catzach's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
epellicci's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Child death
taryn_g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Death of parent, Genocide, and Colonisation
Minor: Medical content, Confinement, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
mallorygibson's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
thatvirgoreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I would give this book a 3.5! I have to stop looking at Goodread reviews after I finish a book I even slightly liked. Compared to other reviewers, my opinion is a lot higher. This is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra play set in the dystopian society of San-Er. This is the first book of Chloe Gong’s I have read. I finished fairly quick and I thought it was interesting. A lot of people are saying it’s a rip off of the Hunger Games, but I wouldn’t say that. If this idea of people watching kill other people for entertainment then Hunger Games ripped off the Roman Colosseum gladiator games. I am very interested in reading the next book and I really want to know what’s going to happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death
erinmcd87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lmmw230494's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
poppyharveyxoxo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bookshelfbella's review against another edition
4.0
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 4.25/5 stars ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
"You're a wild, terrifying thing, do you know that?"
Reading this book felt like being suspended in the moment right before a rollercoaster dips over the edge of its biggest hill. It holds high suspense and action the entire time, twisting and turning with plot twists around every corner. Each plot twist was not expected until it was. This story sucked me in as the ultimate page-turner. There was a good handful of moments in which I audibly gasped.
Now, I've knocked off that last 0.75 stars for a few clunky bits that missed the mark for me. I think that there could have been a stronger editor on this. But all in all, I am in love with Chloe Gong and this book.
This was my BOTM pick for July 2023.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The book started off slow for me and really did not pick up speed until about 150 pages in. The world-building was thick and confusing and I spent a lot of time flipping back pages to clarify where I was or how this environment worked. I could not get an imaginative view of the setting and I thought that at times I was working too hard to get the picture. The farther into the book I was, the clearer it became, and overall the environment redeemed itself by the end.
Another missing piece for me was the mechanics and presence of body-jumping as a whole. I thought that this fantastical ability was intriguing and something different, but just a little understated and a little underdeveloped. It more so felt like a convenient function of the world.
I also cannot get through this review without mentioning at least once that this book really does bare a resemblance and good amount of similarities to The Hunger Games. That's all I have to say on that.
Now, the star of the show in this book is Gong's ability to seamlessly switch from POV to POV. Each time a new perspective was introduced, I could feel that jittery excitement of what was to come. I thought that this switch in POV was also clever when written alongside the function of body-jumping. It was as if us, the reader, was body-jumping through San-Er ourselves, picking up the bits and pieces. This same effect was present for me in the voyeurism of the murderous games. I admired that each perspective change did not need to me delineated by a chapter change, but rather just a switch in the way the story was told.
Calla Tuoleimi is everything you want from a princess; rebellious and unexpected with jagged corners that aren't afraid to slice through anyone in her way. The reveal, which comes late in the novel, that although she has been Princess Calla for fifteen years, she was once a little girl from Talin like the rest of its starving, deprived citizens that body-jumped into the original Princess Calla is, in fact, a book moment that I will never forget. She becomes an unreliable narrator and we are questioning what we have been told and what we don't know yet. Her drive to successfully completing her goal is halted by an unexpected alliance turned romance.
Anton Makusa is a character that I began with mixed feelings about. I thought that his storyline with Otta was a little boring and stale, and I could not really get a strong read on him. I finished the book, however, kind of obsessed with him? I think that (as is often the case with romance storylines) his presence was strengthened by the budding intimacy between him and Calla. At certain moments, I think I even found myself rooting for him more than I did Calla. The absence of his own body but the consistency of his qi was a great move on Gong's end. I fell in love with his qi, all while his physical appearance remained an unexpected mystery on each page. It kept him elusive.
There were some characters I needed more from. Many of the additional characters felt like support beams to the plot. August was kind of irrelevant except for his deception and manipulation of the games from the inside, Leida felt underdeveloped to justify her underhanded rebellion, Gallipei was one-dimensional, and Chami and Yilas really functioned as get out of jail free cards for Calla.
I am really enamored with the way in which Chloe Gong introduced romance in this story. It was not the focus until it was, as is the case for both Princess Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa. Killing King Kasa was the end goal, until it wasn't, and as a reader I spent the backend of the novel desperately searching for a way in which they both survived in the end. When Calla (literally) stabbed him in the back (or so we thought), I was so physically upset and angry that I had to step away for a moment. This betrayal made me question whether I even wanted to finish the book. However, I put on a brave face and dove back in and boy, am I glad I did.
The end itself makes me utterly impatient for the next book.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･*
"You're a wild, terrifying thing, do you know that?"
Reading this book felt like being suspended in the moment right before a rollercoaster dips over the edge of its biggest hill. It holds high suspense and action the entire time, twisting and turning with plot twists around every corner. Each plot twist was not expected until it was. This story sucked me in as the ultimate page-turner. There was a good handful of moments in which I audibly gasped.
Now, I've knocked off that last 0.75 stars for a few clunky bits that missed the mark for me. I think that there could have been a stronger editor on this. But all in all, I am in love with Chloe Gong and this book.
This was my BOTM pick for July 2023.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The book started off slow for me and really did not pick up speed until about 150 pages in. The world-building was thick and confusing and I spent a lot of time flipping back pages to clarify where I was or how this environment worked. I could not get an imaginative view of the setting and I thought that at times I was working too hard to get the picture. The farther into the book I was, the clearer it became, and overall the environment redeemed itself by the end.
Another missing piece for me was the mechanics and presence of body-jumping as a whole. I thought that this fantastical ability was intriguing and something different, but just a little understated and a little underdeveloped. It more so felt like a convenient function of the world.
I also cannot get through this review without mentioning at least once that this book really does bare a resemblance and good amount of similarities to The Hunger Games. That's all I have to say on that.
Now, the star of the show in this book is Gong's ability to seamlessly switch from POV to POV. Each time a new perspective was introduced, I could feel that jittery excitement of what was to come. I thought that this switch in POV was also clever when written alongside the function of body-jumping. It was as if us, the reader, was body-jumping through San-Er ourselves, picking up the bits and pieces. This same effect was present for me in the voyeurism of the murderous games. I admired that each perspective change did not need to me delineated by a chapter change, but rather just a switch in the way the story was told.
Calla Tuoleimi is everything you want from a princess; rebellious and unexpected with jagged corners that aren't afraid to slice through anyone in her way. The reveal, which comes late in the novel, that although she has been Princess Calla for fifteen years, she was once a little girl from Talin like the rest of its starving, deprived citizens that body-jumped into the original Princess Calla is, in fact, a book moment that I will never forget. She becomes an unreliable narrator and we are questioning what we have been told and what we don't know yet. Her drive to successfully completing her goal is halted by an unexpected alliance turned romance.
Anton Makusa is a character that I began with mixed feelings about. I thought that his storyline with Otta was a little boring and stale, and I could not really get a strong read on him. I finished the book, however, kind of obsessed with him? I think that (as is often the case with romance storylines) his presence was strengthened by the budding intimacy between him and Calla. At certain moments, I think I even found myself rooting for him more than I did Calla. The absence of his own body but the consistency of his qi was a great move on Gong's end. I fell in love with his qi, all while his physical appearance remained an unexpected mystery on each page. It kept him elusive.
There were some characters I needed more from. Many of the additional characters felt like support beams to the plot. August was kind of irrelevant except for his deception and manipulation of the games from the inside, Leida felt underdeveloped to justify her underhanded rebellion, Gallipei was one-dimensional, and Chami and Yilas really functioned as get out of jail free cards for Calla.
I am really enamored with the way in which Chloe Gong introduced romance in this story. It was not the focus until it was, as is the case for both Princess Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa. Killing King Kasa was the end goal, until it wasn't, and as a reader I spent the backend of the novel desperately searching for a way in which they both survived in the end. When Calla (literally) stabbed him in the back (or so we thought), I was so physically upset and angry that I had to step away for a moment. This betrayal made me question whether I even wanted to finish the book. However, I put on a brave face and dove back in and boy, am I glad I did.
The end itself makes me utterly impatient for the next book.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･*