chloe gong is one of those writers whose prose improves every book, it genuinely never fails to impress me. a fun ride, if conventional for the young adult space and what gong likes to write. i liked it

I absolutely bloody loved this book. It was very gripping, and had me in the feels. The characters where fantastic, and the storyline was brilliant. A very bingeable read!

Returning to the These Violent Delights universe with the 1st installment of a duology starring the awesome Rosalind.

After the experiment that altered her (no sleep, no aging, absolute healing) was performed to save her life, Rosalind became a spy. She is now Lady Fortune. As Japan prepares to invade, a series of murders are credited to them. She must go undercover as a married couple with Orion hong and infiltrate foreign society to solve the murders. But things are not as they seem...

After an enigmatic prologue, we are put right into the action, in the middle of one of Rosalind's missions. I really enjoy how Gong writes action, giving the situation the gravitas it needs by utilizing vibrant descriptions. Details that are unexpected plus creative wordplay and the author's signature figurative speech, always gorgeous, constitute the engrossing narrative. A narrative that manages to be simultaneously evocative and matter-of-fact. That sweeps you away and hitches your breath. All this to the backdrop of a dangerous 1930s Shanghai.

Rosalind is a badass. Known and feared as a merciless assassin. Orion, who became a nationalist spy to save his family's name is the other main POV that captivates you from the get-go. The forced to act as a couple trope which I love. Their antithesis fuelling sparks that may ignite, with Orion having the right amount of seemingly arrogance and playfulness to antagonize our protagonist. There is also another POV which is a pleasant surprise. Gong juggles the many POVs with ease. The development of the characters is quite dynamic, sourcing from the great depiction of emotions and thoughts alongside their actions. The author has a knack for making you care about them.

I wanted to adore this installment as much as its predecessors in this world but I couldn't. Don't get me wrong, this is a great book, but even though the pacing is generally good, in some parts the story lags. A lot. The truth is I think the book should have been shorter, some scenes more condensed. The 2nd part is so much better to the point of exhilarating.

This story is about redemption and loyalty. It raises the question of how much of our past should we carry, if at all.

Full of bombshells and gasp-worthy twists, the mystery unfolds in a riveting manner. Doused with intrigue, espionage and politics, plus betrayal and honor, all complimented by Gong's gorgeous writing, this is another hit for the author.

Foul Lady Fortune is an epic story filled with politics, friendship, love. I loved every aspect of it. I really loved the explained paranormal power Rosalind had. Also I really liked that it it was in These Violent Delights universe. This book was excellently executed from Chloe Gong. If you liked The Violent Ends duology you will adore the Foul Lady Fortune.

4.5/5, rounded up

A twisty, witty and layered story of intrigue and betrayal. Rosalind is a nationalist spy in 1930s Shanghi, codename Fortune. She was made immortal four years and has spent the intervening time as an assassin. For her new mission, though, espionage is her goal, and she’s paired with cheeky, callous Oliver, who will pretend to be her husband in an attempt to give them both a more legitimate backstory. Together they need to find those behind a series of murders, before more people are killed.

To start, I haven’t read the THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS duology that this spins off, nor do I have much knowledge about 1930s Chinese politics, and this didn’t impact my enjoyment - the context of TVD is sufficiently woven through that I can tell it was a Romeo and Juliet retellling (rival gangs situation that imploded), and the historical details of Chinese nationalism, communism and Japanese imperialism were sufficiently explained when necessary.

As much as I adore espionage and political suspense (of which there is plenty) it was the dynamic between Roslind and Orion that I really fell in love with. Oh that sweet, sweet demisexual slowburn. The banter, the tension, Orion saying “my beloved” at every opportunity. So good.

Not the full five stars because, despite how much I enjoyed it, when I put it down I could easily leave it for days at a time. It didn’t quite call to me like the most captivating books do. Nonetheless I look forward to the sequel.

as someone who was greatly confused by the storytelling in these violent delights and our violent ends, i didn’t hold out much hope for this book. this actually ended up being my favourite chloe gong book so far, and it’s a solid five stars. generally, i think chloe gong’s storytelling improves massively in this book - i get that the point of complicated and evasive narratives in tvd and ove were to keep up suspense, but i just ended up not know what was going on. in foul lady fortune, there’s a lot more explict explanation which makes the story miles easier to follow, but there are also so many twist, turns and secrets that you’re still kept guessing all the way through. obviously this leads up to some pretty big reveals in the last 100 pages or so, and they pay off beautifully. seriously, my jaw was on. the. floor. several times. i definitely can’t say much about the ending without spoiling it completely, but please know it was my favourite part of the whole book. as for the specifics of the characters and plot, i found these characters so enjoyable all round. the idea to have rosalind be an immortal assassin was so intriguing and didn’t feel too forced. i didn’t actually like rosalind so much in tvd/ove, but her development in this book is so solid that seeing that alongside her doubts, worries and insecurities made me totally love her. orion was SUCH a great character, his charming manner was wonderfully written and i loved him from the off. the addition of the fake marriage trope into the plot of rosalind and orion working undercover together was so so SO good, i am a total sucker for that trope and it was done extremely well here. i also lovedddd the side characters, getting to see celia again was so lovely (and i’m so proud of her! she’s such a queen!) but i absolutely fell for orion’s brother, oliver. he was such a soft grump and his and celia’s lowkey relationship had me smiling so hard. the history of this book was pretty easy to follow (after a quick google of what was happening in china in the 1930s), and honestly the plot of the serial killer on the loose is chloe’s best plot yet. this is a well-rounded, incredibly told story of love, betrayal and ambition, and i’m gonna need book two like, right now.

I love the way Chloe Gong writes. She has such a colorful, vibrant writing style: descriptive with much attention to details without ever being too much. I’ve read Chloe Gong’s previous duology (really recommend reading that before this book btw) and Our Violent Ends was one of my top reads last year. So, it’s safe to say that I had some expectations for Foul Lady Fortune.

However, I found this book sort of flat. I guess that I expected Foul Lady Fortune to have the pace and action as These Violent Delight and Our Violent Ends which it didn’t, at least not in my opinion. After reading about 1/3 of the book, I still wasn’t completely sure what they wanted to accomplish in the book… It did pick up a little about half-way through and all in all, it was a decent read. It never crossed my mind to DNF or anything. I just (and it pains me to say this) found Foul Lady Fortune to be a bit boring and plain.

Since the sequel is already in the making, I hope that Foul Lady Fortune was just the build up for whatever is going down in the next book. I want the same amount of action (not necessarily fights but purely action), drama and plot twists that we got in Our Violent Ends.

(I would’ve rated Foul Lady Fortune a solid 3,5 stars but since neither Goodreads nor NetGalley allow that, it got 4 stars anyway.)

After the imperfect ending of „Our Violent Ends“ I was exiting for the new dilogy. You read from different points of view I loved all. The story of Rosalind was the most interesting for me, because she is a character with a hard past and a great development during „Foul Lady Fortune“. She is a brave, passionate and strong woman who found her independence as a spy. I like about her that she didn’t forget her past, especially her family, and look ahead as well. Rosalind learnt from her mistake and fights for her city Shanghai and the persons she loves. But I gladly read about the others main characters, too. Rosalind‘s sister Celia was already one of my favourite characters in the former dilogy and in this story she can be herself at last. In contrast to the Lang sisters or Alisa Montagov I didn’t know the Hong siblings before. Mostly we fellow Orion becoming Rosalind‘s alibi husband and my favourite Hong. He is real family guy who put his family always first. I admire his loyalty the most. But my favourite scenes were the shared between him and Rosalind. At the beginning they are only bickering (which was very funny) and with the time the newly weds build their trust as well as heal their old wounds together. They become a great and supporting team, although Rosalind and Orion learn each others‘ flaws, too. I liked them much more than her sister Celia and his brother Oliver together.

The whole setting Shanghai 1931 was very intriguing and different from Shanghai 1926. There are more factions like Nationalists, Japanese and some more who fight for the rule over Shanghai and different spies everywhere. It was a exciting situation because you (and the characters) never know who you can trust and who is on which side. Concurrently I love historical settings where you learn something about the „real“ past.

The story is a great mix of historical fiction, political schemes, mystery crime and some fantasy elements, because of that you never know what to expect. At first the book develops slowly, but constantly. Throughout the story you learn more and more about the characters, the world and the many secrets. We have a new mysterious person/monster which attacks at night with chemicals and all protagonists need to uncover. Chloe Gong wrote a complexity story where every little detail matters at the end. The isn’t any boring moment. On the contrary you get surprised regularly because of the many plot twists. I hope and fight along the characters during the whole book. Especially the last ten chapters are full of twists and surprises. I couldn’t stop reading and get shocked more than once. My heart gets even broken because the cliffhanger at the end is open and nasty. I cannot expect the second volume and my anticipation increased thanks to the last sentence. I have a guess and hope that I‘m right.

CONCLUSION: 4/5⭐️
If you loved „These Violent Delights“, you will also love „Foul Lady Fortune“

Chloe Gong knows exactly what she did.

Foul Lady Fortune is an absolute fireball of a book. This is an impeccably slick murder mystery entangled in the backstabbing, claustrophobic world of spies and political machinations.

It is important to note that this book can be read separately from the original duology. However, it does give away key plot spoilers for that duology and personally, I really appreciated all the little nods and hints to certain aspects of those books in this story. For me, it added that extra layer of depth, character work and world-building in order to fully comprehend the story being told.

This book totally consumed me and has stayed in my thoughts since. It transported me to 1930s Shanghai and the complex political machinations of various groups there. You are dropped into this shadowy world of spies, secret identities and constant betrayals. Right from the start, you know this book did not come to play. Gong drops one of the most menacing and chilling openings I have read for a while, setting the cold and calculating tone of the unseen forces manipulating much of the action. That mystery is clearly laid out and you can’t help but want to know more. This is an extremely intricate puzzle, with twists and turns that will leave you reeling.

I also loved how this is very much a book defined by its sprawling cast of characters. We meet so many brilliant figures, some familiar to readers of the These Violent Delights duology and some brand-new. Each has so many layers and nuance to them, with unspoken secrets and hints at different aspects of themselves. However, my clear standout was Rosalind Lang herself. Admittedly, she was not my favourite from the original series, but by about ten pages in here, I knew I would pledge my allegiance to her. She is such a wonderfully raw and fractured character, dealing with the ramifications of her choices and learning to come to terms with the exploitation and manipulation she endured. Her expertise in spying and assassination literally demonstrates how a reliance on superficial appearances will betray you and leave you vulnerable. Through her character, Gong emphasises how femininity is traditionally seen as weak and shallow, but this is utilised by Rosalind to her advantage. She is an extremely smart and world-weary character, shown best in the tight dialogue between her and Orion. Their relationship is so, so good. It has that natural build to it and the chemistry as they switch into different dynamics is sizzling. You find yourself rooting for them, but as ever with Chloe, not everything is as it seems.

This is a speculative historical thriller inspired by Shakespeare’s As You Like It and the way Chloe Gong brings in these real life events and meshes them with the fascinating magic system and world she has created is sublime. For example, the events referred to sometimes as the Manchurian Incident or 9.18 Incident form a central catalyst for the plot and this was something I immediately went to further research and educate myself. By integrating these mirrors of real-life events, Gong adds that touch of realism and intensifies this looming atmosphere of impending war and doom.

Right from the first page, you are wholeheartedly thrown straight into the action and it is difficult to draw breath from there on in. The plotting and atmosphere are superb. You genuinely do not know who to trust and can never fully untangle everyone’s true allegiances. In a world of deception and pretence, there was always going to be heartbreak and that is where Chloe truly excels. She has my whole heart and she crushes it with every book she writes. That ending was one of the best cliffhangers I have read for a while and shattered my spirit completely.

Foul Lady Fortune was one of those books that truly takes your breath away and leaves you scheming, theorising and obsessing. It is easily one of my favourite reads of the year.

Thanks Netgalley and Hodder for this book.

Foul Lady Fortune is a perfect aspect of romance, spy, murder, and mystery. It was fast paced and beautifully written. The plot twist? I love it. Can't wait to read the next book

I really enjoyed this one! The writing was very atmospheric and I loved the setting! I cannot wait for the sequel to read more about this world.

i'm a long time fan of the original duology so i was excited to dive back into Shanghai and in the lives of the Lang twins. Rosalind won me over in just three sentences, i came to love her as much i loved juliette. this new story, set a few years after OVE, is in a way different and familiar, rosalind and orion's struggles with a city still divided, with their identities, real and fake, their relationship with their family, is so touching, and well done, as expected from Chloe Gong. what i love most in her books is the level of research for her story, Shanghai is her third (or first?) main character and it's so vivid, you can really feel like you're walking the same streets. and again, the real history gets intertwined with "fantasy" and the result is spectacular.

Having absolutely fallen in love with Chloe Gong's 1920s Shanghai setting in the These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends, I couldn't wait to re-visit this world for Foul Lady Fortune, which is the first book in a spin-off duology set five years after the events of Our Violent Ends.

Rosalind, who has been working as an assassin for the nationalists under the code name 'Fortune', and Orion, who is a nationalist spy, are teamed up for an undercover mission to investigate a series of murders and expose a terrorist plot. To blend in, they pose as a married couple, but each is pursuing their own agenda in this game of secrets and conspiracies.

The book has a mix of characters encountered previously and new protagonists. Whilst it isn't necessary to have read TVD and OVE to follow the plot of Foul Lady Fortune, prior knowledge of events and characters definitely added to the enjoyment for me, so I'd recommend picking these up first. Gong loosely based her characters and plot on a Shakespearean classic, As You Like It. Pacing and plot twists made it really hard to put this book down, and I absolutely loved the slow-burn and the sharp dialogues. As for the ending of this first installment, all I can say is that the sequel can't come soon enough - I'm dying to find out how the story continues.


A beautiful read, which left me feeling raw and with a massive book hangover. Chloe Gong definitely delivered a brilliant finale to this story, and I can’t recommend it enough!

A massive thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the E-ARC in return for an honest review.
I'm not going to lie, I struggled to settle into this story at first due to the Asian culture and vocabulary as it's all unknown to me. But with a quick Google search and the fact that the story itself was so intriguing and exciting, I managed to finish the book, and oh my goodness, I'm so glad I did! The spies, the factions, and the supernatural elements all had me hooked! And the characters! For someone who loves a good romance, the small moments of romantic situations were just enough to keep me wanting more but slow-burn enough to keep me guessing "Will they, won't they?".
All in all, a very enjoyable read, tho now I have to go pick up 'These Violent Delights' duology as maybe should have read that first due to the spoilers in this book for that story, oops!

This book was stunning!!

Chloe Gong's writing is so beautiful and descriptive. I really enjoyed the historical element and assassin vibes this book has to offer. It's got such a great pace that remains throughout the book. With memorable characters and a twisty plot, this made for a really enjoyable read! I can't wait to see what the author does next! I really do want to reread These Violent Delights too, just to catch any easter eggs in this one!

Highly recommend.

First of all, thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC!

3.5 starts

I'm a big fan of Chloe Gong's first duology (These Violent Delights/Our Violent Ends) so I was desperate to get my hands on this one. It was really nice seeing some old characters and I feel like it holds the "quality standard" of her other books. The characters have enough charisma and the book has some very interesting scenes – related or not to the main characters romance arc, which was my bigger interest.

But to be completely honest, the "outer" plot didn't hold my attention as much as it did on her previous books. The political conflicts were not so interesting to me and at some point were a bit boring. It's not necessarily going to be a problem for everyone, but if you're interested in reading the book you should know that those things are there.

It was a very nice read and I will definitely read the next one, but the previous duology is still superior to me!

PS: I did take a long time to read it and that's because the format of the ARC wasn't great to me, sadly. Reading on my phone isn't comfortable and it's a shame they didn't provide us with Kindle-friendly copies.

A thought-provoking and beautiful story, filled with drama and high stakes. Gong's writing has improved immensely since TVD and I can't wait to see where she goes. Loved it.

With thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I haven’t read Their Violent Delights or Their Violent Ends (the previous duology) and aside from learning Rosalind and her lover were part of Romeo & Juliet’s deaths in early twentieth century Shanghai there aren’t spoilers as such. I think the bigger misunderstanding was that this would be more of a romance. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t looking for romance in this tale of Nationalist, Communist and Japanese spies all mixed up with a serial killer. Although two agents pretending to be married… it was refreshing how un-steamy, how at arms length the beginning to care for each other is - Rosalind herself notes she’s more demisexual albeit not in those terms.

What can I say about the novel? The central mystery is solid and comes together well. The characters are all distinct enough, but I would have preferred more slice of life scenes. I would have preferred more distinction between which language is being spoken in multi-lingual Shanghai. For a spy novel there’s an appropriate amount of action and the points of view work well. There’s a sub-plot with the rival team (who happen to be siblings of the main team and actually make more sense!) who we see occasionally too. Alisa is great. There’s an annoying younger sister, former gangsters and young adults running around in a world on brink of breaking further. Initially there’s a lot of descriptive set-up for scene changes but this eases off as set pieces repeat, and the story gets going - the style may well work better for you than it did for me. Again, I appreciated the narrative focus on plot and character motivation in this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the book. Here I leave my honest review!

I love this book so much! I didn't know at first that I will love this book like this. Disclaimer first, I didn't read the book before by Chloe but I know what happen there and yes this book continue from that event. So if you still read it or plan to read it then you can't read this now.

For newbie in this world, I didn't have much difficulties to understand the world building or what kind of atmosphere Chloe want to build here. So, it's okay just to read this book.

I really love the conflict that arise here. Spy, nation's traitor, experiment, mass murder all of this hook me from the start. The book is quite thick but I was not tired while following the story. I enjoy every moments share in this book, and Chloe didn't stall to break the conflict, so readers won't get bored following the story line. The book itself full of surprises and twists, I can't predict anything while I read this. I just enjoy everything author give me.

It has multi POV but I assure you will not confuse whose talking right now even it didn't have any clue / title per chapter. With this multi POV, this book has so many characters but it is easy to understand each character. Maybe because some character has their own POV, so we will know what's happening on their side. And of course my favorite is Rosalind and Orion, well more of Orion. I didn't know what kind of character she had on previous book, but I believe that what affects her character in this book.

The relationship between Rosalind and Orion is so good! Yes it full of disbelief at first but their bantering is interesting to follow, and how they develop their relationship, how they care each other I really love it!

“the world runs on love, not suspicion”
"Love was a curse. Nothing good ever came out of it"

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, and it had everything one could ever want in a novel!

Rosalind was the best main character, I loved her! everything about her character was executed perfectly and I loved seeing all sides to her during her chapters. She is a true icon and I loved that this book tied in with TVD and OVE too ✨
Orion was also a wonderful main character too, their relationship was amazing. I adore the fake marriage/marriage of convenience trope as well as the sunshine x grumpy trope as well!!

the pace was just right, it was slow to begin with but picked up massively and was really exciting during the last half of the book. I think this links in well to the plot twists - OMG. I didn’t see it coming at all and it was unexpected! I love that once you learn about the twists everything begins to makes sense... it hits the nail on the head.

I really liked the switch in perspectives throughout, although it was slightly confusing so at times it was hard to figure out who’s chapter it was. I really liked the switch in perspectives throughout, although it was slightly confusing because at times it was hard to figure out specifically whose chapter it was. I wouldn’t say this was a con necessarily as it was only sometimes that it was tricky to figure out whose perspective it was.

cons:
- the only main con, was that the political plot line was quite confusing and even by the end I was still slightly confused. it didn’t stop me from loving the book tho and I really enjoyed the historical element too the novel!

I am super looking forward to reading the rest of the series - I think the ending is perfect to start the next book 😌