Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

As someone who enjoyed the These Violent Delights duology, I was eager to catch up with familiar characters in Foul Lady Fortune. It also was fantastic to read from the point of view of those who weren't central to the storyline of TVD and uncover a new mystery happening in the height of unease in 1930s Shanghai.

The pacing is wonderful. My biggest gripe (if you can call it one) was that These Violent Delights was quite a slow slog at times, and when I saw how chunky this novel was, I was a little worried if this would have similar pacing. I consumed Foul Lady Fortune within 24 hours, and feel that the balance was perfect - it wasn't fast enough to lose any of Chloe Gong's intricate detailing skills, but not slow that it felt tough to navigate at lull moments.

Both Rosalind and Orion are in-depth main characters that offer a lot in the way of character growth and mystery. Whilst we learn a lot about them both within the book and see their personalities and connections with others evolve, I still feel there is more to learn going into the sequel.

The supporting characters didn't just propel the plot along, they added much-needed diversity and interest. I liked trying to guess what their roles will be throughout Foul Lady Fortune, and wasn't let down in the slightest.

The new element of supernatural humans - such as Rosalind's healing capabilities - felt fresh. Although in the previous books of this world there were supernatural elements, I feel like the approach to Foul Lady Fortune tied in well with the time period for scientific discovery and experiments, along with keeping genuine to the world the author has already established. It didn't feel farfetched at all - if anything, I found it more interesting than the monsters of the first two books. The chemical killing mystery was a nice touch to assist in aiding the scientific aspect of the book and kept the intrigue alive well into its final pages.

Chloe Gong is no stranger to adding her interpretation of historical events to her books and I appreciated the continued weaving of the unrest from Japanese imperialism, and the Communist vs Nationalist conflict within China at the time. At no point did this feel like a textbook or a history lesson, but for those who have an interest in the era (I'm a trained historian who has studied Chinese History), I was pleased with the details added in.

The final revelations were executed seamlessly, and I enjoyed the surprise of some that I hadn't guessed. I'm eager to delve further into Rosalind and Orion's journey and how Shanghai will fear now that the chemical killings have achieved dangerous results. Chloe Gong has become an auto-buy author for sure.

A fantastic book. Chloe Gong has done it again. Not only did the title, synopsis and cover have me immediately drawn in, but the characters, oh woah, were the true driving force behind this novel. They were crafted so well, and I really feel as though I had been on a journey with them by the end of the book.

I cannot wait to re read this in the future and buy a phsycial copy of it.

I loved this book!

Foul Lady Fortune was an excellent start to the new duology. I fell in love with Chloe Gong’s writing style, and the way she described everything, including settings, characters, or emotions.

The world-building was cleverly done, as the book did a great job of avoiding dumping too much info onto the reader without making you feel completely in the dark about things.

Seeing the relationship between Orion and Rosalind unfold was very fun and enjoyable to watch as well.
I will certainly be looking out for the sequel to this series!

Thank You NetGalley for the eARC!

Foul Lady Fortune (FLF) tells Rosalind's story in coming to terms with finding her place in the city she shattered, spinning off Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and historical events happening in Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s. Gong creates a figure that is open in the mental issues and emotions debates Rosalind possesses creating a realistic protagonist. If you find yourself not liking Rosalind after TVD and TVE, prepare to fall in love with the agent Fortune, yourself.

Gong intertwines her narrative with historical events on Shanghai, causing her characters to have motives and actions that are believable, and really masters her story retelling. Despite being fiction, the added realism almost makes you forget the fantasy elements.

Gong has perfected the emotional balance in this book, making you happy with the humour at play, sad at the tragedy between characters (romance, familial, etc) and the well written action will leave you reading exponentially faster.

The final few chapters, mixed with the epilogue have left me truly baffled, knowing I will have to wait a year until I can get the second half of FLF and see Rosalind to her end. However, all credit to the author, Chloe Gong, in creating the most amazing spy protagonist I have ever read. I shall see you soon, Foul Lady Fortune.

Chloe Gong does it again with a stellar, engaging plot.

This book follows Rosalind and Celia after the events in Our Violent Ends. Rosalind is now an assassin, known as Lasy Fortune and Celia is a spy for the Communists, both working with brothers, Orion and Oliver respectively.

Their two missions inexplicably come together with twists and turns that will have you guessing all the way until the end.

I can't wait for the next book and I have a theory on who the mysterious J.M is who makes a literary appearance in the end of the book in the form of a letter. I hope I'm right!

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC pf this book in exchange for my honest review.

I initially had a lot of doubt about this book, because for me the These Violent Delights duology was perfect the way it is. Additionally, I don't like Rosalind that much either. But Chloe Gong has proved herself once again to be a strong YA fantasy author.

Foul Lady Fortune follows Rosalind, Celia, Alisa alongside a new cast of characters two years after the events of the original duology. Shanghai is on the brink of war between the Nationalists and the Communists while foreign interventions only deepened the crisis in the country. Codenamed Fortune, Rosalind offered her immortality and talent with poison to the Nationalists' service, until she found herself in a fake marriage with a fellow agent, Orion Hong.

As any other Chloe Gong's book, it took me a while to get into the story due to the exposition. However, any reader who has read the duology can remark how Gong's writing has improved. The worldbuilding and the context of the plot are explained clearly without any important info dump. Overall the prose reads a lot more fluid than her previous books.
Unfortunately, I must say that I did not care that much for these characters, some of whom I loved so deeply in the duology. Rosalind's and Orion's relationship was very bland for my taste, despite the fact that theorically I am bound to love it (like two spies in an arranged marriage, nothing gets better than this). For me there was a severe lack of chemistry despite some really good banter. The same can be said with Oliver and Celia. The only person I truly cared about was the sweet old lady in the building, I couldn't be bother for the rest.

But my biggest problem with this book was the plot itself. Chloe Gong uses a familar structure of building things up for a very long time then dropping her first plot twist around 80% of the book then the rest just after, and it worked in These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends, but I dislike it in this book. When the mystery was revealed, it's an understatement to say that I was shocked. It almost came out of nowhere and for me it's ridiculous. The one in the epilogue is not that good either, due to the consistency with the characterization throughout the book. Overall, I am disappointed with the plot of this book.

To sum up, this was not the masterpiece I thought it would be. I went through a roller coaster of reactions throughout this book. It's hard to say what I really feel about this book as a whole since I was both pleasantly surprised and absolutely flabbergasted. I am nevertheless excited for the sequel since I know shit is about to go down.

Chloe Gong does it again!! After completing the These Violent Delights duology, I had been quite excited to read Foul Lady Fortune. I had very different expectations about the main character when the novel was originally mentioned, thus Rosalind Lang being the main character completely caught me off guard. I wasn't sure at the time if I would enjoy the novel, but after reading this one tumblr post about Rosalind's character, my excitement for it returned.

Rosalind Lang, or Fortune, is a poison-using assassin who also possesses a particular talent. She is one of the most lethal assassins the Nationalists have because her cells never die and always return to their original state. She also never sleeps, doesn't age, and recovers from injuries quickly. She is immortal.

Rosalind is tasked with identifying the perpetrators of these attacks after a series of sudden deaths in Shanghai follow a recognisable pattern. The Japanese imperialists are the primary suspects. However, she is required to assume the identity of the wife of Orion Hong, a Nationalist agent who at first seems to not take anything seriously, cracks jokes constantly, and repeatedly tries to woo Rosalind, which irritates her to no end.

Rosalind doesn't particularly like Orion at first, but as she moves forward, she starts learning a lot about the assignment she is given. The Communists Oliver Hong and Celia Lang are living their own stories while on their respective missions outside the city, until they come upon the same location that is linked to all of these killings.

The romance and the plot of TVD were the main reasons I fell in love with it, and I had high expectations for this novel as well. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint me in the least. The dialogues, the romance, and the narrative were all excellent.

The plot twists in this novel are numerous, unexpected, and I had never seen any of them coming. They caught me off guard and significantly improved my reading experience. Chloe Gong has a talent for writing people in such a detailed and endearing way that you can't help but fall in love with them. Every single character in the novel was wonderful to me. The side characters contributed so much to the story and were so well-written. The epilogue, the damn epilogue, and the narrative were both AMAZING. I was LEFT SPEECHLESS by it! The book has just the right amounts of romance, mystery, and sweetness! Because of how fluid Chloe Gong's language is, I never felt dissociated while reading. I need the sequel ASAP pleaseeeee

ALSO OLIVER HONG IS MY HUSBAND IMAGINE GETTING CALLED "MY SWEETHEART" ALL THE TIME

the queer rep>>>>>>>>>

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL AS WELL AS THE OTHER BOOKS THAT THE QUEEN CHLOE GONG WILL RELEASE!! Also remember to read the These Violent Delights Duology before you read this series since it has spoilers from that book!!

i loved this!! as a fan of these violent delights & our violent ends i was super excited to hear that there would be a spin off following rosalind and whilst this book is technically from the same world it’s so different in many (good) ways! it honours the first two books whilst being its own story and that’s what i loved about it

EEE I was so excited to see this book on Netgallery and so grateful to have been approved for it!!

A SPY THRILLER SET IN THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA ERA?! FAKE MARRIAGE?! SIGN ME UP. Chloe Gong is an absolutely incredible author who creates the most beautiful worlds and universes, I love the characters, I LOVE LOVE LOVE forced proximity and the grumpy v sunshine dynamic! I think the pacing was perfect and everything was so well explained and I understood what was happening and how and why! A fantastic read and I will now be ordering the Waterstones LE.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have been accepted for this ARC. I loved These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends so much and I was so happy that the series didn't just end there. Mostly because that ending obliterated me. But what would one expect from a Romeo and Juliet retelling. I could say that this series has more chances of letting my poor heart be, but it has already wrecked me, so I guess hope's for dopes. Just the mere mention of Roma and Juliette, and Benedict and Marshal had me weeping like a little baby. There was no conceivable possibility for me not to fall head over heels in love with this masterpiece. Chloe Gong's power over me is strong and eternal. I don't think I've read a spy book before but I enjoyed this so much I might actually give more books like this a try. Not that any of them will live up to this one, of course. The plot twists alone were enough to completely destroy whatever was left of my sanity. The plot itself was fast-paced, well-developed, fun, and complex in the way that didn't allow a single moment of pause. The very first chapter grabbed hold of my senses and did not let go. I was hooked.

This book is soo good. I didn‘t know if I was going to like it but I loved it. It‘s such a good read and the characters as well as the story was written beautifully. I will purchase this book when it‘s out for sure, i need it in my collection.

thank you to hodder & stoughton, netgalley and the author for sending me this arc.

4 stars (and perhaps even 4.5).

miss chloe. you have done it again.
i absolutely loved the 'these violent delights' duology, and it was no different for 'foul lady fortune'. i cannot wait for this book to release so i can put it on my shelf.

i know absolutely nothing about chinese history, so it was interesting to get a glimpse of what shanghai looked like in the '30s. and i get there's a lot of fiction rolled into it (which is why i thoroughly appreciated the author's note at the end, explaining the real events that were mentioned throughout this book), but if there's one thing i love about life, it's that there's always something more to learn. and as westerners, we don't get enough glimpses of what it is/was like in other parts of the world, so i thank you for that.
like in 'these violent delights', there's a LOT of politics in this book, but it is not brought in a boring way. i absolutely tore through this story, and wasn't bored for one second.

politics and history aside– the story was so good. i love me a good spy novel with a dash of paranormal humans. and hello?? the characters? it was so nice to read about them again!
i thought my 'our violent ends'-shaped wound would have healed over by now, but foul lady fortune tore it right back open. 🥲 reading about the shanghai post the final events of 'our violent ends' was like a grieving process in some kind of way, but rosalind and celia are both such interesting characters, i'm glad their stories were continued.

i very much look forward to the next book. i wish i could read it right this second. thank you, chloe. <3

I must admit that I haven't read TVD so was worried when I realised this was a character from that book and that I wouldn't understand what was going on....but that wasn't the case at all!

Rosalind Lang aka Fortune is basically forced to work with Orion Hong and pose as a married couple to perform a mission.

I must admit I did struggle with this until the halfway mark but then it was rolling and I was hooked!

Firstly I do love a bit of romance and I loved the romance between Rosalind and Orion. Omg. Touch her and I'll kill you is now my fave trope!!! I'm so here for that and I fell in love with him!! Also his siblings! Watch out for Oliver to own your heart!!!!

There was drama, action, romance, I loved the history described and the story didn't shy away from anything, it was raw, dark and beautiful.

And then.....that ending *gasp*

I hate giving this book only three stars. I want to give it five, or even just four, but I can't. The main reason is that I'm so so confused right now.

I loved These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends so I had great expectations for Foul Lady Fortune. Rosalind was a very interesting character in that duology so I was excited to see her in her own book.

FLF is fantasy, possibly sci-fi, just like TVD. And just like that duology, we're back with the murder mystery and political history, so the style remains the same. The blurb sounded awesome. Fake marriage trope as a cover for being a spy? Essentially immortal assassin lady? Love it! The stakes are high, the story is exciting!

But I'm going to be honest. The characters were so very confusing.
First of all - the names. Everyone has a Chinese and a Western name. Some people have code names. Some people have changed their names for the sake of keeping their identity hidden. With all that, a single person can have up to five different names and how am I supposed to keep up with that? But that's not all.
You gotta figure out the alliances. Who is related to who, who is a communist, who is a nationalist, who is good, who is evil, who is an undercover spy, who is double crossing who. I should've sketched all the relationships and maybe it would've been easier to keep up. In the end I think I managed to get most of it, but figuring out who the characters are shouldn't take that long.

With TVD it was also complicated, but as it was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, I always had something to compare it to. In this case, I simply got drowned in a pile of Chinese and Japanese politics that I knew nothing about. Don't get me wrong - seriously interesting and exciting! But I basically just went along with anything that was happening, hoping to kind of understand what was going on. Because of this, the first half of the book was very slow.
The second half was much faster paced and quite exciting, but especially the ending did require some concentration.

I also wish there had been more Rosalind awesomeness. She's Fortune, and immortal assassin - why don't we ever see her use her powers? I want to see her be awesome, not run around as Orion's fake wife (even though I love him).

The great finale did take me by surprise and it was almost enough to give this book four stars. The finale was great! But at that point the book had already lost me and could't quite get me back.


Thank you NetGalley and Hodder&Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was probably one of the few who still hadn't read These Violent Delights before one fine day this August. But now I'm one of the many people who have read These Violent Delights and swear by it. Very happy to have entered the Chloe Gong fan club.
Okay, so, this book revolves around Rosalind and features a few other characters you'll know from These Violent Delights duology. Yes, you will probably be better off if you read TVD before moving on to this one because there are massive spoilers for that duology in this.
The themes in the book are imperialism, civil war, invasion, colonialism, and more, which were all very well done in my opinion.
There are a lot of things I liked about this book. But let's start with the writing.
Although not exactly lyrical, it still flows very smoothly. As a person who finds reading some ebooks tedious and very time-consuming, I love books that have the kind of easy-to-read writing that makes you fly through the book, and yes, Chloe Gong does have that kind of writing style. So this was automatically a huge plus for me.
The characters as you will expect if you've read TVD, are well fleshed out and bring life to the book with their passion, motives, and...badassery? Yes, badassery. Celia and Alisa were my ultimate favorites going into the book but the whole cast (Rosalind, Orion, Oliver, Phoebe, and Silas) did manage to burrow into my heart by the end of the book. I'm still sort of mad about the terribly low page time Alisa had but that just made me love the parts she was in so much more.
The demi (Rosalind) representation was so wonderfully well written and accurate and just made my heart soar. I think Benedikt is demi too and I'll very much like more info on this, thank you very much.
As for the plot, I can see most of these plot twists hitting people hard but unfortunately, didn't seem very twisty to me. I wasn't surprised about any of it and could see a lot of it coming. However, I must admit, the twist in the epilogue did throw me off completely and that was a very pleasant and shocking surprise.
The romance is very well written and made me feel a lot of feelings, like wanting such romance in my own life and wanting to bang my head against a wall due to the absence of it. However, I can't help but feel that the falling-in-love parts of the romance seem to be entirely absent from Gong's books.
In TVD duology and in this one for Celia and Oliver, people seemed to already be deeply, madly, in love. And as I said before, it works, it works most amazingly because of how Chloe writes romance. We did get something more akin to falling-in-love in Rosalind's POV, which I absolutely loved but for Orion, it didn't quite feel like falling-in-love and...already being in love? Which shouldn't be possible but yes, the falling-in-love didn't quite come through.
The length also seemed unnecessarily long to me and certain parts a bit repetitive.
But anyway, except for these teensy things, I really loved and enjoyed the book and very much look forward to the next book in the duology!! <3
Highly recommend it to fantasy lovers, historical fiction lovers, and everyone else too! <3

I feel so incredibly honoured and thankful to netgalley UK for allowing me to read this book early in return for an honest review
Where do I start
Chloe gong. You could write an instruction manual and it would still be an emotional historical work of art. I am obsessed with shanghai and the world in 20th century China depicted in the these violent delights duology and cannot wait to read more

Thank you net galley for providing me with a free copy of foul lady fortune in exchange for a honest review.


Although I haven't read these violent delights (yet) it's clear that Gong is extremely talented on writing politics as well as strong female characters. Rosalinda is a really well written flawed character you can't help but root for considering her backstory.

I wanted to rate this higher however the book was longer than I wanted it to be and included a lot of details that could of been edited out making this reel dragged on at some points. Even though I loved Orion I would of loved to see a bit more bantering between him and Rosalinda considering that although their chemistry and relationship dynamic was exciting to read about, their realization of how much they loved each other felt rushed near the ending of a book as a quick way to wrap up and continue the plot.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of Foul Lady Fortune. I love Chloe Gong’s books so I am immensely grateful for this opportunity.
Foul Lady Fortune is the first book in a spin-off series to the popular duology These Violent Delights. Taking place five years after the events in Our Violent Ends, foul Lady Fortune follows Rosalind Lang, a nationalist spy.
I knew what to expect when I started reading this book, because I’ve always enjoyed Chloe Gong’s writing style. So it’s fair to say that I had pretty high expectations. However, the book exceeded them all and was nothing short of phenomenal.
Though the book is not actually slow paced, it did take me some time to get into it, but I don’t think this was because I wasn’t enjoying it, but rather because there was a lot of information to absorb.
The atmosphere that Chloe Gong manages to create in this book is impeccable. As I was reading I felt as though I was watching a movie and utterly lost myself in the vibe of 1930’s Shanghai. It’s simply beautiful. But really, this paired with the memorable plot is what makes Foul Lady Fortune a truly great book.
Every single chapter ended with some kind of cliffhanger that made me turn the page and keep on reading. Rosalind is a remarkable, strong main character that really stands out. Even though she falls in the predictable category of badass female characters she has something special that the others don’t. There’s something more to her character which I can’t really explain, but anybody will understand when reading the book. She’s witty, tough and though sometimes morally gray, still a role model. I was hugely emotionally invested into her story and now that I have read the bombshell ending of the book, all I can say is that I need the next book as soon as possible, because I simply have to know what happens next!
Another pleasant surprise I had when reading this book, was stumbling over some great tropes that I am sure readers will adore. Some of them are cliché and I always tell myself that I won’t fall for them again, but sure enough, this awesome book has proven me wrong. Not to mention the fact that it ties up so many loose ends from Our Violent Ends and brings new light to some side characters from that series. I really enjoyed this, because reading about old characters was a nice touch to the current story and felt like I was encountering old friends.
Overall, what I can say is that Chloe Gong never disappoints and Foul Lady Fortune will surely be yet another triumph in her blooming writing career.

As a fan of what Chloe Gong did with the Romeo and Juliet source material in These Violent Delights, I was very excited for another Shakespeare-inspired story from her, returning to the chaotic stage of Shanghai. Foul Lady Fortune shares a lot with Gong’s first duology, including a number of minor characters who become bigger players this time round, but it does feel quite different in tone, and I’m not quite sure it always played to Gong’s strengths.

One of Gong’s strengths is definitely ramping up the tension and intrigue, and I will say straight up that the last 20% of this book redeemed a rather slow start and threw open a lot of new questions which mean I will most likely read the sequel. Gong also continues to do a fantastic job of bringing a city alive, and it was easy to feel like I was right there on the streets of Shanghai with the main characters, particularly once the action starts unfolding.

But Foul Lady Fortune is also a more political book than its predecessors, and in trying to balance that with a strangers-to-lovers romance, I felt like this book tried to do too much and too little at the same time. There are a lot of various subplots related to Chinese history at the time that were only briefly explained, and didn’t always seem related to what was going on in the characters’ lives – all of the character join various causes at points, but it’s never really clear that any of them have any strength of conviction or meaningful reason to be on one side or another except that the plot demands it.

The political manoeuvring also comes at the expense of character growth. Rosalind and Orion never felt like sympathetic, emotionally complex characters like Roma and Juliette did (even accounting for the fact that Rosalind is meant to be a more stoic character). There is so much happening on the political front that they are given very little time to process what is happening to them or reflect on the development of their relationship, so their romantic moments felt rather unearned when they arrived. There’s also limited development for the numerous side characters, which is a shame, especially since I was looking forward to getting to know some of them, particularly Alisa and Celia, both of whom intrigued me in the original series.

I’m pretty sure I’ll pick up the sequel just to see what happens next, and I will definitely keep an eye out for Gong’s other works – particularly those that seem more romance-oriented – I just wish I hadn’t struggled with the first half of this instalment quite so much so I could give a more positive review overall.

OMG! This was amazing! I knew going into this I was going to love the writing style and the world as I've read Chloe gongs first 2 books, however I was worried about if the characters would be strong enough to become main characters due to previously being side characters! And let me tell you they 100% were!

I loved exploring the world again, the mystery, the science, the romance. It was all so cool and it was such a fun time finding things out at the same time as our main character!

The only thing I kind of guessed was the very final reveal, but I didn't expect the reveal so I only kind of thought about it. Everything else was a complete surprise!

Overall such an amazing book and I will forever pick up anything Chloe Gong puts out!

Thanks to @netgalley , the publishers @hodderbooks and the author @thechloegong for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.