It's the first grim-dark set in a far-eastern-like world I read and it was very good.
Dark, twisty, fast paced and action packed,
Great characters and excellent storytelling.
I can't wait to read the next in this series
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

When I first found out that Chloe Gong was releasing a NA fantasy with a competition element at the heart of the plot, I instantly put it on my TBR. From the books I’ve read, I’ve always enjoyed Chloe Gong’s writing style and that continued in Immortal Longings.

The worldbuilding was immersive and visceral, but probably could have been woven in more to avoid large chunks of info-dumping. The mix of urban fantasy and noir in this dark and gritty world was absorbing, and the magically genetic ability to jump bodies was a fascinating concept in theory, although there were ethical issues that probably required deeper discourse. I found the game not as interesting as hoped because the tension I was expecting from this sort of setup was tepid.

Although the motivations and wants of the characters were clear, they’re also lacked substance within the grand scheme of the story, as there wasn’t much insight into why the King was terrible and to blame for the systemic issues in Sar-Er, so their motivations for killing him to solve the issues lacked power, especially at times when it felt as if the characters seemed disinterested in the people they professed to wanting to save (for example, Calla who thought killing the king would instantly fix things and August didn’t exactly seem to be a better alternative to the king). With Anton, the relationship with his childhood friend/lover was also lacking that his motivations felt thin, and seemed to wane relatively quickly after meeting Calla. As time went on, I unfortunately wasn’t invested enough in the characters to be engaged with the story as they never really seemed to develop past what we learnt about them in the first few chapters. Some of the descriptions were also superficial, such as people of lower economic or social status to the main characters being described by their physical features rather than addressing the systems that have affected them in order to provide more complexity to the story..

Even though there were fun and intriguing elements, overall, I felt as if I was constantly waiting for more depth and so I was never fully drawn into the story.

Every year people in the kingdom of Talin will flock to the capital gain cities San-Er where the palace hosts a set of games where competitors right to the death to win unimaginable riches in a world of poverty and disease some have no alternative than to risk their lives for the chance to survive.
Ok, this book has a very slow start with confusing world building that is brilliantly explained. I almost DNF this one, but I am so glad I kept going. The first 1/3 is a bit of a slog, but after that, I just flew through it and stayed up till 1 am to finish. It is very Hunger games gives but with magic. This had potential to be 5 stars, but the first 1/3 just let's it down. It's definitely worth getting through that, though it pays off in the end.
Thank you to Netgalley, Hodder and Stoughton Chloe Gong for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was quite a ride. We have body jumping, a fight to the death and plots to end the monarchy.

- Meet Calla, the former princess of Er. In hiding after a crime and entering the games to kill her uncle, the King of the United San-Er.
- August, the King's adopted son and Calla's inside man. He has form for plotting to end the monarchy.
-And we have Anton, a former friend to the Palace and entrant in the games to win the prize money and pay off his debts caused by keeping his love alive in the hospital.

Let me just say the last 20% of this book had some great plot twists. It really got me excited to continue the series.

The idea with the games gives hunger games if the arena was a city with an entire civilian population in it. I enjoyed this aspect of the book. It gave me some good action moments. There is also a rebellion (or I guess several) going on, but it's not hugely touched on.

I also enjoyed the interactions between Calla and Anton, but I do think the romance could have done with a bit more development. They were friends, and there was slight chemistry, and then suddenly they're in love despite antons' entire motivation being paying to keep his girlfriend alive.

I do think that the book could have done with developing things a bit more. It took a while to fully understand the characters' motivations (except anton his was pretty clear), and the POVs outside of the main 3 didn't add much to the story for me. We have the crescent society, but I'm still unclear on what they're doing. Are they trying to take down the throne, or are they experimenting on people?

Also, it's mentioned several times that jumping is illegal outside of the games, but it doesn't seem to be enforced at all. It took me a while to grasp the whole jumping thing and the idea that you can take someone's body and them still be in there, but also there can be bodies that are just empty vessels. What was cool, though, is that if you jump before your body dies, it will heal itself, and you can jump back in later.

Overall, I've decided to give it 4 stars because the last 20% pulled it back for me since questions started to be answered. I'm excited for the next book and hopefully a bit more development for the romance and motivations.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, Chloe Gong, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Same author, same inspiration (although a different play!), same ridiculously brilliant writing! Chloe Going has done it again - sheet brilliance!!

So I hadn’t read any of C. Gong’s previous books so went into this one without any preconceptions other than how popular they are!
It was there latter half of the book that really kept me gripped, prior to this I found myself reading it in short bursts.
If you love enemies to lovers, fantasy, and EXQUISITE world building then you’ll love this!

Chloe gong has done it again!! Her boooks are always amazingly written and really captivate the reader 5*

I haven’t read anything by Chloe Gong yet, but this one was a great first book!
The angst level was so good, and I really did like our two main characters. The ending was crazy and I’m so excited for the next one!
I haven’t read Anthony and Cleopatra so I can’t say how good of a retelling it is but I really did like this one!

4/5⭐️

I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to the fantasy and mythology genre, but, I am widening my perspectives and so far loving it. The author has done this brilliantly. The story is beautifully written, the characters come alive on the page, the settings pop and all characters have believable voices. One of the key elements of this book is world-building, the author has created an intricate and detailed world, complete with its own histories, cultures, and languages. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

[ Spoiler-free review ]

I enjoyed this a lot! Though I must inevitably agree that the first few pages did not, in any way, interest me. I found the first few chapters quite dull and boring because of the unnecessary info-dumping about San-Er and the characters. San-Er is a cool world crafted by Chloe Gong, but she’s told so much about the world without actually making a point that will somehow grab my attention, and that was kind of disappointing.

But this book had its good parts ok, and that’s when the main characters, Anton and Calla, finally met. Tbh I detected zero chemistry from them at first, but when it finally got interesting to me, they too started to get good. 🤭 Their banters reminded me so much of Roma and Juliette (These Violent Delights duology) and I thought that Calla was a mixture of Juliet and Rosalind (Foul Lady Fortune)! And Anton was giving me Orion Hong vibes so I wasn’t really deep into the characters knowing Chloe Gong has written these kind of characters (imo) before. 🤧

The plot was really interesting and I would be lying if I said I did not audibly gasp at that ending !!! Need the second book in my hands rn to know what happens next IMMEDIATELY.

Solid 3 stars.

**Thank you to Netgalley for the e-copy in exchange for an honest review**

3,75 ⭐️

If you know me, you know I'm a big fan of Chloe Gong, so I was obviously waiting on this book a lot. Actually, my most anticipated releases of the year were all of Gong's books, so do with that what you will.

I don't read adult books a lot, but I liked this one a lot tbh. As with <i>These Violent Delights</i>, i haven't read the play that inspired this book, but I don't think that'd be an issue if that's your case as well.

I honestly don't know what to say to review this book. The first 150 pages were maybe kinda slow for me, it took me a long time to get into the book, but I'm happy i kept going because the last 200 pages were absolutely amazing for me, I could hardly put the book down.

The characters, though cold-blooded killers, if we're being honest, are so touching it hurts. Gong really has a way of making her characters loveable in spite of their flaws. Around characters are also their dynamics, which I enjoyed seeing them unfold throughout the book.

The world in this book is very interesting as well, I'd like to know more about the jumping and qi, but it's understandable everything can not be revealed in the first book.

I would have said that one minor thing I didn't enjoy was guessing most of the plottwists, but that also means they make sense in the story and don't come up out of nowhere, which is pretty reassuring if you ask me.

Really recommend this if you like a true enemies to lovers story, as well as complex characters that keep you on your toes.

"What are memories if not stories told repeatedly to oneself? Her whole body is the very narrative of her existence."

Not going to lie, I quite liked this book. There are some... interesting plot holes that really should have been addressed such as the lack of consent and I would have loved to know more about the entire class system and it's politics. Despite that, the entire premise is engaging and I am excited to read more about the world and magic system.

Was it easy to guess the plot twists? yes but I don't view that as a bad thing. I enjoyed the book either way. The characters are not perfect and nor do they claim to be. In fact the majority are quite ruthless and bask in it

To me it's very YA with added ruthlessness and gore. There is a minor intimate scene but nothing crazy. All in all it's a fun read if you don't look into it too much. It definitely needs some things ironing out and I hope that the author can do that in the next instalments

Amazon Summary

The only way to win, is to survive.

Every year, thousands flock to San-Er, the dangerously dense capital twin cities of the kingdom of Talin, where the palace hosts a set of deadly games. Those confident in their ability to jump between bodies can enter a fight to the death - for the chance to win unimaginable riches.

Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been in hiding for five years, ever since she murdered her parents to free the people of Talin from her tyrannical family. Only one person stands in her way of finishing the job: her reclusive uncle King Kasa. However, she knows he always greets the victor of the games. If she wins, she will finally get the chance to kill him.

Enter Anton Makusa, whose childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace. He's deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Which means his last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.

When Anton proposes an unexpected alliance with Calla, they quickly find their partnership spiraling into something all-consuming. But before the games close, Calla must decide what she's playing for - her lover or her kingdom. For no matter what, only one of them can walk out alive...

My Review
I really loved the sound of this book and it didn't disappoint!

The World building is really interesting and has a fantastic but slightly brutal magic system. I like the characters and all the action through out the story. I would recommend to any hunger games fans out there.

An Antony and Cleopatra retelling meets fantasy setting inspired by historic Hong Kong, then throw in some Hunger Games style killing games, and I called myself intrigued. Definitely enough to request an ARC, and despite some rocky aspects, I’m glad I did!

Immortal Longings follows the murderous Princess in hiding, Calla, who five years ago massacred her parents and brought down one half of the reigning monarchy. Now she plans to finish the job and to do that she needs to win the palace games. August, a manipulative royal heir, has the same goal and a fragile alliance is formed. What no one planned on was the exiled aristocrat, Anton, desperate to save his childhood sweetheart lying in a coma. To do that he needs money, which means, he needs to win the palace games.

There is a lot of info dumping to start off with and I often found myself, putting the book down and struggling to pick it up. Theres tons of political layers, rules about body jumping and previous character history you need to wade through from the start. Additionally, the emphasis on the setting and the morally grey climate of it all was overdone. I actually enjoyed exploring San-Er and having grown up in Hong Kong, hearing about the inspiration behind it, is interesting. But you do not need to continuously emphasis how common murder is, how no one can pay their bills and the fight for survival. It comes across as it is as we follow the characters through various situations.

I really enjoyed the characters and started to root for certain favourites (mainly Calla) and became interested in how each of their actions impacted each other and how the story unfolded, there were conspiracies to unfold and a few plot twists I didn’t see coming! Fair warning this is a series, and this first book does end on a cliff hanger you’ll be dying to pick up immediately. This book isn’t necessarily fast paced because of all the political tangles which take centre stage instead of the Hunger Games style palace games (and previously mentioned early on info dumping) but I still found myself reading speedily through the last thirty percent.

After finishing the book, I read that the inspiration from Antony and Cleopatra was intended to focus on an exploration of obsession, rather than a plot focused retelling. It made sense. I struggled while reading to see many original links apart from some vague romantic aspects and, of course, the concept of obsession. I think Chloe could have taken this further, especially romance wise, I loved Anton and Calla, but their romance/obsession intersection was a bit rushed at the end. However, I still really enjoyed their character/relationship ARC. Plus, the idea of power, and it’s overlap with obsession for August and Call in particular, was well integrated and thought out.

I went in having not read any of Gong’s previous books, so I was interested in seeing of Immortal Longings lived up to the hype and in many ways it did!

What to expect from Immortal Longings: Action, spicy romance, morally grey characters, so much blood, superhuman abilities, Hunger Games-type plot
No doubt, Chloe Gong is a talented author, and she writes the most interesting character dynamics. Readers who loved These Violent Delights will love this book, as it has the same sassy and fresh vibe that leaps off the page.
Unfortunately, for me, despite really wanting to like Chloe Gong’s writing, I felt Immortal Longing suffered the same shortcomings as her previous books and was bogged down by too much description, info dumping and purple prose. I took days to get through the chapters, pausing to take breaks in between to digest the vast amount of information.
Immortal Longing is a retelling of the Shakespeare classic, Anthony and Cleopatra. But, only the names were more or less adopted from the latter; the rest, such as the setting, plot and characters, are almost entirely their own. I wouldn't have known it was a retelling if it didn’t say so on the blurb.
Most of the plot reminds me of Hunger Games, there is a city-wide competition where players kill each other, and the sole victor will claim a massive pot of money for a lifetime of luxury. Of course, there is a broken monarchy and rebellious princes and princesses with the dream to ‘save the city’.
For me, the highlights are the characters. Chloe Gong really has a knack for creating these sassy, angsty and vibrant characters that are quite fresh in the YA genre. The dialogues between the characters are snappy and natural, and she creates these characters that are so wonderfully complicated. Though the main characters (Anton and Calla) did feel like copies of Roma and Juliette, it was still wildly fun to see the characters interact with each other.

CW: Sexual consent (also spoiler)

But with all that said, there was a part on sexual consent that was really disturbing and should be addressed by Chloe. Unsurprisingly, Calla and Anton fall in love and make it to the bedroom. But it was concerning that Anton was inhabiting another body while he was 'doing' Calla, and how is that right? There was no consent whatsoever from the person whose body was being invaded, and it is a rape of that person. What happens to this person whom Anton inhabited after Anton's qi has left? Will they get STIs? And what a gruesome invasion of bodily consent! Honestly, I was shocked to read that and in no way did Chloe address the severity of the lack of consent in the book.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-ARC of the book!

"They trained her for war. And she rose up to wage it on them"

When I first read the Blurb for Immortal Longings I was so excited to read it, it sounded like something that I could really sink my teeth into and really enjoy but the reality if it was very different.

The storyline should have been fantastic but it just fell flat , the writing for me didn't flow and was somewhat Chaotic. In all honesty this book I found hard to get through and very nearly became my first DNF I guess I was just bored, but I'm glad I did carry on because the ending was my favourite part, even if I did guess what was going to happen.

As with everything some will love it and others not so much, will I read the next? I'm not sure yet ,but the ending has left me intrigued about what will happen next.

I definitely took time getting into this book. It immersed you into the world without any preamble, but this had a slightly disorientating effect, especially when trying to get to grips with the technicalities of body jumping. The narration switched between different characters, most frequently between, Calla, Anton and August. For a good chunk of the story, I kept mistaking Anton for August and vice versa. What was even more confusing was when the point of view would change to a character outside of the main three. These felt unnecessary and jarring.

It wasn’t helpful that I didn’t feel a connection to Calla, Anton and August. I neither sympathised with them, nor found myself supporting their motives and missions. They often came across self-entitled and arrogant. Amidst a bloodthirsty story like this, I needed to have someone to root for.

Despite the lack of emotional connection I had to the story, I was intrigued by the grander scheme at play. The book threw in a good few twists and reveals that I didn’t see coming. I was expecting both visceral action and an epic romance. Unfortunately, I got neither. The action sequences lacked jeopardy – Calla and Anton were too overpowered when compared against their competitors. If anything, the author made the excessive killing seem mundane, even when innocent bystanders were dying. The disregard for the tertiary characters left me with an uncomfortable feeling. I was also let down by the romance. I knew Calla and Anton were meant to have some sort of passionate, forbidden love affair amidst all the fighting, but their relationship failed to engage me. It wasn’t given proper development to make me feel invested.

Genuinely unsure how to rate this so it may change. I lowered it from three stars to two because I realised how angry it made me.

Childish plotting and character arcs (none, really). Cinder meets Altered Carbon but if both of them were terrible.

I have a lot of thoughts and things I didn’t like but I enjoyed it enough that I finished it.

The novel is set in a city that used to have two royal families and when one of them was wiped out the other side decided to just make it a one man show instead.

Okay so the novel follows three characters with povs

August - the adoptive heir to the throne as the kings wife died. His parents and sisters were killed in an insurrection and he was brought to the palace. He has a slightly maybe homoerotic relationship with his bodyguard but it is never actually clear if they’re a couple or if august is in love with him or what. He want the king dead so he can take over and make the country a better place.

Calla - formerly the crown princess of her country she murdered her parents and their attendants in cold blood five years ago and didn’t manage to kill her uncle as well. She’s been hiding out in the city with two of her former attendants waiting for a way to get back to see the king and kill him. She decides the way to do this is to enter the hunger games type competition they have in her city.

Anton - he’s another royal family hang around who has been exiled from his birth body apparently? That’s never really explained. He was in love with August’s half sister and they were caught trying to run away from the palace and she contracted an illness that has left her in a coma for seven years. He wants to enter that competition so he can pay for her medical bills.

Essentially a large part of this novel doesn’t make much sense. The game that people involve themselves in is like the hunger games - but the prize itself is also quite unclear exactly what it is and how it works. You have to kill the 87 other contestants but the game takes places where civilians are trying to live their lives. Factor in that people can also jump their consciousness from body to body and it becomes more baffling that you’d have this just across a city. Some people can’t jump but all the main characters can. Calla is the only one who refuses to jump the entire game and people think she is weird for this.

However, when you body jump the other person is still in there and they just have no idea what is happening. Imagine you go missing for ten days and your family don’t know what happened or what you did and nor do you?
There’s also no consent. Later in the book there is a sex scene and this is so briefly addressed I feel it wasn’t truly thought through and added as an afterthought. Bodies are just bodies so people use them however. The character has sex with someone while they’re not in their own body so the person they did that with doesn’t know they had sex with someone - firstly stds anyone? Condoms etc are never mentioned. Guess it’s no biggie when it’s not your body?
Secondly, that person has had sex with someone they didn’t consent to and maybe they have a partner or whatever. Very much gave me the ick.

I also can’t get over Gong’s lack of originality with character names. I found out this is meant to be a retelling of Anthony and Cleopatra. Firstly, gives me the ick to retell something about real people. Secondly, Anton and Calla is so close to the original much like Roma and Juliet it’s kind of almost embarrassing? Like a 13 yo tried to rewrite a famous book and hoped no one would notice they’re called Axel River instead.

There’s also the thing of chi. Chi transfers from body to body and so everything is based on identification numbers. People can tell you’re not you because your eyes change colour based on your chi heritage ie your family tree. So…one major plot twist is completely blown out of the water by this small fact and never addressed how it works.

This is a BIG SPOILER







Calla is not actually Calla but a girl from the provinces who accidentally jumped into Calla and has inhabited that body for the last 15 years. This is why she won’t jump as she’s scared the original Calla is still inside. However, if she’s meant to have the royal eyes and they say she does and this is only due to her chi how is that possible? I’ll tell you, it’s not and makes no sense unless she is somehow related to another member of the royal family. Like being Anton’s missing sister except 1. Incest and 2. We know he has black eyes.

Finally let’s just think about the fact that Anton managed to jump into August the crown prince instead of dying and no one noticed his eyes are different now too? Okay.

While I enjoyed my time reading this, it was ultimately more and more obvious to me that this author is probably not for me. Maybe I’ll try the second one but all the plot twists were obvious and plot threads kind of dangled and introduced so many random characters for little to no reason.

Final gripe, after banging on about how Anton could have removed his chip so they didn’t have to fight, calla doesn’t think it’s an option when they’re fighting to tell him to remove it when he says he doesn’t want to kill her? Are y’all stupid? Also no one noticed August’s eyes have changed.

eARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dive into this immensely brutal and immersive world full of power, politics and poverty. Rich with atmospheric world-building and character development.

Mainly following three characters throughout, we are dropped into other POVs to enhance the world and storytelling which took the immersion deeper. The world felt influenced by cyberpunk and had grungy dystopian vibes, although some of it wasn’t far off from current situations.

The romance/lust felt mostly off-page but we did get to see how it influences the character’s behaviour, finding an unexpected connection with someone when you feel only built to be an assassin can change you.

SPOILERS – The jumping was well explained, with the eyes showing who was truly within so why were Calla’s eyes royal yellow??

Overall a good base for the start of a new series, I’m excited to dive into this world again.

This book is the perfect mix of adventure, danger, and romance. The stakes are so incredibly high and I just loved the arc that the main character went through. I did not see the betrayal coming at all though. Plot twists really are one of Gong’s greatest strengths