civilian casualties are expected, and people willingly sign up for the opportunity to run around the city for weeks for a slim chance at glory. "body jumping" is supposedly illegal, but everyone seems to agree that no one can win the game without jumping at least a few times. because of how haphazardly the games were defined, the stakes were practically nonexistent, and i was more bored than anything else.
in terms of body jumping specifically... yikes. the premise of this power is actually interesting- certain san-er citizens can jump into other people's bodies and take over them completely- but the execution fell flat. jumping is supposed to be illegal, but everyone expects it to happen in front of or to them anyway. when their bodies are vacated, civilians just look around, confused about how they ended up where they are, and this is supposed to be normal. there are logistical loopholes that are never really addressed that i won't get into because i'm really not sure how to explain them in the first place. and of course, questions of consensuality arise and are never answered or, frankly, even addressed in the first place.
the amount of exposition in this book made it a pain to actually be immersed in the twin cities of san-er. gong writes gramatically convoluted paragraphs to describe the most mundane characteristics of the city instead of naturally incorporating these details into other scenes where something is actually happening, which, honestly, feels like a complaint i would make about a debut novel, not an author's fourth one. what's more, none of these paragraphs actually get into the sociopolitical issues that plague san-er. there is no discussion about how corruption at a high level affects the rest of the social classes; instead, there are tons of redundant, surface-level mentions of poverty, making it clear that gong doesn't actually understand the politics of her own fictional kingdom. consequently, i don't understand why this was classified as adult either. excessive exposition, some gore, swearing, and a sex scene don't make a book adult if the author is determined to view politics through the lens of a precocious liberal teenager.
immortal longings was painfully boring and ultimately didn't deliver on any of its promises. at this point in her career, chloe gong just doesn't have enough mastery over her craft to tackle the complexity that is expected in an adult fantasy. there's genuinely no shame in this, but the fact that she obviously only surrounds herself with writers and editors who are too eager to praise her for doing the bare minimum is only working to hurt her.
August 19, 2023
It has gotten monotonous to be leagues above everyone else.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (NO, I'M NOT EXAGGERATING!!!!)
Spice Meter: 🌶️
⚠️Trigger Warning: Graphic Scenes of Death⚠️
❗This is a SPOILER-FREE ARC review from NetGalley❗
📍Release Date: 25 July, 2023
EXCUSE MEEE??? WHO GAVE CHLOE GONG THE RIGHT TO UTTERLY OBLITERATE MY MIND AND SOUL???
There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in my life right now that could come close to making me feel as ecstatic as this book has. I had little doubt that I would fall head over heels for it. As I was hoping, Chloe Gong's literary work has gloriously rescued me from a devastating reading slump once again. I feel invigorated. I could read book after book after book without blinking. Unsurprisingly, everything she has written so far has been phenomenal. It appears as though her writing streak will continue incessantly for a long time. First of all, the plot and the subsequent sub-plots are so well thought out and perfectly executed they had me in a chokehold from start to finish. There is a strong The Hunger Games vibe that works perfectly with the story. Also, I was blown away by the spectacular, utterly shocking plot twists (THAT ENDING IN PARTICULAR) that left me reeling. The world-building is equally remarkable. The lore, the social system, and the politics are bound together beautifully.
Moreover, Gong's affinity for multiple POVs, even of characters that aren't even secondary, carried on to Immortal Longings as well, which I usually don't enjoy, but Gong has a way of making it work in a way that makes me forget I'm not a fan of it. Naturally, Calla Tuoleimi, the protagonist and the most important POV of the story, has stolen the show with her intelligence, skills, sarcasm, and arrogance. Yes, I know some of these are red flags, but I've never been one to worry about such things anyway. On top of that, she's prone to self-destruction and possessiveness (in a hot/ only mildly concerning way 😏), and she has done things that completely deteriorated my mental health. Basically, she's the total package, and I have a major crush on her.
However, I am not the only one who's crushing on her or whose mental health has been shattered because of her. Anton Makusa is as much Calla's victim as anyone who chooses to read this book and lets themselves fall for this hot mess of a princess. Not that he's entirely blameless, either. On the contrary, he could walk all over me anytime he wanted. He stole my heart with the same ease Calla has. He is charming, talented, witty, and extremely complicated. Essentially, he is as much of a hot mess as the princess is. In fact, they share a lot of the same alarming traits. They truly are a match made in heaven...or...well, you know. 👀👀
Additionally, I obviously adore the relationship between Calla and Anton. Since their first encounter, their chemistry and tension popped out of the page stark and near-tangible. They are rivals-to-lovers as they are both participating in a deadly competition where only one can be left standing, making that sweet, glorious banter all the more enticing. It was so intense I squealed like a schoolgirl reading her first romance novel all over again. Besides, they are so profoundly evenly matched in talent and intelligence that together, they have made a formidable, impressive team. You can imagine how these attributes made their relationship all the more passionate....and steamy. 🥵🥵🥵
Lastly, August Shenzhi, the frustratingly enigmatic Crown Prince, whose morals are so gray it's hard to know whether to root for him. While he seems to care deeply for his kingdom and its subjects, he makes some incredibly questionable choices making him one of the most complex characters in the novel. Even though I have a lot of mixed feelings about him that leave me undecided on whether I want him to be happy or to suffer, I am fascinated by his character and curious to see how his arc develops. His relationship with his friend and bodyguard, Galipei, is particularly intriguing. It is the main reason I wonder how his story will progress later.
Immortal Longings will be released this year on 25 July. DO NOT MISS IT!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (NO, I'M NOT EXAGGERATING!!!!)
Spice Meter: 🌶️
⚠️Trigger Warning: Graphic Scenes of Death⚠️
❗This is a SPOILER-FREE ARC review from NetGalley❗
📍Release Date: 25 July, 2023
EXCUSE MEEE??? WHO GAVE CHLOE GONG THE RIGHT TO UTTERLY OBLITERATE MY MIND AND SOUL???
There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in my life right now that could come close to making me feel as ecstatic as this book has. I had little doubt that I would fall head over heels for it. As I was hoping, Chloe Gong's literary work has gloriously rescued me from a devastating reading slump once again. I feel invigorated. I could read book after book after book without blinking. Unsurprisingly, everything she has written so far has been phenomenal. It appears as though her writing streak will continue incessantly for a long time. First of all, the plot and the subsequent sub-plots are so well thought out and perfectly executed they had me in a chokehold from start to finish. There is a strong The Hunger Games vibe that works perfectly with the story. Also, I was blown away by the spectacular, utterly shocking plot twists (THAT ENDING IN PARTICULAR) that left me reeling. The world-building is equally remarkable. The lore, the social system, and the politics are bound together beautifully.
Moreover, Gong's affinity for multiple POVs, even of characters that aren't even secondary, carried on to Immortal Longings as well, which I usually don't enjoy, but Gong has a way of making it work in a way that makes me forget I'm not a fan of it. Naturally, Calla Tuoleimi, the protagonist and the most important POV of the story, has stolen the show with her intelligence, skills, sarcasm, and arrogance. Yes, I know some of these are red flags, but I've never been one to worry about such things anyway. On top of that, she's prone to self-destruction and possessiveness (in a hot/ only mildly concerning way 😏), and she has done things that completely deteriorated my mental health. Basically, she's the total package, and I have a major crush on her.
However, I am not the only one who's crushing on her or whose mental health has been shattered because of her. Anton Makusa is as much Calla's victim as anyone who chooses to read this book and lets themselves fall for this hot mess of a princess. Not that he's entirely blameless, either. On the contrary, he could walk all over me anytime he wanted. He stole my heart with the same ease Calla has. He is charming, talented, witty, and extremely complicated. Essentially, he is as much of a hot mess as the princess is. In fact, they share a lot of the same alarming traits. They truly are a match made in heaven...or...well, you know. 👀👀
Additionally, I obviously adore the relationship between Calla and Anton. Since their first encounter, their chemistry and tension popped out of the page stark and near-tangible. They are rivals-to-lovers as they are both participating in a deadly competition where only one can be left standing, making that sweet, glorious banter all the more enticing. It was so intense I squealed like a schoolgirl reading her first romance novel all over again. Besides, they are so profoundly evenly matched in talent and intelligence that together, they have made a formidable, impressive team. You can imagine how these attributes made their relationship all the more passionate....and steamy. 🥵🥵🥵
Lastly, August Shenzhi, the frustratingly enigmatic Crown Prince, whose morals are so gray it's hard to know whether to root for him. While he seems to care deeply for his kingdom and its subjects, he makes some incredibly questionable choices making him one of the most complex characters in the novel. Even though I have a lot of mixed feelings about him that leave me undecided on whether I want him to be happy or to suffer, I am fascinated by his character and curious to see how his arc develops. His relationship with his friend and bodyguard, Galipei, is particularly intriguing. It is the main reason I wonder how his story will progress later.
Immortal Longings will be released this year on 25 July. DO NOT MISS IT!
September 21, 2023
Chloe Gong has been horribly, terribly lied to. When she wrote her debut book at 21, she went from an unknown figure to an overwhelmingly popular author. No, the book wasn’t fantastic, but it was a young woman’s first attempt at a full length novel. It had potential. It might even be called good. And if These Violent Delights was good, then there wasn’t much to change about Our Violent Ends. The book got great reviews, so why should she change anything? What is there to improve when the original formula already garnered so much critical acclaim and adoration? In 2023, Gong will have five full length novels published by the end of the year, not to mention countless novellas. Not once has her writing improved in any of these.
It might be our fault. I can’t help but think that the mindless praise she has received over the years has fed into the notion that she is more than just a decent writer, but a great writer. She doesn’t need to improve anything. Look at her numbers on TikTok. Look at how many special editions her books have. Look at the New York Times Bestselling Author stamp on all of her covers. Or maybe it’s not our fault at all, but she simply surrounds herself with people who are too afraid to tell her to change anything. Worse, people who genuinely like what she writes. I know I sound rather rude, but I cannot emphasize enough how boring, lifeless, and terrible this book was.
I do not care to go into the plot. This book is not interesting enough for that. It is barely an Antony and Cleopatra story. I honestly do not see the similarities. The “Hunger Games” aspect was terribly written. There is no nuance whatsoever. It’s not a new take on the story, nor does it make much sense. Why are these people allowed to participate in the games in the middle of the city? It literally doesn’t matter if they kill civilians. Why the fuck would regular people enjoy the games if their lives are constantly at risk? She has clearly also not thought out the idea of jumping through bodies. How fucked up is it that you can steal anybody’s body at any point and they can’t do anything about it? That you can defile another person’s body, steal a child’s body, and that’s “just how it is?”
I honestly don’t know why anybody in this book cares about making the kingdom better. Besides the fact that the politics are convoluted and senseless (it’s pretty explicitly pro-monarchy so long as the monarch is a Sexy Young Man who literally says that the people wouldn’t be able to survive without a King, and yes, this guy is meant to be likable), none of these people are worth saving. Fuck these citizens. They literally suck. I need Gong to stop writing about things she doesn’t understand. She did it in TVD with communism, and she does it here with poverty. I obviously do not know her personally, but I can tell you right now that she does not understand poverty. To Gong, poverty is being hungry, starving, having no food, not eating, etc. It all fucking revolves around food. Poverty is not just about fucking food. It’s an entire lifestyle she does not comprehend but has decided to write about anyway. And it SUCKS.
I do not like to see Gong fail. I truly think that she needs better writer friends, anyone who is willing to be honest with her. And God, she needs to take a break from writing. Her tight schedule does not do her any favors.
It might be our fault. I can’t help but think that the mindless praise she has received over the years has fed into the notion that she is more than just a decent writer, but a great writer. She doesn’t need to improve anything. Look at her numbers on TikTok. Look at how many special editions her books have. Look at the New York Times Bestselling Author stamp on all of her covers. Or maybe it’s not our fault at all, but she simply surrounds herself with people who are too afraid to tell her to change anything. Worse, people who genuinely like what she writes. I know I sound rather rude, but I cannot emphasize enough how boring, lifeless, and terrible this book was.
I do not care to go into the plot. This book is not interesting enough for that. It is barely an Antony and Cleopatra story. I honestly do not see the similarities. The “Hunger Games” aspect was terribly written. There is no nuance whatsoever. It’s not a new take on the story, nor does it make much sense. Why are these people allowed to participate in the games in the middle of the city? It literally doesn’t matter if they kill civilians. Why the fuck would regular people enjoy the games if their lives are constantly at risk? She has clearly also not thought out the idea of jumping through bodies. How fucked up is it that you can steal anybody’s body at any point and they can’t do anything about it? That you can defile another person’s body, steal a child’s body, and that’s “just how it is?”
I honestly don’t know why anybody in this book cares about making the kingdom better. Besides the fact that the politics are convoluted and senseless (it’s pretty explicitly pro-monarchy so long as the monarch is a Sexy Young Man who literally says that the people wouldn’t be able to survive without a King, and yes, this guy is meant to be likable), none of these people are worth saving. Fuck these citizens. They literally suck. I need Gong to stop writing about things she doesn’t understand. She did it in TVD with communism, and she does it here with poverty. I obviously do not know her personally, but I can tell you right now that she does not understand poverty. To Gong, poverty is being hungry, starving, having no food, not eating, etc. It all fucking revolves around food. Poverty is not just about fucking food. It’s an entire lifestyle she does not comprehend but has decided to write about anyway. And it SUCKS.
I do not like to see Gong fail. I truly think that she needs better writer friends, anyone who is willing to be honest with her. And God, she needs to take a break from writing. Her tight schedule does not do her any favors.
Want to read
November 14, 2021once again asking Chloe Gong to let us fucking BREATHE
god I’m so excited 😭
god I’m so excited 😭
Want to read
November 12, 2021MISS CHLOE GONG CAN JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY
August 26, 2023
The publishers did not approve my e-arc request and for good reason, I’m about to go off on in this review. Shout out to my book bestie for letting me borrow their physical arc! I’m making it everyone’s problem now.
Before I begin, I wanna lay some ground rules: clearly, my rating indicates that I wasn’t a fan of the book but I’m also aware of the weird jealousy surrounding Chloe Gong’s success (much of which feels like thinly veiled racism and misogyny). I will never condone any of that vitriol in the spaces I occupy so all the bigoted haters can pack it up—I’m here to represent the justified haters (ie. the people who have critiques about craft/story/world-building, of which there are many).
GENERAL SUMMARY
Immortal Longings in signature Chloe Gong fashion, repurposes a Shakespearean play (in this case, Antony and Cleopatra) in a 90s noir setting. We follow three main protagonists (debatable, given I kept mixing up Anton and August every few scenes) in their journey through a Hunger Games battle royal that takes place annually in their kingdom of Talin, specifically within the capital twin cities San-Er. Lot of things happen, no emotional attachments are made, and in all, it’s a fairly lackluster foray into Adult Sci-Fi/Sci-Fantasy.
I’m gonna tell you why.
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
Chloe has mentioned in a couple of TikToks advertising Immortal Longings that the book is a “NA fantasy trilogy [...] 1990s Hong Kong stylized vibes” with the intended effect of being a “90s Asian noir city.” It’s an intriguing premise but it was only after I talked to a couple of other reader friends, some being natives of Hong Kong, that I was made aware of the historical context Gong was likely taking inspiration from: Kowloon Walled City.
Now I don’t think you need to read a full thesis on the subject, but I made a point of going back for some surface-level research after I finished this book. It is fascinating. The cliff notes: Kowloon Walled City was originally built as a military fort during the period of British colonialism around the later 1800s, and continued to grow into a densely populated vertical city of sorts (50,000 residents at one point) as Hong Kong experienced Japanese occupation and then the Chinese Civil War.
From my (limited) understanding, Kowloon was a fairly underserved area with “no tax, no regulation of businesses, no health, or planning systems, no police presence [...] criminal activity flourished” (Atlas Obscura), especially under gang control and opium production. Locals came to call is “Hak Nam” which translates to mean “City of Darkness” but at the same time, Kowloon was a major producer of plastics, textiles, food, etc. A lot of the people who lived there had respect for each other and the lawlessness did not necessarily always translate to violence. In fact, the city was a major influence on themes like cyberspace, autonomous governments, and the idea of humanity persevering in the most unexpected places.
Why am I giving you this history lesson?
BECAUSE THIS BOOK DID NONE OF THESE IDEAS JUSTICE.
THE WORLD BUILDING
I was honestly vibing with the descriptions of the book until about 20%:
But then I hit a point where I started to feel weird with how Gong described poverty:
It was so strange, like Gong understands the aesthetics of poverty, but can only talk about it from a clinical perspective. I hate to be that person, but authors’ experiences color their writing, and it checks out that a rich girl with a private school education doesn’t understand the reality of what a city slum is like. There is a lot of hardship and hopelessness that comes from being born poor, there is a lot of pain and danger, but the very one-note portrayal was at certain times, surface-level, at other times uncomfortable and tone-deaf. I read Powerless a couple of months ago, and Gong’s description of poverty was strikingly similar to what I found in that book (which funny enough, is yet another Hunger Games knockoff…but we’ll get to that later).
With all this, it is almost comical that in the midst of vast social inequity, Gong decides to make all three main characters rich people LMAO. We have Calla (ex-princess); Anton (ex-aristocrat); and August (heir to the fucking throne). It also wild to me that Calla is supposed to be our revolutionary in this book because she has plans to kill King Kasa—you might think, well at least she is gonna end the oppressive monarchy! WRONG. Calla’s only goal in this entire book is to kill the figurehead King Kasa…so…she can install the “benevolent” king August intends to be.
Yup. You read that right, folks. Calla’s plan to end systemic poverty is getting a nicer king. Don’t make me tap the sign: Oppressive Structures Of Governance Can Not Be Changed From The Inside, thank you come again. Even the fucking French understood that much.
By the way, the guy Calla is trying to institute into power signed off on a rural province being torched to the ground:
THIS IS YOUR KING?? Fuck August’s whole “I’m the clever golden prince shtick.” It’s giving complicit in systemic oppression because it doesn’t effect you at the end of the day.
(Side note: I still don’t get why they have to battle with swords and knives when it’s the 90s? I get that the traditional weapons look cool but you’re telling me no one had the idea to get a gun? If a sniper entered the games, it would be over in a week LMAO)
Maybe Gong’s intent is to demonstrate how delusional Calla is in her savior complex, but Calla also spent FIVE YEARS in hiding and you’re telling me the best idea she could cook up in that half-decade is “kill king to save kingdom”? Clearly, the monarchy wasn’t working in the first place, how stupid do you have to be to believe exchanging one figurehead for another would allow for meaningful change??? The book tries to be self-aware by pointing out these flaws but the ideas are so simplistic I don’t see anything to have a major epiphany over lmao:
FIVE YEARS. Five. Years. And that’s her grand plan. Because she is tired.
Try living like us Calla! (I point this out because despite being forced to be in hiding with the poors, Miss Ex-Princess has her own apartment, enough money to take care of a cat, buy food whenever she wants, and never seems to be without basic comforts the rest of the city residents don’t have lmao).
Gah. I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet lmao. I’ll finish off with the city section by saying that this San-Er is supposed to be a fusion of Kowloon and Ancient Rome, but neither city ever felt distinguishable from the other. There was no personality—no unique factors that made the setting stand out as something different from any other generic dystopian city. The clash of ancient battle styles against 90s cybercafes and pager tech just never felt cohesive. There was definitely more opportunity to include 90s references and even the wealth of material from the muse that is Kowloon, but Gong stuck to pretty details without any substance.
BODY JUMPING
I’m probably dumb but this concept left me with more questions than answers. I’ll buy that everyone has qi and there is a gene that lets certain people’s souls jump from one body to another. We’re told that every citizen had a specific ID number to identify themselves and their assets and that eye colors are the only trait that remains consistent between bodies (which is why there is a range of colors like violet/pink/red irises).
But in such a densely populated area like San-Er, how are there not repeat eye colors (I mention this because Calla will frequently mention that in the ENTIRE capital, only two people will have black eyes or whatever “She knows only two people in this city with black eyes”)? I actually looked up when contacts were made because in a 90s-esque world, this feels like something that could be easily covered up, even with sunglasses lmao. What happens when someone memorizes someone else’s ID number? How is crime regulated if a person can hop into a body, steal something, and then hop into another body?
The consent in this world is dicey, to say the least. There is a sex scene in this book and well…let me just let y’all take a read:
Now let’s consider that the individuals involved in the act are both in bodies that do not belong to them, one who actually stole the body from a CHILD. I can suspend belief, and I can understand that this is how their society works, but the optics of it are so off-putting. Especially when you start to think real hard about the power dynamics of being someone who can jump vs. someone who can’t—when you are a part of the latter group, your body is wholly yours, the “vessel” you have full ownership over. It feels like a violation then, to be invaded and forced to yield to the whims of someone who can force their power over you.
LMAO CAN Y’ALL IMAGINE?? First, you’re poor and left to suffer, in Gong’s words, “filth and misery,” and then on top of that, some asshole with a magical qi gene can override the control of your body to do whatever they want. In the event that asshole gets stabbed, RIP to you because they can jump into another body and you’re left with a fatal wound. AND YOU CAN’T EVEN GO TO THE DOCTOR lmao because:
Then there are little exceptions that have no prior explanation:
WHY THOUGH? What is the precedent that allows for this anomaly?? We’re told the deities of the world gave the kingdom of Talin the ability to jump with their qi but then how are these exceptions able to exist? Are their more? Why that specific family line?? Stop describing the poor people for a quick second and EXPLAIN MISS GONG.
All this just goes back to my world-building point where Gong has interesting ideas here with the body jumping, but she never commits to any clear throughline or theme that would make it all come together.
CHARACTERS RUN THROUGH
Calla: ex-princess; wants to “save” San-Er by…killing (1) figurehead. trained for battle since young age (lowkey giving Lightlark vibes); sword fighter even tho it is the 90s (allegedly) and there are computers and guns
August: guy who wants to be next figurehead; annoying dipshit if we’re being honest; blonde
Anton: ex-aristocrat; exiled…for some reason; loves jumping, bad at consent; wants to save childhood friend/lover because of attachment issues?
Yilas: side character with no influence
Chami: another side character with no influence
Galipei: offbrand benmars but more of an enabler
Leida: blue glitter
Otta: if you’ve read SJM books, she’s literally the Sandriel variant
HUNGER GAMES COMP (derogatory)
Without fail, every Hunger Games comp just queues a new story up for utter failure. So many of the new author girlies are fixated on the false idea that the Hunger Games was popularized because people thought Katniss looked hot with a bow and arrow. When The Legend Suzanne Collins set out to pioneer YA dystopian fiction, I promise you that it was not to romanticize killing people as a #girlboss move.
The Hunger Games is a story of desperate survival; killing not by will but necessity, and dealing with the psychological fallout that came with making those decisions in the heat of the moment. When I first read Mockingjay at like thirteen, I was like confused and miffed that Katniss ended the trilogy spiraling from her actions. But it is only now that I can appreciate how fucking Real Collins was in conveying the absolute devastation of being a symbol of resistance and revolution, especially at the tender age of sixteen.
Gong has frequently comped Immortal Longings to being about Cato and Clove and while that makes for a compelling premise, her version of the games is SO STUPID. The Hunger Games is a forced yearly tradition meant to destroy morale within the districts: they send the most vulnerable in their communities, children, into a bloodbath because they have no power to refuse the government. San-Er has games because…King Kasa’s father decided it would be entertaining.
I think a better comp for Immortal Longings would be Squid Games because the show also touches on the desperation to do heinous things for the sake of money. But what Squid Games manages to do that Immortal Longings fails at, is the ability to humanize people and their motivations for playing. In Squid Games we could sympathize with players from immigrant background, players who were refugees, players who were in crippling debt, players who grew up in generational poverty. Even the villains had important arcs that we could follow.
Gong decides instead to make the games a backdrop for of violence. I understand there is appeal in the monetary prize, but Gong never even gives us some kind of weight of how much it could change a person’s life; in Squid Games we see the giant piggy bank that is a constant visual reminder of why the dangers are worth it. The players in Squid Game don’t set out to kill, but as everything progresses, they realize that only one person will walk away with the reward so the violence steadily progresses out of necessity.
The structure of the games in Immortal Longings starts with a Dacun, which is like the Hunger Games cornucopia bloodbath, then several weeks of senseless killing until it gets down to the final two players in what is called the Juedou. Players are given free rein to kill and body jump; they all get little wristbands (which I have mentally been picturing as white apple watches) that ping whenever there are other players nearby, but there are no other rules. They aren’t in a controlled environment, all of San-Er is their playing field and so people become casualties. WHICH EYE DON’T UNDERSTAND.
You’re telling me, people who are not able to body jump are just gonna sign off on being casualties in a fight they didn’t sign up for because everyone loves the entertainment that much? I’m calling bullshit, but here is Gong’s delightful explanation:
Did we not discuss earlier that the healthcare system is shit??
There’s never any true tension or stakes with these games. You don’t even need to kill anyone. With the wristband, there’s a chip that can be taken out to deactivate someone’s game status. What is stopping Calla from destroying wristbands if she’s so committed to helping the citizens of San-Er? Or is that not morally gray enough LMAOOO. As I said earlier, what’s worked with the game trope in other iterations across fiction is when it is used to highlight why everyone else is involving themselves as a last resort/or because they crave power. In Immortal Longings, Calla enters because it means she’ll be able to have an audience with King Kasa and kill him.
LMAO my review is too long, I'll post the rest in the comments I guess
Before I begin, I wanna lay some ground rules: clearly, my rating indicates that I wasn’t a fan of the book but I’m also aware of the weird jealousy surrounding Chloe Gong’s success (much of which feels like thinly veiled racism and misogyny). I will never condone any of that vitriol in the spaces I occupy so all the bigoted haters can pack it up—I’m here to represent the justified haters (ie. the people who have critiques about craft/story/world-building, of which there are many).
GENERAL SUMMARY
Immortal Longings in signature Chloe Gong fashion, repurposes a Shakespearean play (in this case, Antony and Cleopatra) in a 90s noir setting. We follow three main protagonists (debatable, given I kept mixing up Anton and August every few scenes) in their journey through a Hunger Games battle royal that takes place annually in their kingdom of Talin, specifically within the capital twin cities San-Er. Lot of things happen, no emotional attachments are made, and in all, it’s a fairly lackluster foray into Adult Sci-Fi/Sci-Fantasy.
I’m gonna tell you why.
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
Chloe has mentioned in a couple of TikToks advertising Immortal Longings that the book is a “NA fantasy trilogy [...] 1990s Hong Kong stylized vibes” with the intended effect of being a “90s Asian noir city.” It’s an intriguing premise but it was only after I talked to a couple of other reader friends, some being natives of Hong Kong, that I was made aware of the historical context Gong was likely taking inspiration from: Kowloon Walled City.
Now I don’t think you need to read a full thesis on the subject, but I made a point of going back for some surface-level research after I finished this book. It is fascinating. The cliff notes: Kowloon Walled City was originally built as a military fort during the period of British colonialism around the later 1800s, and continued to grow into a densely populated vertical city of sorts (50,000 residents at one point) as Hong Kong experienced Japanese occupation and then the Chinese Civil War.
From my (limited) understanding, Kowloon was a fairly underserved area with “no tax, no regulation of businesses, no health, or planning systems, no police presence [...] criminal activity flourished” (Atlas Obscura), especially under gang control and opium production. Locals came to call is “Hak Nam” which translates to mean “City of Darkness” but at the same time, Kowloon was a major producer of plastics, textiles, food, etc. A lot of the people who lived there had respect for each other and the lawlessness did not necessarily always translate to violence. In fact, the city was a major influence on themes like cyberspace, autonomous governments, and the idea of humanity persevering in the most unexpected places.
Why am I giving you this history lesson?
BECAUSE THIS BOOK DID NONE OF THESE IDEAS JUSTICE.
THE WORLD BUILDING
I was honestly vibing with the descriptions of the book until about 20%:
The needle-thin alleys between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion.
But then I hit a point where I started to feel weird with how Gong described poverty:
”He lets them suffer in their filth and misery instead, even those who once lived under his very roof”
“Though his cheeks have a babyish roundness to them, his limbs are stick-thin with the mark of hunger.”
“He could have chosen life instead…a miserable, dirty life, hungry and cramped, persistently in fear of debt collectors”
It was so strange, like Gong understands the aesthetics of poverty, but can only talk about it from a clinical perspective. I hate to be that person, but authors’ experiences color their writing, and it checks out that a rich girl with a private school education doesn’t understand the reality of what a city slum is like. There is a lot of hardship and hopelessness that comes from being born poor, there is a lot of pain and danger, but the very one-note portrayal was at certain times, surface-level, at other times uncomfortable and tone-deaf. I read Powerless a couple of months ago, and Gong’s description of poverty was strikingly similar to what I found in that book (which funny enough, is yet another Hunger Games knockoff…but we’ll get to that later).
With all this, it is almost comical that in the midst of vast social inequity, Gong decides to make all three main characters rich people LMAO. We have Calla (ex-princess); Anton (ex-aristocrat); and August (heir to the fucking throne). It also wild to me that Calla is supposed to be our revolutionary in this book because she has plans to kill King Kasa—you might think, well at least she is gonna end the oppressive monarchy! WRONG. Calla’s only goal in this entire book is to kill the figurehead King Kasa…so…she can install the “benevolent” king August intends to be.
Yup. You read that right, folks. Calla’s plan to end systemic poverty is getting a nicer king. Don’t make me tap the sign: Oppressive Structures Of Governance Can Not Be Changed From The Inside, thank you come again. Even the fucking French understood that much.
By the way, the guy Calla is trying to institute into power signed off on a rural province being torched to the ground:
“Instructions from the palace.” August’s voice is dull, emotionless. It has to be, because the guards are still listening. “We must punish insurrectionists against the throne, and when this village is razed, we will use the barren land to build a security base and oversee business regarding the wall.”
THIS IS YOUR KING?? Fuck August’s whole “I’m the clever golden prince shtick.” It’s giving complicit in systemic oppression because it doesn’t effect you at the end of the day.
(Side note: I still don’t get why they have to battle with swords and knives when it’s the 90s? I get that the traditional weapons look cool but you’re telling me no one had the idea to get a gun? If a sniper entered the games, it would be over in a week LMAO)
Maybe Gong’s intent is to demonstrate how delusional Calla is in her savior complex, but Calla also spent FIVE YEARS in hiding and you’re telling me the best idea she could cook up in that half-decade is “kill king to save kingdom”? Clearly, the monarchy wasn’t working in the first place, how stupid do you have to be to believe exchanging one figurehead for another would allow for meaningful change??? The book tries to be self-aware by pointing out these flaws but the ideas are so simplistic I don’t see anything to have a major epiphany over lmao:
“Because I’m not doing this to rule,” she says quietly. “I just want to stop King Kasa.” [...] “This is Kasa’s rot,” Calla continues steadily. “And when he’s gone, no child will go hungry again.” [...] “Calla Tuoleimei is too clever to be fooled into such elementary thinking, too sensible to believe a kingdom could change so wholly by merely swapping one mortal man for another. Though…perhaps she is simply weary enough to be fooled.”
FIVE YEARS. Five. Years. And that’s her grand plan. Because she is tired.
Try living like us Calla! (I point this out because despite being forced to be in hiding with the poors, Miss Ex-Princess has her own apartment, enough money to take care of a cat, buy food whenever she wants, and never seems to be without basic comforts the rest of the city residents don’t have lmao).
Gah. I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet lmao. I’ll finish off with the city section by saying that this San-Er is supposed to be a fusion of Kowloon and Ancient Rome, but neither city ever felt distinguishable from the other. There was no personality—no unique factors that made the setting stand out as something different from any other generic dystopian city. The clash of ancient battle styles against 90s cybercafes and pager tech just never felt cohesive. There was definitely more opportunity to include 90s references and even the wealth of material from the muse that is Kowloon, but Gong stuck to pretty details without any substance.
BODY JUMPING
I’m probably dumb but this concept left me with more questions than answers. I’ll buy that everyone has qi and there is a gene that lets certain people’s souls jump from one body to another. We’re told that every citizen had a specific ID number to identify themselves and their assets and that eye colors are the only trait that remains consistent between bodies (which is why there is a range of colors like violet/pink/red irises).
But in such a densely populated area like San-Er, how are there not repeat eye colors (I mention this because Calla will frequently mention that in the ENTIRE capital, only two people will have black eyes or whatever “She knows only two people in this city with black eyes”)? I actually looked up when contacts were made because in a 90s-esque world, this feels like something that could be easily covered up, even with sunglasses lmao. What happens when someone memorizes someone else’s ID number? How is crime regulated if a person can hop into a body, steal something, and then hop into another body?
The consent in this world is dicey, to say the least. There is a sex scene in this book and well…let me just let y’all take a read:
”This is someone else’s body, but in San-Er, that detail is as normal as jumping. When it comes to this sort of use, bodies are only accessories, discardable and utilized based on need.”
Now let’s consider that the individuals involved in the act are both in bodies that do not belong to them, one who actually stole the body from a CHILD. I can suspend belief, and I can understand that this is how their society works, but the optics of it are so off-putting. Especially when you start to think real hard about the power dynamics of being someone who can jump vs. someone who can’t—when you are a part of the latter group, your body is wholly yours, the “vessel” you have full ownership over. It feels like a violation then, to be invaded and forced to yield to the whims of someone who can force their power over you.
LMAO CAN Y’ALL IMAGINE?? First, you’re poor and left to suffer, in Gong’s words, “filth and misery,” and then on top of that, some asshole with a magical qi gene can override the control of your body to do whatever they want. In the event that asshole gets stabbed, RIP to you because they can jump into another body and you’re left with a fatal wound. AND YOU CAN’T EVEN GO TO THE DOCTOR lmao because:
”All the hospitals in San-Er are like this. Overworked and overpacked, underpaid and understaffed. The people who run shifts are either short-tempered or entirely apathetic.”
Then there are little exceptions that have no prior explanation:
”Where other bodies are only impenetrable when they’re already invaded, the Weisannas are born as if they are doubled, though they have but one set of qi. While they can occupy others with ease, others cannot occupy them back.”
WHY THOUGH? What is the precedent that allows for this anomaly?? We’re told the deities of the world gave the kingdom of Talin the ability to jump with their qi but then how are these exceptions able to exist? Are their more? Why that specific family line?? Stop describing the poor people for a quick second and EXPLAIN MISS GONG.
All this just goes back to my world-building point where Gong has interesting ideas here with the body jumping, but she never commits to any clear throughline or theme that would make it all come together.
CHARACTERS RUN THROUGH
Calla: ex-princess; wants to “save” San-Er by…killing (1) figurehead. trained for battle since young age (lowkey giving Lightlark vibes); sword fighter even tho it is the 90s (allegedly) and there are computers and guns
August: guy who wants to be next figurehead; annoying dipshit if we’re being honest; blonde
Anton: ex-aristocrat; exiled…for some reason; loves jumping, bad at consent; wants to save childhood friend/lover because of attachment issues?
Yilas: side character with no influence
Chami: another side character with no influence
Galipei: offbrand benmars but more of an enabler
Leida: blue glitter
Otta: if you’ve read SJM books, she’s literally the Sandriel variant
HUNGER GAMES COMP (derogatory)
Without fail, every Hunger Games comp just queues a new story up for utter failure. So many of the new author girlies are fixated on the false idea that the Hunger Games was popularized because people thought Katniss looked hot with a bow and arrow. When The Legend Suzanne Collins set out to pioneer YA dystopian fiction, I promise you that it was not to romanticize killing people as a #girlboss move.
The Hunger Games is a story of desperate survival; killing not by will but necessity, and dealing with the psychological fallout that came with making those decisions in the heat of the moment. When I first read Mockingjay at like thirteen, I was like confused and miffed that Katniss ended the trilogy spiraling from her actions. But it is only now that I can appreciate how fucking Real Collins was in conveying the absolute devastation of being a symbol of resistance and revolution, especially at the tender age of sixteen.
Gong has frequently comped Immortal Longings to being about Cato and Clove and while that makes for a compelling premise, her version of the games is SO STUPID. The Hunger Games is a forced yearly tradition meant to destroy morale within the districts: they send the most vulnerable in their communities, children, into a bloodbath because they have no power to refuse the government. San-Er has games because…King Kasa’s father decided it would be entertaining.
“Kasa’s father had started them in his previous reign, and what began as a yearly one-on-one battle to the death eventually grew to a multicontestant affair, expanding past the coliseum and using all of San-Er as a playing field [...] Now, the games are a thrill that anyone can participate in, a solution to a kingdom simmering with complaints. Don’t worry if your babies drop dead because they have hollowed into starved husks, King Kasa declares, Put your name in the lottery, slaughter only eighty-seven of your fellow citizens and be awarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams..”
I think a better comp for Immortal Longings would be Squid Games because the show also touches on the desperation to do heinous things for the sake of money. But what Squid Games manages to do that Immortal Longings fails at, is the ability to humanize people and their motivations for playing. In Squid Games we could sympathize with players from immigrant background, players who were refugees, players who were in crippling debt, players who grew up in generational poverty. Even the villains had important arcs that we could follow.
Gong decides instead to make the games a backdrop for of violence. I understand there is appeal in the monetary prize, but Gong never even gives us some kind of weight of how much it could change a person’s life; in Squid Games we see the giant piggy bank that is a constant visual reminder of why the dangers are worth it. The players in Squid Game don’t set out to kill, but as everything progresses, they realize that only one person will walk away with the reward so the violence steadily progresses out of necessity.
The structure of the games in Immortal Longings starts with a Dacun, which is like the Hunger Games cornucopia bloodbath, then several weeks of senseless killing until it gets down to the final two players in what is called the Juedou. Players are given free rein to kill and body jump; they all get little wristbands (which I have mentally been picturing as white apple watches) that ping whenever there are other players nearby, but there are no other rules. They aren’t in a controlled environment, all of San-Er is their playing field and so people become casualties. WHICH EYE DON’T UNDERSTAND.
You’re telling me, people who are not able to body jump are just gonna sign off on being casualties in a fight they didn’t sign up for because everyone loves the entertainment that much? I’m calling bullshit, but here is Gong’s delightful explanation:
“The games make jumping legal for the players, after all–they must answer for it by providing some sort of care. Collateral casualties who are gravely injured must be taken to the hospital free of cost; collateral casualties whose bodies are destroyed must be paid handsomely, and if their qi is killed alongside it, then their family members get money.”
Did we not discuss earlier that the healthcare system is shit??
There’s never any true tension or stakes with these games. You don’t even need to kill anyone. With the wristband, there’s a chip that can be taken out to deactivate someone’s game status. What is stopping Calla from destroying wristbands if she’s so committed to helping the citizens of San-Er? Or is that not morally gray enough LMAOOO. As I said earlier, what’s worked with the game trope in other iterations across fiction is when it is used to highlight why everyone else is involving themselves as a last resort/or because they crave power. In Immortal Longings, Calla enters because it means she’ll be able to have an audience with King Kasa and kill him.
LMAO my review is too long, I'll post the rest in the comments I guess
July 23, 2023
uhh... ambitious attempt?? emphasis on attempt.
—The Hunger Games is a comp? I expect exhilarating games, high stakes and critiques on the system in power. Sadly, none of these fronts were explored as they should've been. The "deadly games" were barely violent, with a set of rules that did not make sense and lacked the tension and desperation of players wanting to win at any cost. Where is the hunger? Where is the self reflection? Where is the motivation to kill and win?
—And the concept of "body jumping." Quite frankly, this ability was a good one but the loopholes itched me. People in this city just going around taking up other people's bodies like it's a daily chore? Even if it's supposedly illegal? Wild. Also teeters on the edge of consensual questions so... yeah. A lot can be done with the concept but Gong didn't think through the power, use and consequences of it to make me understand and go with the jumping.
—I hate how Gong chose to narrate the story using long paras of info dumps. I was vibing with the descriptions of the city San-Er, noir era fusion of a walled city Kowloon and ancient Rome which has cell phones and a king's rule. Which was good. There's so much happening in this setting, that all information is rained upon us rather than being depicted as exciting scenes to look forward to. And these paragraphs don't even scratch the surface of what's wrong with the ruling power and how it affects different class of people. Just repetitive mentions of poverty, lower class struggles from a non-personal lens.
—I did not care for the characters either? There was no space to make our own moral conclusions about them, apart from constantly being told about their (shallow) motivations. No epic romance either, considering it's a Antony and Cleopatra inspired. What is Calla's personality outside of her swords and killing the king which will miraculously make San-Er better? What is Anton's personality considering he's never in one body? Petition to make August the main character.
—Lastly, why is this adult? Surely not for the sex scene which is barely there? And it's not gory enough. Page count and long expositions certainly don't make a novel adult.
Like I know this is a first book, there's scope for improvement etc etc. But a first book should lay solid grounds for interest and plot and character growth. To summarise, I couldn't tell you the point of this book because there are glaring loopholes in it that would destroy the characters' so called "ambitions to make the city a better place."
thank you to hodderscape and netgalley for the arc!
—The Hunger Games is a comp? I expect exhilarating games, high stakes and critiques on the system in power. Sadly, none of these fronts were explored as they should've been. The "deadly games" were barely violent, with a set of rules that did not make sense and lacked the tension and desperation of players wanting to win at any cost. Where is the hunger? Where is the self reflection? Where is the motivation to kill and win?
—And the concept of "body jumping." Quite frankly, this ability was a good one but the loopholes itched me. People in this city just going around taking up other people's bodies like it's a daily chore? Even if it's supposedly illegal? Wild. Also teeters on the edge of consensual questions so... yeah. A lot can be done with the concept but Gong didn't think through the power, use and consequences of it to make me understand and go with the jumping.
—I hate how Gong chose to narrate the story using long paras of info dumps. I was vibing with the descriptions of the city San-Er, noir era fusion of a walled city Kowloon and ancient Rome which has cell phones and a king's rule. Which was good. There's so much happening in this setting, that all information is rained upon us rather than being depicted as exciting scenes to look forward to. And these paragraphs don't even scratch the surface of what's wrong with the ruling power and how it affects different class of people. Just repetitive mentions of poverty, lower class struggles from a non-personal lens.
—I did not care for the characters either? There was no space to make our own moral conclusions about them, apart from constantly being told about their (shallow) motivations. No epic romance either, considering it's a Antony and Cleopatra inspired. What is Calla's personality outside of her swords and killing the king which will miraculously make San-Er better? What is Anton's personality considering he's never in one body? Petition to make August the main character.
—Lastly, why is this adult? Surely not for the sex scene which is barely there? And it's not gory enough. Page count and long expositions certainly don't make a novel adult.
Like I know this is a first book, there's scope for improvement etc etc. But a first book should lay solid grounds for interest and plot and character growth. To summarise, I couldn't tell you the point of this book because there are glaring loopholes in it that would destroy the characters' so called "ambitions to make the city a better place."
thank you to hodderscape and netgalley for the arc!
January 1, 2024
my favorite chloe gong book so far <3 i can’t wait for book two!
July 18, 2023
not me going from "this is one of my most anticipated 2023 releases" to calling it an adult version of l*ghtlark ...
August 24, 2022
surprising absolutely no one the villain is my favorite character <3
Want to read
March 6, 2022The way men acted when The Joker came out? This will be my Joker.
August 4, 2023
”There are no gods in this world. Only kings and tyrants”
There’s just something about Chloe Gong and her Shakespeare retellings that are just magical.
Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!!
This was the best book I’ve read this year. No question about it.not including some rereads, but still, this has made its way up on my all-time favourite books list. Even before I started it, I had no doubt that I would love it. It’s written by Chloe Gong. I’ve loved These Violent Delights. No way in hell I wouldn’t love this too, and I was right.
I went into this book not knowing a lot about it, to be honest. I knew it was inspired by Antony and Cleopatra, and that was enough for me. To add to that, I believe that the best way to go into this book is to go without knowing anything. Without setting any expectations. But if you’re not convinced, to give it a short and quick summary:
The story takes place in the kingdom of Talin and every year in its capital twin cities, San-Er, the palace hosts a set of deadly games - those who are confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies enter this fight to the death in order to win riches they couldn’t even dream of. And, of course, our two main characters are taking part in these games. Calla Tuoleimi is a princess in hiding as she was the one who massacred her parents and left the palace of Er empty five years before. Her intentions, you might ask? To bring down the monarchy and kill King Kasa before she is caught, and the only way to do that is by winning the games and facing him as the victor. Then we have Anton Makusa, an aristocrat in exile, and the only way of saving his childhood love is by entering the games and winning the prize. An unexpected alliance is formed between Calla and Anton, and things only get more interesting from there.
When I tell you that this book kept me on the edge of my toes I’m not joking, and I’m not exaggerating either. Chloe Gong is a masterful storyteller, and she knows how to keep her readers hooked from page one. All the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Most times, I couldn’t believe what I’ve just read. Everything was so diligently crafted and added into the story, and my brain could barely process the things it was witnessing.
Honestly, every character in this book is a major walking red flag, but for them I’m colorblind. I couldn’t help loving them. Flaws and all. I love some good, morally grey characters and red flags.
”What are memories if not stories told repeatedly to oneself? Her whole body is the very narrative of her existence.”
Calla was the character that shone brightest in this book with her cunningness, intelligence, and ruthlessness. While this is a multi POV book, she is the character who is most important to the plot and probably the one with the most chapters. Her character was so utterly complex, and I just loved learning more about her. It was so fascinating to see what motivated her and what drove her to fulfil her goal. Despite being a princess, Calla hasn’t had an easy life. There are a lot of hardships that she has endured throughout her life, and those little things combined have led her to be the person we get to see in the present. Setting those aside, her refusal to jump between bodies has had me curious since the beginning. The games heavily rely on this ability, so why wasn’t she using it? Was it arrogance? The palace’s teachings? Her reasons turned out to be so much more convoluted than they first appeared, and the explanations left my jaw on the floor.
Anton, as our princess, was another mystery that I desperately wanted to solve and understand. There were so many questions surrounding his past in the beginning, and I’ve always had this frantic need for answers. He is such a charming character, and he has piqued my interest from his first time on the page. As Calla, he is a walking disaster dealing with his own set of misfortunes. For years, he has lived by jumping from body to body, being one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, but what happened that led him to be in exile, living like this? Why did Otta, his childhood love, lay in a coma, and why was he the only one trying to keep her alive? What happened in his past that led to all this? All these questions were swarming in my head while reading, and I felt like I couldn’t put the books down until I got the answers I wanted.
”Love isn’t deserved. It is given freely.”
The relationship between those two had me on my knees. The tension!!! Miss Gong right here is a queen at writing rivals-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovershowever you perceive their ship to be. The aspect of both of them participating in the games and having to face each other in a battle to the death if they want to attain their goals made their whole dynamics so much more alluring. Their banter and interactions were everything!! I found myself more than once just squealing because I could not handle what was being thrown our way. The angst intertwined with these somewhat fluffy and sweet scenes and topped off with a couple of steamy scenes just made their whole relationship so much better. I’m gonna be honest I wish there was a tad bit more development for it. It felt a bit sudden at first, but aside from that, I have no complaints.
”He is more poisonous than all the cinnabar in the world combined.”
Then we have August, who was honestly my favourite character, despite being the one with the most questionable motives. He is a really twisted character. One moment, he may seem to have the purest of intentions, and the next, he is a sadistic asshole. But that’s exactly what made him the most interesting character to me. Out of all the characters, he is the one that had the most depth, and the moment you thought you started understanding him, he does something that just makes you question his whole character all over again. He seems to genuinely care for the kingdom and its people, but his approach to trying to better the kingdom makes you wonder whether you should root for him or not. His relationship with Galipei is something that I took a strong interest in. Galipei seems to be truly devoted to his prince, and although he probably deserves better, I genuinely shipped him with August. I felt like there was so much tension there, and I just couldn’t help myself. It got to a point where I wanted to say that I was invested in their dynamics as much as I was in Calla and Anton’s.
The magic system and world-building were interesting. I don’t really have much to comment on the world we were thrown in. It felt a lot like any standard fantasy world with a corrupt monarchy. There wasn’t anything that stood out in that regard, but I truly loved the jumping aspect. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything like this in any other book, or maybe they just didn’t stand out to me. This did, though. I loved the way it was added so seamlessly into the story, and it was such a fascinating power to read about.
Well, after this ending it’s time to suffer as I wait for the sequel. I won’t forgive Chloe Gong for leaving me hanging like this.although I should have expected this
”Death is easy to summon in San-Er, but one cannot go offending it either.”
Everyone, please buy and read this book when it gets released because it was truly a phenomenal read that needs more hype!!
Immortal Longings is out July 18th in the US and July 25th in the UK!! Be sure to check it out!
There’s just something about Chloe Gong and her Shakespeare retellings that are just magical.
Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!!
This was the best book I’ve read this year. No question about it.
I went into this book not knowing a lot about it, to be honest. I knew it was inspired by Antony and Cleopatra, and that was enough for me. To add to that, I believe that the best way to go into this book is to go without knowing anything. Without setting any expectations. But if you’re not convinced, to give it a short and quick summary:
The story takes place in the kingdom of Talin and every year in its capital twin cities, San-Er, the palace hosts a set of deadly games - those who are confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies enter this fight to the death in order to win riches they couldn’t even dream of. And, of course, our two main characters are taking part in these games. Calla Tuoleimi is a princess in hiding as she was the one who massacred her parents and left the palace of Er empty five years before. Her intentions, you might ask? To bring down the monarchy and kill King Kasa before she is caught, and the only way to do that is by winning the games and facing him as the victor. Then we have Anton Makusa, an aristocrat in exile, and the only way of saving his childhood love is by entering the games and winning the prize. An unexpected alliance is formed between Calla and Anton, and things only get more interesting from there.
When I tell you that this book kept me on the edge of my toes I’m not joking, and I’m not exaggerating either. Chloe Gong is a masterful storyteller, and she knows how to keep her readers hooked from page one. All the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Most times, I couldn’t believe what I’ve just read. Everything was so diligently crafted and added into the story, and my brain could barely process the things it was witnessing.
Honestly, every character in this book is a major walking red flag, but for them I’m colorblind. I couldn’t help loving them. Flaws and all. I love some good, morally grey characters and red flags.
”What are memories if not stories told repeatedly to oneself? Her whole body is the very narrative of her existence.”
Calla was the character that shone brightest in this book with her cunningness, intelligence, and ruthlessness. While this is a multi POV book, she is the character who is most important to the plot and probably the one with the most chapters. Her character was so utterly complex, and I just loved learning more about her. It was so fascinating to see what motivated her and what drove her to fulfil her goal. Despite being a princess, Calla hasn’t had an easy life. There are a lot of hardships that she has endured throughout her life, and those little things combined have led her to be the person we get to see in the present. Setting those aside, her refusal to jump between bodies has had me curious since the beginning. The games heavily rely on this ability, so why wasn’t she using it? Was it arrogance? The palace’s teachings? Her reasons turned out to be so much more convoluted than they first appeared, and the explanations left my jaw on the floor.
Anton, as our princess, was another mystery that I desperately wanted to solve and understand. There were so many questions surrounding his past in the beginning, and I’ve always had this frantic need for answers. He is such a charming character, and he has piqued my interest from his first time on the page. As Calla, he is a walking disaster dealing with his own set of misfortunes. For years, he has lived by jumping from body to body, being one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, but what happened that led him to be in exile, living like this? Why did Otta, his childhood love, lay in a coma, and why was he the only one trying to keep her alive? What happened in his past that led to all this? All these questions were swarming in my head while reading, and I felt like I couldn’t put the books down until I got the answers I wanted.
”Love isn’t deserved. It is given freely.”
The relationship between those two had me on my knees. The tension!!! Miss Gong right here is a queen at writing rivals-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers
”He is more poisonous than all the cinnabar in the world combined.”
Then we have August, who was honestly my favourite character, despite being the one with the most questionable motives. He is a really twisted character. One moment, he may seem to have the purest of intentions, and the next, he is a sadistic asshole. But that’s exactly what made him the most interesting character to me. Out of all the characters, he is the one that had the most depth, and the moment you thought you started understanding him, he does something that just makes you question his whole character all over again. He seems to genuinely care for the kingdom and its people, but his approach to trying to better the kingdom makes you wonder whether you should root for him or not. His relationship with Galipei is something that I took a strong interest in. Galipei seems to be truly devoted to his prince, and although he probably deserves better, I genuinely shipped him with August. I felt like there was so much tension there, and I just couldn’t help myself. It got to a point where I wanted to say that I was invested in their dynamics as much as I was in Calla and Anton’s.
The magic system and world-building were interesting. I don’t really have much to comment on the world we were thrown in. It felt a lot like any standard fantasy world with a corrupt monarchy. There wasn’t anything that stood out in that regard, but I truly loved the jumping aspect. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything like this in any other book, or maybe they just didn’t stand out to me. This did, though. I loved the way it was added so seamlessly into the story, and it was such a fascinating power to read about.
Well, after this ending it’s time to suffer as I wait for the sequel. I won’t forgive Chloe Gong for leaving me hanging like this.
”Death is easy to summon in San-Er, but one cannot go offending it either.”
Everyone, please buy and read this book when it gets released because it was truly a phenomenal read that needs more hype!!
Immortal Longings is out July 18th in the US and July 25th in the UK!! Be sure to check it out!
July 29, 2023
Was it what I was expecting? no. Did I still enjoy it? yes.
4.5 stars
- The setting: I think what I like most about Chloe Gong's books is that her cities are characters themselves.
"[...] this cesspool of obscenities in the guise of a city, this living, breathing, heaving half of San-Er."
If you've seen the author's Pinterest board, the aesthetic of the location translates so well on page. The result is very atmospheric even if it slows the story's pace. It's not character or plot driven but rather setting-driven if there is such a thing.
"The needle-thin between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion."
Chloe said that she wanted to capture the unique backdrop inspired by Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong which was torn down in the 1990s "where a failed institution causes chaotic conditions" and then "investigate the effect of a place like this on its individual inhabitants."
I think this book would make for a really good movie.
- The characters: the romantic relationship dynamics are giving Jude and Cardan from the Cruel Prince but better–or worse depending on your perspective.
Calla and Anton (inspired by Anthony and Cleopatra) have an obsessive codependent relationship that has so much potential for the next book.
That being said I think this is a good time to remind that this is an adult book.
{Stay halal skip the spice (very light): mini scene mid chap 13, and mid chapter 23}
- The pace: Definitely on the slower side. This is not the type of book you should pick up during a reading slump. Sure there's a whole Hunger Games competition going on but it's not a fast paced action filled type of book. I personally didn't mind.
full review to come...
4.5 stars
- The setting: I think what I like most about Chloe Gong's books is that her cities are characters themselves.
"[...] this cesspool of obscenities in the guise of a city, this living, breathing, heaving half of San-Er."
If you've seen the author's Pinterest board, the aesthetic of the location translates so well on page. The result is very atmospheric even if it slows the story's pace. It's not character or plot driven but rather setting-driven if there is such a thing.
"The needle-thin between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion."
Chloe said that she wanted to capture the unique backdrop inspired by Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong which was torn down in the 1990s "where a failed institution causes chaotic conditions" and then "investigate the effect of a place like this on its individual inhabitants."
I think this book would make for a really good movie.
- The characters: the romantic relationship dynamics are giving Jude and Cardan from the Cruel Prince but better–or worse depending on your perspective.
Calla and Anton (inspired by Anthony and Cleopatra) have an obsessive codependent relationship that has so much potential for the next book.
That being said I think this is a good time to remind that this is an adult book.
{Stay halal skip the spice (very light): mini scene mid chap 13, and mid chapter 23}
- The pace: Definitely on the slower side. This is not the type of book you should pick up during a reading slump. Sure there's a whole Hunger Games competition going on but it's not a fast paced action filled type of book. I personally didn't mind.
full review to come...
September 15, 2023
my audiobook randomly started from the beginning when i was like 70% through this book so i just took it as a sign to dnf it. this book is supposed to be adult but reads ya. there’s a point where the character says he’s 25 and i was genuinely thrown off by it. i find chloe gong books to be very underwhelming when it comes to plots and i’ve discovered maybe she just isn’t the author for me
July 24, 2023
DNF
i will preface with this: i started immortal longings with no expectations. i was not a huge fan of gong’s debut, these violent delights, and i found its sequel to be worse. despite these low expectations, gong managed to blew me out the water by writing the most absolute piece of trash i’ve ever read.
immortal longings is supposed to be an anthony and cleopatra retelling, which i know nothing about so i cannot speak on how well gong handled that aspect. however, i did think that the romeo and juliet aspects of these violent delights was well interwoven, so i am willing to give her the benefit of doubt.
immortal longings has also been marketed as a comp to the hunger games, which i know everything about so i will be speaking on that.
in the city of san er, we have these games held annually where eighty-eight candidates (for such a specific number, one would think it’ll get explained) gets to fight to the death for the purpose of winning riches beyond their wildest dreams. why are these games a thing, you ask? well your answer is as good as mine. all that we know is that the population of san er is poor, so obviously, the only logical solution is to create these games. nevermind that the funds needed to create and keep up the games, and to be gifted to the winner can be relocated elsewhere to actually better the lives of the general population. there has to be a reason for the games, so of course we’ll make everyone poor. we are also not going to explore that poverty and what it entails, because that would require a properly built world where we have an understanding of the politics of the town, and a proper discussion of the socioeconomic aspects of the world. the reason why the games in the hunger games actually work is because all of these nuances was thoroughly explored, which gong failed to do in this book.
the games in immortal longings, apart from it’s creation having no nuance at all, is stupid. our arena is (get this) SAN ER! there must be rules right? to distinguish between the candidates and civilians? well…. no. in fact, it’s even worse when you consider that the candidates can jump in the bodies of anyone, including innocent bystanders. the only way for the games to end is to kill the 87 other players, and you never know who’s who because there are no rules and regulations.
speaking of the body jumping, it is possibly the worst thing about this book. at least the parts i read. our citizens of san er have the power to jump between bodies. how that works is that you are either born with the gene to jump or not. i should specify that it is a pretty common gene since it seems that everyone in this world can body jump. the issue this arises is that at any given moment, a character is occupying another’s body and there are no consequences. body jumping is so common you are just expected to accept it. numerous times we see a victim return to their bodies, dazed and confused, and automatically moving on. there is no exploration of the morality and ethical questions this poses.
the thing with magic in fantasy is that it should follow some rules and logic, which again gong epically failed at establishing. because body jumping is so common, how is it regulated? the flimsy regulation in place is that each individual has an identification number. except apparently this number can be easily accessed if you put your mind to it. so how do you ever know if the person you’re speaking to is actually them? well you don’t.
i should note, body jumping is supposed to be outlawed for regular civilians. however with how commonly it occurs, one can’t help but wonder what type of power the king actually has in this world.
this review is already long enough, but i want to discuss one more thing. our characters motives. unlike in the hunger games where the tributes have no choice but to join the games, in immortal longings, our candidates willingly volunteer (because of course they need to so they can escape poverty). we have anton who joins the games because body snatching is not sustainable. even though when we meet him, he’s successfully occupied a rich banker’s body for who knows how long now. he even has the banker’s id number. but there needs to be a reason for him to join the games, so we’re to believe it’s easier, and more sustainable to kill 87 people than it is to jump a body. our other character, calla joins the games so she can kill her uncle, the king. seems reasonable enough because, again, the civilians of san er are poor therefore getting rid of the current government is the only solution. except calla’s master plan is to instill her cousin, the current king’s son who she hasn’t seen in years on the throne because he convinced her that’s the best option. that’s when i closed the book.
maybe some of these points do get explored eventually. however with gong’s past history of lackluster worldbuilding, (our violent ends was so bad), i am confident that it’ll never get addressed. in all, if you are looking for a dumpster fire of a mess of a book that had no thought went into it, then this is the perfect book for you.
i will preface with this: i started immortal longings with no expectations. i was not a huge fan of gong’s debut, these violent delights, and i found its sequel to be worse. despite these low expectations, gong managed to blew me out the water by writing the most absolute piece of trash i’ve ever read.
immortal longings is supposed to be an anthony and cleopatra retelling, which i know nothing about so i cannot speak on how well gong handled that aspect. however, i did think that the romeo and juliet aspects of these violent delights was well interwoven, so i am willing to give her the benefit of doubt.
immortal longings has also been marketed as a comp to the hunger games, which i know everything about so i will be speaking on that.
in the city of san er, we have these games held annually where eighty-eight candidates (for such a specific number, one would think it’ll get explained) gets to fight to the death for the purpose of winning riches beyond their wildest dreams. why are these games a thing, you ask? well your answer is as good as mine. all that we know is that the population of san er is poor, so obviously, the only logical solution is to create these games. nevermind that the funds needed to create and keep up the games, and to be gifted to the winner can be relocated elsewhere to actually better the lives of the general population. there has to be a reason for the games, so of course we’ll make everyone poor. we are also not going to explore that poverty and what it entails, because that would require a properly built world where we have an understanding of the politics of the town, and a proper discussion of the socioeconomic aspects of the world. the reason why the games in the hunger games actually work is because all of these nuances was thoroughly explored, which gong failed to do in this book.
the games in immortal longings, apart from it’s creation having no nuance at all, is stupid. our arena is (get this) SAN ER! there must be rules right? to distinguish between the candidates and civilians? well…. no. in fact, it’s even worse when you consider that the candidates can jump in the bodies of anyone, including innocent bystanders. the only way for the games to end is to kill the 87 other players, and you never know who’s who because there are no rules and regulations.
speaking of the body jumping, it is possibly the worst thing about this book. at least the parts i read. our citizens of san er have the power to jump between bodies. how that works is that you are either born with the gene to jump or not. i should specify that it is a pretty common gene since it seems that everyone in this world can body jump. the issue this arises is that at any given moment, a character is occupying another’s body and there are no consequences. body jumping is so common you are just expected to accept it. numerous times we see a victim return to their bodies, dazed and confused, and automatically moving on. there is no exploration of the morality and ethical questions this poses.
the thing with magic in fantasy is that it should follow some rules and logic, which again gong epically failed at establishing. because body jumping is so common, how is it regulated? the flimsy regulation in place is that each individual has an identification number. except apparently this number can be easily accessed if you put your mind to it. so how do you ever know if the person you’re speaking to is actually them? well you don’t.
i should note, body jumping is supposed to be outlawed for regular civilians. however with how commonly it occurs, one can’t help but wonder what type of power the king actually has in this world.
this review is already long enough, but i want to discuss one more thing. our characters motives. unlike in the hunger games where the tributes have no choice but to join the games, in immortal longings, our candidates willingly volunteer (because of course they need to so they can escape poverty). we have anton who joins the games because body snatching is not sustainable. even though when we meet him, he’s successfully occupied a rich banker’s body for who knows how long now. he even has the banker’s id number. but there needs to be a reason for him to join the games, so we’re to believe it’s easier, and more sustainable to kill 87 people than it is to jump a body. our other character, calla joins the games so she can kill her uncle, the king. seems reasonable enough because, again, the civilians of san er are poor therefore getting rid of the current government is the only solution. except calla’s master plan is to instill her cousin, the current king’s son who she hasn’t seen in years on the throne because he convinced her that’s the best option. that’s when i closed the book.
maybe some of these points do get explored eventually. however with gong’s past history of lackluster worldbuilding, (our violent ends was so bad), i am confident that it’ll never get addressed. in all, if you are looking for a dumpster fire of a mess of a book that had no thought went into it, then this is the perfect book for you.
July 17, 2023
Chloe Gong is an incredible author, and her first foray into the adult fantasy realm was a delight to experience! Shakespeare retellings seem to fit well with her writing abilities, and although I’m not overly familiar with Antony and Cleopatra and perhaps couldn’t appreciate the minute details as much as someone who was, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. The setting and characters were both tangible and developed/unique, and THE TWISTS. Gong really knows how to write twists and keep them coming. I can’t wait to get my hands on the following installment to find out what happens next!
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
Read
July 23, 2023I love her books but this wasn’t for me. This has happened with a few of my authors. I don’t think I’m going to auto buy anymore. I can’t afford it and I’d rather put the money in savings if this is going to happen. (Unless, it’s an ongoing series I love) Sigh and shit! 😕
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
July 23, 2023
This retelling of Antony and Cleopatra is excellent in the sense that it remains true to the principal facets of the original. Shakespeare's version is tedious, with needless jumps between points of view that prolong the narrative and make the audience feel as if the story will never end; Gong's version is much the same, though its monotony can be ascribed to her choice of omniscient narrator, strongly decelerating the story's progression with constant detours into worldbuilding and character exposition. Cleopatra's Antony is lackluster and frankly a little soulless when compared to the Antony of Julius Caesar; the sliver of personality that Anton is able to call his own is overshadowed at every turn by the narrator's insistence on reminding readers of his matchless body jumping ability and tragic backstory. The one major aspect where this novel deviates from the play that inspired it, really, is in the depiction of the relationship between our two focal characters. Cleopatra and Antony's obsessive codependence and shared passion are all but lost in these their modern counterparts, with Calla and Anton's love story sputtering to a start oddly in the middle of the book and remaining unconvincing through to the very end.
The Hunger Games being a comp also makes perfect sense to me. Immortal Longings introduces a city with discontented citizens that participate almost yearly in something referred to only as "the games," where eighty-eight citizens battle to the death in order to win riches beyond their wildest dreams, money that can pull them out of their bleak living situations. The games begin with something known as the Daqun, where—in a scene extraordinarily similar to the Cornucopia bloodbath—contestants gather inside the coliseum and wait for palace guards to drop sacks of gold and wristband chips from the throne room balcony, effectively marking the commencement of the fighting. Contestants then murder each other in an attempt to get their hands on at least one of these sacks before slinking away and looking for weapons they can use later on against their remaining competitors. There is a moment very near the end of the novel where . Without giving Collins' series the credit that it deserved, Gong would have run the risk of having her novel called a ripoff. Thankfully the political system and socioeconomic issues Immortal Longings purports to discuss are so appallingly designed and crudely executed that all similarities to The Hunger Games begin and end with the existence of the games themselves.
I read this short story a few months ago and because of it, I was unable to take the last 30% of Immortal Longings seriously. Perhaps the 90s noir subgenre is by nature overdramatic; I wouldn't know, since I haven't read or watched much of it. What I do know now is that Gong's interpretation of it wasn't to my taste at all. The sly references to dialogue from Antony and Cleopatra as well as the unexpected last few lines of this novel may have piqued my curiosity, but I don't think an interesting ending is enough to warrant my recommending this book to others—or even considering reading its sequel myself.
The Hunger Games being a comp also makes perfect sense to me. Immortal Longings introduces a city with discontented citizens that participate almost yearly in something referred to only as "the games," where eighty-eight citizens battle to the death in order to win riches beyond their wildest dreams, money that can pull them out of their bleak living situations. The games begin with something known as the Daqun, where—in a scene extraordinarily similar to the Cornucopia bloodbath—contestants gather inside the coliseum and wait for palace guards to drop sacks of gold and wristband chips from the throne room balcony, effectively marking the commencement of the fighting. Contestants then murder each other in an attempt to get their hands on at least one of these sacks before slinking away and looking for weapons they can use later on against their remaining competitors. There is a moment very near the end of the novel where . Without giving Collins' series the credit that it deserved, Gong would have run the risk of having her novel called a ripoff. Thankfully the political system and socioeconomic issues Immortal Longings purports to discuss are so appallingly designed and crudely executed that all similarities to The Hunger Games begin and end with the existence of the games themselves.
I read this short story a few months ago and because of it, I was unable to take the last 30% of Immortal Longings seriously. Perhaps the 90s noir subgenre is by nature overdramatic; I wouldn't know, since I haven't read or watched much of it. What I do know now is that Gong's interpretation of it wasn't to my taste at all. The sly references to dialogue from Antony and Cleopatra as well as the unexpected last few lines of this novel may have piqued my curiosity, but I don't think an interesting ending is enough to warrant my recommending this book to others—or even considering reading its sequel myself.
July 19, 2023
Chloe Gong:
Me: 💳✨️💳✨️💳✨️💳✨️
Me: 💳✨️💳✨️💳✨️💳✨️
Want to read
July 21, 2023edit: THE COVER ITS SO BEAUTIFUL I WANT TO MARRY IT 😘
TAKE ALL MY MONEY CHLOE I DONT WANT IT I WANT THIS
TAKE ALL MY MONEY CHLOE I DONT WANT IT I WANT THIS
Want to read
November 13, 2021Is the title Immortal Longings or The End of My Mental Health As We Know It?
July 24, 2023
unfortunately i had little in expectations for this book, but given it was chloe gong's first adult publication, i gave it an honest chance, hoping that the quality in the her writing has improved, considering i should've been the target audience. instead i ended up reading a book so inferior from her own debut that it was almost mind numbing.
the setting and premise was extremely interesting and promising. first, this was MEANT to be a retelling of antony and cleopatra. heavy on the meant, because this book is barely that. a retelling is not similar names (anton and calla and very oddly... otta avia) and a vague vibe. but i only make that point because nothing else in the novel makes up for it - a sub par attempt at a retelling could be forgiven, if the world building was not done abysmally. the concept was a beautiful opportunity; san-er, a setting inspired by hong kong, with a monarchy and very impoverished population. you couldn't miss it, due to the the large swaths of info dumping between lines of dialogue - the conversations between characters felt like those edits of episodes of friends with the sound track taken out
because of how much (sometimes useless and ultimately repetitive) information was being pushed down the reader's throat every time someone spoke. gong's descriptions of the poor were, bluntly said, boring and unoriginal, but again is something i would've looked past had the rest of the book be the most drab 400 pages i've read in a while.
the hunger games imitation in this book was so bad it was laughable. sometimes i forgot the games were happening and then a character would mention it. the twin cities being the arena meant that normal civilians could get involuntarily included due to the book's magic system, with a mechanic called "body jumping". someone could "jump" into someone else's body, and be their own person but in that body. a practise thats illegal except in the games of course! not that it makes the games any bit interesting in practise. the concept could sure sound interesting when pitched, but it was ill executed with anti-climatic descriptions and with no other contestants of any importance. the games were just an exercise for calla and anton to be physically at eachother throats to fulfil the enemy to lovers trope. extremely lack lustre and lazy on chloe gong's part.
the characters were irritating and flat. calla is just plain violent and annoying, anton had no real personality. nothing in the world could convince me that main characters this boring could ever be considered morally grey. there were way too many other characters which served no real purpose. side characters were sometimes implied to be queer (namely prince august and calla's ex attendants) but this is never explored, just randomly dropped in the book. again, extremely bloody boring.
i really do urge someone in chloe's team to make her take a fantasy writing workshop - if the book is doing to be so heavily political, the reader cannot have questions for the most basic concepts. calla is so fiercely anti-monarchist... but hold on, would the monarchy be that bad if the king was young and hot? the political system and issues this world has was not explored at all. a lot of chloe gongs narrative choices left me with more questions than answers.
all in all, it's a disappointing debut into a new genre from chloe gong, considering how solid her YA debut was. it seems that immortal longings was an empty YA book with a sex scene. gong's essay on ageism in the publishing industry came back to me whilst i was reading this book; "Anyone can produce mediocre crap" she said, and unfortunately, mediocre crap is what she wrote.
the setting and premise was extremely interesting and promising. first, this was MEANT to be a retelling of antony and cleopatra. heavy on the meant, because this book is barely that. a retelling is not similar names (anton and calla and very oddly... otta avia) and a vague vibe. but i only make that point because nothing else in the novel makes up for it - a sub par attempt at a retelling could be forgiven, if the world building was not done abysmally. the concept was a beautiful opportunity; san-er, a setting inspired by hong kong, with a monarchy and very impoverished population. you couldn't miss it, due to the the large swaths of info dumping between lines of dialogue - the conversations between characters felt like those edits of episodes of friends with the sound track taken out
because of how much (sometimes useless and ultimately repetitive) information was being pushed down the reader's throat every time someone spoke. gong's descriptions of the poor were, bluntly said, boring and unoriginal, but again is something i would've looked past had the rest of the book be the most drab 400 pages i've read in a while.
the hunger games imitation in this book was so bad it was laughable. sometimes i forgot the games were happening and then a character would mention it. the twin cities being the arena meant that normal civilians could get involuntarily included due to the book's magic system, with a mechanic called "body jumping". someone could "jump" into someone else's body, and be their own person but in that body. a practise thats illegal except in the games of course! not that it makes the games any bit interesting in practise. the concept could sure sound interesting when pitched, but it was ill executed with anti-climatic descriptions and with no other contestants of any importance. the games were just an exercise for calla and anton to be physically at eachother throats to fulfil the enemy to lovers trope. extremely lack lustre and lazy on chloe gong's part.
the characters were irritating and flat. calla is just plain violent and annoying, anton had no real personality. nothing in the world could convince me that main characters this boring could ever be considered morally grey. there were way too many other characters which served no real purpose. side characters were sometimes implied to be queer (namely prince august and calla's ex attendants) but this is never explored, just randomly dropped in the book. again, extremely bloody boring.
i really do urge someone in chloe's team to make her take a fantasy writing workshop - if the book is doing to be so heavily political, the reader cannot have questions for the most basic concepts. calla is so fiercely anti-monarchist... but hold on, would the monarchy be that bad if the king was young and hot? the political system and issues this world has was not explored at all. a lot of chloe gongs narrative choices left me with more questions than answers.
all in all, it's a disappointing debut into a new genre from chloe gong, considering how solid her YA debut was. it seems that immortal longings was an empty YA book with a sex scene. gong's essay on ageism in the publishing industry came back to me whilst i was reading this book; "Anyone can produce mediocre crap" she said, and unfortunately, mediocre crap is what she wrote.
July 20, 2023
I don't want to talk about how bad this is. That is how much it upset me and I've concluded that I'll never read anything from her ever again
October 26, 2023
im begging you keep chloe gong away from shakespeare
April 16, 2024
That ending!!!!! 😱
I was super excited to dive into Chloe Gong’s first adult fantasy. And I was not disappointed!
In a world where people can jump bodies as easily as they change clothes, you have to be one step ahead to avoid being taken over.
Calla is an exiled princess, after killing her parents - the King and Queen in cold blood.
Anton, like many others in San-Er desperately needs money.
Both have their reasons for entering the competition. A battle to the death until one victor remains to claim the monetary prize and a chance to shake King Kasa’s hand.
Yes it bears similarity to the hunger games. But ultimately I believe it differs enough to stand on its own.
I loved both characters. Chloe Gong does enemies to lovers so well, even I shipped these two!
Meanwhile August, nephew to the current King, has his own plans, and Calla can help him achieve them.
A non stop thrill ride, and the ending was A+. So excited for book 2!
I was super excited to dive into Chloe Gong’s first adult fantasy. And I was not disappointed!
In a world where people can jump bodies as easily as they change clothes, you have to be one step ahead to avoid being taken over.
Calla is an exiled princess, after killing her parents - the King and Queen in cold blood.
Anton, like many others in San-Er desperately needs money.
Both have their reasons for entering the competition. A battle to the death until one victor remains to claim the monetary prize and a chance to shake King Kasa’s hand.
Yes it bears similarity to the hunger games. But ultimately I believe it differs enough to stand on its own.
I loved both characters. Chloe Gong does enemies to lovers so well, even I shipped these two!
Meanwhile August, nephew to the current King, has his own plans, and Calla can help him achieve them.
A non stop thrill ride, and the ending was A+. So excited for book 2!
February 24, 2023
Once upon a time, a certain author by the name of Chloe Gong said, I am scared for you to read [Immortal Longings]. You may need something to squeeze while you read it. And I said, yes, I am scared, then maybe a whole year and a few months went by before I read said book. Now I’d like to bury myself alive in a forest because perhaps that would ease the pain in my chest after I put this book down. But to be fair, Chloe did personally send it to my doorstep to devour whole, so thank you to her for making me the chosen one to suffer.
Miss Chloe debuted in YA, with her groundbreaking novel These Violent Delights, in 2020. It broke barriers as a gory, thrilling YA novel rich in Chinese history, featuring a diverse cast of Asian characters and identities, tearing out hearts left and right. The year is 2023, and she returns with a triumphant, deadly novel in Immortal Longings, a book that will shred you apart with plague and hunger much like San-Er itself. It’s as seductive as the relationship between Anton and Calla, pulling you into a deadly game until it crescendoes into a great tragedy much like the plays Chloe so loves.
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into IL - I knew there would be a massive tonal change from her YA books, but how dark would she go? How far would Chloe go to give me a hernia? The answer is very far. If her YA novels were a nice piece of chocolate, sweet yet decadent, her adult writing is a rich dark chocolate, bitter enough to coat your tongue yet leaving you to want more. As I’ve been following her career since pre-debut, it’s really satisfying for me to grow up with her writing and see just how far she’s come, and become slowly more depraved.
The dark content in this book is not to be taken lightly - it tackles everything from graphic violence to childhood trauma, and not recommended for younger readers who enjoyed the Secret Shanghai novels looking for the next Chloe book. There is NSFW scenes through out the entire story, although I suspect there will be more in the upcoming sequels as the first in a series is there for set-up.
That being said, I wanted spicy and I got spicy. Now, this book doesn’t focus too much on the romance, as the bigger plot is about the horrors of living in San-Er and its political climate, and not intended for readers simply looking for smut. However, if you like slow-burn, older Hunger Games vibes with an extra kick of patricide/regicide, this is the book for you!
As for the pacing, it is on the slower side, and the novel is only 360-something pages, but it does slowly pick up as the games go on. Most adult fantasy takes its time with worldbuilding, and Chloe is no exception! The magic system and descriptions of the living, breathing entity of San-Er are abundant in her writing, but since her previous books included the city’s POV, it is to be expected. Compared to Secret Shanghai, however, Immortal Longings focuses more on the humanity of its characters than its surroundings, whether its from a main character’s point of view or from a stranger on the street trying to survive.
The magic system is fascinating as well - qi, shifting from one body to another at will, and the concept of jumping into one’s body is really interesting. I was still left questioning some of the things that could happen, but since there are two whole books left, I’m not bothered to call plot holes. There is a second sort of greater evil in the series as well, and I was certainly intrigued by that and how it ties into Talin’s politics.
Another thing to point out is the fluidity of identities in the world of San-Er. Calla doesn’t fit into any label, particularly, and as Chloe mentioned once, there is no set identity for anyone, which was refreshing to see as there is often discussion of stereotyping one gender or another in fantasy. The book mentions it in a casual, every day sort of way, setting it as the norm.
I think that out of all of Chloe’s protagonists, I adored to Calla the most. Not because of the whole killing your parents and trying to burn down the monarchy, or having the world’s cutest cat (hello, Mr. Mao Mao! Love you very much.), but her desperation in clinging onto what she believes is right, her passionate rage for the world she lives in, and her sheer ambition to make her mark in the world, struck a chord with me. She is someone you can’t forget - sometimes, similar characters from different books blur into one another, but Calla Touleimi’s ultimate tragedy is something I’ll remember. While Juliette and Roma would burn down the world to save each other, she’d rip her own heart out to save what’s left abandoned, raising the question of her role as the anti-hero. As the outlaw who murdered her family, Calla will play San-Er’s wicked games, slay the others in her path, but she does so for the greater good, as she believes. As she will when taking Kasa’s head from body after being crowned winner. But there is only one thing she has in this world, her Anton, and would she give him up for the country that’s done all but wound her?
On the other hand, you have Anton Makusa. The exile, cast out and helpless to save his childhood love while her only family refuses to help. He doesn’t care for San-Er - he’d rather watch it burn if it meant he and Calla could build a kingdom out of its ashes. Anton cares too much for Otta and Calla to even think about Talin, and yet he’s left to kill his way to the top in the chances that he can fight back.
And in the cursed palace itself, we have August, who is already drunk on power. He wants his adoptive father out, yes, and while his mind wanders on how he could improve the country, he still craves the cursed throne that left so many others to die. August is the wild card - while he cares enough to save what he can, he’d do whatever it takes to get the crown on his head.
Something important to note while reading Immortal Longings is that you aren’t supposed to hope for these characters. I once read somewhere that when we cry watching films, it is because we know the ending, that those characters are unable to help themselves out of the situation they are in, and it is the same here, with these star-crossed lovers. The stars may incline them, but they’re set to collide in tragedy, and as readers, we are left powerless as their love slowly spirals into a horrible fate. In the end it is not only a tragedy for our foul players, it is a tragedy for us, as we are left to contemplate in our thoughts of the ending.
I sit here now, at my Mac and keyboard, 48 hours since I finished what may be the most heart-shredding book I’ve ever read, trying to form my thoughts into words. The finality of realizing you can’t escape is what really gets me in the end, this claustrophobic book in its claustrophobic cities pressing down on my feelings until they break. I highly, highly recommend Immortal Longings and its later sequels to someone looking for a Shakespearean tragic, politically intriguing, and hopelessly romantic fantasy. I adore this book, and its characters, and although I’d never want to call San-Er my home, Chloe’s writing has always been a safe and comforting escape to me, so even though it hurts to even think about IL, I’ll be returning time and time again.
Thank you to Chloe for sending me an ARC! Immortal Longings hits shelves on July 25th, 2023.
Miss Chloe debuted in YA, with her groundbreaking novel These Violent Delights, in 2020. It broke barriers as a gory, thrilling YA novel rich in Chinese history, featuring a diverse cast of Asian characters and identities, tearing out hearts left and right. The year is 2023, and she returns with a triumphant, deadly novel in Immortal Longings, a book that will shred you apart with plague and hunger much like San-Er itself. It’s as seductive as the relationship between Anton and Calla, pulling you into a deadly game until it crescendoes into a great tragedy much like the plays Chloe so loves.
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into IL - I knew there would be a massive tonal change from her YA books, but how dark would she go? How far would Chloe go to give me a hernia? The answer is very far. If her YA novels were a nice piece of chocolate, sweet yet decadent, her adult writing is a rich dark chocolate, bitter enough to coat your tongue yet leaving you to want more. As I’ve been following her career since pre-debut, it’s really satisfying for me to grow up with her writing and see just how far she’s come, and become slowly more depraved.
The dark content in this book is not to be taken lightly - it tackles everything from graphic violence to childhood trauma, and not recommended for younger readers who enjoyed the Secret Shanghai novels looking for the next Chloe book. There is NSFW scenes through out the entire story, although I suspect there will be more in the upcoming sequels as the first in a series is there for set-up.
That being said, I wanted spicy and I got spicy. Now, this book doesn’t focus too much on the romance, as the bigger plot is about the horrors of living in San-Er and its political climate, and not intended for readers simply looking for smut. However, if you like slow-burn, older Hunger Games vibes with an extra kick of patricide/regicide, this is the book for you!
As for the pacing, it is on the slower side, and the novel is only 360-something pages, but it does slowly pick up as the games go on. Most adult fantasy takes its time with worldbuilding, and Chloe is no exception! The magic system and descriptions of the living, breathing entity of San-Er are abundant in her writing, but since her previous books included the city’s POV, it is to be expected. Compared to Secret Shanghai, however, Immortal Longings focuses more on the humanity of its characters than its surroundings, whether its from a main character’s point of view or from a stranger on the street trying to survive.
The magic system is fascinating as well - qi, shifting from one body to another at will, and the concept of jumping into one’s body is really interesting. I was still left questioning some of the things that could happen, but since there are two whole books left, I’m not bothered to call plot holes. There is a second sort of greater evil in the series as well, and I was certainly intrigued by that and how it ties into Talin’s politics.
Another thing to point out is the fluidity of identities in the world of San-Er. Calla doesn’t fit into any label, particularly, and as Chloe mentioned once, there is no set identity for anyone, which was refreshing to see as there is often discussion of stereotyping one gender or another in fantasy. The book mentions it in a casual, every day sort of way, setting it as the norm.
I think that out of all of Chloe’s protagonists, I adored to Calla the most. Not because of the whole killing your parents and trying to burn down the monarchy, or having the world’s cutest cat (hello, Mr. Mao Mao! Love you very much.), but her desperation in clinging onto what she believes is right, her passionate rage for the world she lives in, and her sheer ambition to make her mark in the world, struck a chord with me. She is someone you can’t forget - sometimes, similar characters from different books blur into one another, but Calla Touleimi’s ultimate tragedy is something I’ll remember. While Juliette and Roma would burn down the world to save each other, she’d rip her own heart out to save what’s left abandoned, raising the question of her role as the anti-hero. As the outlaw who murdered her family, Calla will play San-Er’s wicked games, slay the others in her path, but she does so for the greater good, as she believes. As she will when taking Kasa’s head from body after being crowned winner. But there is only one thing she has in this world, her Anton, and would she give him up for the country that’s done all but wound her?
On the other hand, you have Anton Makusa. The exile, cast out and helpless to save his childhood love while her only family refuses to help. He doesn’t care for San-Er - he’d rather watch it burn if it meant he and Calla could build a kingdom out of its ashes. Anton cares too much for Otta and Calla to even think about Talin, and yet he’s left to kill his way to the top in the chances that he can fight back.
And in the cursed palace itself, we have August, who is already drunk on power. He wants his adoptive father out, yes, and while his mind wanders on how he could improve the country, he still craves the cursed throne that left so many others to die. August is the wild card - while he cares enough to save what he can, he’d do whatever it takes to get the crown on his head.
Something important to note while reading Immortal Longings is that you aren’t supposed to hope for these characters. I once read somewhere that when we cry watching films, it is because we know the ending, that those characters are unable to help themselves out of the situation they are in, and it is the same here, with these star-crossed lovers. The stars may incline them, but they’re set to collide in tragedy, and as readers, we are left powerless as their love slowly spirals into a horrible fate. In the end it is not only a tragedy for our foul players, it is a tragedy for us, as we are left to contemplate in our thoughts of the ending.
I sit here now, at my Mac and keyboard, 48 hours since I finished what may be the most heart-shredding book I’ve ever read, trying to form my thoughts into words. The finality of realizing you can’t escape is what really gets me in the end, this claustrophobic book in its claustrophobic cities pressing down on my feelings until they break. I highly, highly recommend Immortal Longings and its later sequels to someone looking for a Shakespearean tragic, politically intriguing, and hopelessly romantic fantasy. I adore this book, and its characters, and although I’d never want to call San-Er my home, Chloe’s writing has always been a safe and comforting escape to me, so even though it hurts to even think about IL, I’ll be returning time and time again.
Thank you to Chloe for sending me an ARC! Immortal Longings hits shelves on July 25th, 2023.
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