Shanghai Immortal by A.Y Chao is an incredible work of fiction that is sure to captivate any reader who enjoys the fantasy genre. From the very first page, the reader is transported into a beautifully described world of magic and wonder.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape and Netgalley for the arc of Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I’ve had this book on my shelf for what seems like an age but, for some reason I hadn’t started it, what a foolish mistake! It was such a fun read. I absolutely adore Lady Jing, she is a totally fabulous, multi-faceted character! At first sight, she is brash, rude, quick to anger and it seems that her only objective in life is to wind up and annoy others. However, there is so much more to her, scratch the surface and you find a damaged person whose defence is to attack, who struggles to recognise love and affection and does all she can to avoid being hurt, including pushing those closest to her as far away as possible!

Yet, despite all of this she is truly loveable, funny, loyal, kind, thoughtful and truly endearing! She is surrounded by a fabulous cast of characters including Big Wang, Horsey, Gigi, Lord Black and the totally lovely Mr Lee!

If you’re looking for a truly fantastic gang of diaspora characters set admits fabulous world-building that combines Shanghai fact with fabulous fantasy, you must pick up Shanghai Immortal. Chao delivers a well-rounded fantasy that merges myth, magic and marvel with the realities and heart breaking reality of Shanghai in the 1930s that is truly wonderful!

And for those of you that love food, there are mentions galore that will have you salivating and reaching out for delivery, because the last thing you will want to do is put this book down!

I hear that there will be more books following on from this initial introduction to Lady Jing and the marvellous cast of Shanghai Immortal characters, I can’t wait to see what they get up to next but, don’t be put off, this is a book that you can read as is and not fear that cliff drop ending. A fabulous debut that I absolutely loved and will pick up again!

There was a lot I enjoyed about this debut novel from A.Y. Chao. It was a fun story, centered around Lady Jing, half vampire, half fox spirit who is the reluctant ward of the ruler of Hell. Sassy, stubborn, tormented and deliberately uncouth Jing is a fun interesting character. And the world that Chao created for her to live in is equally interesting. Immortal Shanghai felt fresh and new, in a sea of redone and repeated scenes.
I do wish, however, that Jing, was a little less of a child at times. I could have done without her spitting on everyone who displeased her, and refusing, often to her own detriment, to recognize those who had her own best interests in mind. But mostly the spitting on everyone. Just yuck.

But overall, it was a fun adventure, in a wonderfully written world, with a sweet love story mixed in.


Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

I recently read Shanghai Immortal, A.Y. Chao's debut adult fantasy novel that took me on a thrilling journey through the shadowy streets of Jazz-age Shanghai, where Chinese deities and demons roam. The book's blend of Chinese mythology and historical facts provided an immersive backdrop for the protagonist, Lady Jing, a half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit, whose explosive temper and abundant sass make her a unique character. As the ward of the King of Hell, Lady Jing sets out to uncover a plot by courtiers to steal a valuable dragon pearl from the King, leading her and Tony Lee, a gentle mortal, on a wild chase through Hell and mortal Shanghai, where danger lurks at every turn.

While the book's premise was captivating, the narrative didn't quite live up to its potential. The story started slowly, with too much exposition, and some attempts to establish Lady Jing's personality as feisty and iconoclastic felt forced. Additionally, the writing style felt too juvenile for an adult-oriented book, and the pacing was uneven. However, despite these shortcomings, the novel's premise and Lady Jing's unique character kept me interested in where the story was headed.

Lady Jing is a character with a strong and fun voice that is undoubtedly unique. However, her unpleasant traits, such as her childishness, hypocrisy, and temper, made it challenging for me to root for her completely. On the other hand, Tony Lee's character, with his patience and kindness towards Lady Jing, added depth to the story, and the chemistry between the two was palpable, making their relationship a highlight of the book.

Overall, Shanghai Immortal is an enjoyable read that fans of Chinese mythology, Shanghai's history, and sassy female leads will appreciate. Although the book had its flaws, such as drawn-out scenes and uneven pacing, it marks an impressive start to a trilogy. A.Y. Chao is a promising up-and-coming author with extraordinary ideas, and despite the shortcomings of this novel, I am excited to read their future works.

Thank you to A.Y. Chao, Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I honestly wanted to not just like but LOVE this book. Sadly, it was missing the mark. Our lead, Lady Jing, is kid-like. She seems woefully immature and rather ignorant… but then I’m like wait, no she is very smart and cunning… I think. As I read about the world it felt like it was almost done. I couldn’t fully visualize it. All of this left me disconnected with the story which breaks my heart because a well known company is doing a special edition I hear.

This was so fun! Lady Jing is an absolute character. It actually took a while for me to warm up to her; she's brash and quick-tempered and angry and lives to piss people off. But over the course of the book you realize it's all a defense mechanism really. She's funny and she cares and she's been pushing people away to avoid getting hurt. Mr Lee is just the sweetest. And I love so many of the side characters like Big Wang, Horsey, Gigi, and Lord Black.
The world-building is great; you can really immerse yourself both in immortal Shanghai and "regular" Shanghai. The food descriptions alone had me salivating. I will say I wish I had been a little more familiar with Chinese mythology as it was sometimes hard to follow all the different types of beings and sort them out.
I really loved seeing the character growth from Lady Jing. I was getting so nervous towards the end of the book as to how everything would wrap up. This is a standalone and the conclusion happens pretty quickly, but satisfactorily. It's a bit open-ended, but very hopeful. I definitely wouldn't mind more from this world, but absolutely appreciate a story that can stand on its own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a requested copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Truly wanted to love this book unfortunately the formatting on the earc for my kindle was so bad that I was entirely unable to read it!

What an awesome read! Loved it! Shanghai Immortal was a rollercoaster of emotions from page 1 to the very end. I loved the way the book combined magic, hell, Chinese mythology and jazz-age fun. The world-building was fantastic, it felt effortless yet elaborate. The author created an intricate picture of two worlds - yon and yang Shanghai. I adored all the demons, mythical creatures, vampires and dragons that took a central part in the story. Everyone had such a distinct personality.

My favourite character was undoubtedly Lady Jing. Her bluntness was so entertaining, I kept laughing throughout the book. I loved the growth she experienced as a character.

Shangai Immortal was a story of adventure. self-discovery, heartbreak and finding love. I adored it. I cannot wait to read more from the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance reader copy of Shanghai Immortal in exchange for an honest review.

Shanghai Immortal follows Lady Jing who is half vampire and half hulijing fox spirit. Pawned to the King of Hell by her mother when she was a child she has spent the past ninety years running errands, trying to control her temper and dodging the cruel taunts of the other hulijing courtiers.

When she hears of their plot to steal a dragon pearl from the king she seizes her chance to expose them.

However she has been tasked to watch over a mortal who is helping the King set up the Central Bank of Hell. With him in tow she starts searching for answers however as things start to get more dangerous she begins to question if this is worth the risk.

I really enjoyed this book I thought the ideas throughout were quite original, the world building was good and the characters were well crafted.

I really enjoyed Jings character despite her childish tendencies at the start and her relationship with Mr Lee throughout the book made this a sweet read.

I noticed this was classed as adult fiction which was surprising as it read more YA despite the swear words used throughout.

However that did not stop my enjoyment of this book.

A fun story for fantasy fans with interesting world building and enjoyable characters. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Oh how I wanted to love this! Unfortunately, it just fell short in almost every way, *almost* being the operative word here.

For starters it reads like a YA novel. It's incredibly fast paced (not in a good way) with characters that are meant to be complex but we simply never really have any time to address their complexity. It's just go, go, go from the very beginning. I genuinely felt like I was being rushed while reading it, which is an odd feeling. And I really did not like Lady Jing. Like at all. She was just extremely immature and honestly she's meant to be but it got to the point where I was simply annoyed with her.

That all being said I sincerely believe that Chao has the potential to become an excellent author. Everything about this was an absolutely excellent idea, and the writing certainly wasn't bad it was simply a bit rough. So while I didn't click with this particular book I'll keep an eye out for more from Chao.

Overall this one just simply wasn't my cup of tea, however, I think I'd still recommend it because I do whole heartedly believe that Chao will bring us something excellent in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-arc. Overall I enjoyed this, although in the first half the pacing is not quite right, and the main character comes across as very childish. The second half was much more enjoyable, and I enjoyed the development of the character throughout the story.

I was given early access through NetGalley and the Author, Thank you so much for the Advance Reader's Copy

Wow... I am honestly speechless as to how amazed I was throughout the book!! Despite being a five-star read for me, because I honestly resonated with Little Jing the entire book, I understand that some people might not resonate with her, which might impact another person's reading experience of this book.
But honestly, I enjoyed, devoured and loved this book. Although I'm ashamed to say I was unable to read it in one sitting because of my schedule being too tight because of college, I do believe I had a chill, nothing-to-do day, I would have definitely sat on my couch and read this thing from start to finish in one sitting!!
Little Jing or Lady Jing, is a very feisty character, and I love that about her. Despite this strong facade, it is very evident that she struggles with an identity crisis, predominantly because she is half vampire and half huli jing or fox spirit!! You follow her through a story of action and drama and find out her origins. You read through secrets that slowly unfold and reasons being given for various mysteries of Jing's life and character.
I recommend this book to people looking for a Chinese Mythology Fantasy read, with a romance subplot.

SHANGHAI IMMORTAL was refreshing to read, not only because the main character was half Vampire and Fox Spirit, but it was also because she was a unique and feisty person with a mind of her own.

Despite her outwardly rude and unladylike manners, at nearly a century old (young in immortal years) she has a huge heart and fights for what she believes in. Her heritage also makes her an outcast in Immortal Shanghai’s Hell and it also made me feel for her as she experiences strongly like everyone else and is more of a independent spirit due to her lack of friends (or so Jing believes)

Affectionately known as Little Jing to Big Wang, the King of Hell and also his ward, Jing doesn’t take no for an answer and oftentimes gets into trouble. I liked her love-hate relationship with Big Wang’s guards who were like her uncles.

The world building and mix of Chinese mythology in 1930s Shanghai with mandarin phrases Romanized throughout the book was a fantastic and funny move. I loved how funny Jing could be in her inner thoughts and insults.

As a person of Chinese descent, it was fascinating to read about popular Chinese mythological figures. It was interesting to me as I only knew a few from tradition and the novel made me appreciate my culture even more. The plot was simple and quick and took place within a span of a few days. I liked the side characters and Jung’s backstory, together with her trauma and fears which made her a well-rounded character.

The slow burn romance between Jing and Mr Tony Lee, a human from Mortal Shanghai who was a balm to her fiery nature. He is the epitome of hope and was also brave in partaking certain responsibilities.

SHANGHAI IMMORTAL was an invigorating novel and I can’t wait to get myself a physical copy of the book.

This is more a 3.5 rating than 3

There were bits of this book I really enjoyed, but overall what did draw my rating down was the pacing, which fell off in the first half of the book for me. I did like Jing, but at certain points she felt a little bit forced to me. My favourite character was easily Gigi, I loved her energy and sass throughout. The second half was much better, and I particularly enjoyed the showdown at the Huljing court!

I just wish there had been less sass, and more plot. To me this feels a little unfinished but also something that with a little more development could be something amazing.

What I did enjoy about this was the concept: living shanghai? cool, undead shanghai? even cooler. I loved the mythology and the creatures and mythical monsters we are introduced to and the descriptions are so gorgeous I felt like I was watching a movie play out in my head. That said, the movie needed a bit more pace and some more character development for me, but I would absolutely recommend to anyone with an interest in Chinese mythology!

I liked and appreciated the premise, but unfortunately found the writing and storytelling to be really slow. I also couldn't get behind the sassy heroine-- it was a bit put on and I wasn't sympathetic toward her.
But while this fantasy wasn't for me, we'll still be getting it for the collection because I'm confident we have readers who will enjoy this.

his book was... unique. The author did a great job at creating a narration style that told you who the character was. My issue was that I didn't like the main character very much. This book felt very YA to me, because the main character (who is literally a century old) did not understand the basics to friendship and politeness. There were numerous terms that I didn't love (ta-tas showed up twice in the first two pages, which made me consider DNFing right from the start).

That being said, once I got used to the writing style, I began to enjoy it. I didn't understand the main conflict, however. It felt like in the first half we learned about there being an issue with one character, who I later learned was just acting on the behalf of a different character. But we take a HUGE pause on all of that to <3 fall in love <3, which made no sense to me. It felt very out of place. Also, I found the main character so annoying that it didn't make since that this kind, gentle character would develop feelings for her.

I (base line) enjoyed this while I was reading it, but the more I think about it the more I realize I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to others.

dnf after Chapter 2

I couldn't handle the "sassy" lingo, like "piss-fart" which was used twice in the first chapter. It sort of reminded me of the modern language used in From Blood and Ash, which I also had to dnf because of the lingo. If you were cool with From Blood and Ash, this should be fine too.

The world building seemed cool, and the author had good descriptions of settings.
Thank you for this e-arc!

I’m not sure entirely how to feel about this one, it was a really fun concept and the world was refreshing. I liked the writing style but the main character was a little annoying to me. Her personality just didn’t work for me unfortunately and it hindered my enjoyment of the book. But I do want to see more from this author

I was really looking forward to this book as I have loved every Asian fantasy I’ve read but unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I found it really complicated and there was a lot of information even just on the first page. I can see the potential for it to be really good with the main character being quite sarcastic but I’m sorry this one wasn’t for me.