mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Writing: 5⭐️/5
I love Chloe Gong’s writing. I think she has immaculate control over her language. I love her descriptions, even when they’re dark or gory. In this novel, her writing really brought the world to life. I felt like I could see the city, see the participants running about, could smell the food and the stink in the alley. I enjoyed reading this novel thoroughly.
Characters: 4.75⭐️/5
Now again, I’m a big Chloe Gong fan, so maybe there’s a bit of bias here, but Gong writes characters incredibly well. Specifically, she writes morally grey characters with pure ease, crafting their motives, their situations, and their desires into the story with ease. I would’ve loved a touch more from our side characters – as well as to not have our background characters feel so background – but these are small gripes.
Plot: 4.5⭐️/5
Alright, Antony and Cleopatra retelling. How does Chloe Gong just reimagine Shakespearean tales in the most interesting way possible? I don’t know, but I do love. The longing, the love, the competition, the forced trust, the game: all of it is so brilliantly written, you can’t help but love it. My only gripe is with the ending, with her twist which leaves us wondering how are two main characters will move forward in love (because they will, right?). I felt like it didn’t need to happen in the way that it happened, strictly for the sense that I knew exactly what had happened to Anton, and I don’t know why that wasn’t a plan Calla and him created, instead of it being a betrayal. I understand that it echoes the betrayal Antony goes through at Cleopatra’s hands, but it felt forced the way it happened – and a little obvious. All in all though, this is a small complaint for a brilliant plot.
Who Should Read This Book?
- Fans of Chloe Gong
- Fans of Shakespeare and fantasy novels
- Fans of enemies to lovers
- Fans of Hunger Games, but want it magic
Content Warnings?
- Death, murder, blood, injury, injury detail, gore, child death, sexual content, death of parent, cursing, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship
Post-Reading Rating: 5⭐️/5
Hi, Chloe. Um, I need the next one pretty, pretty please.
Final Rating: 4.75⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Cursing, Grief, Gaslighting, Genocide, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
vagorsol's review against another edition
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, and Child death
honuzbubbles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, Child death, Colonisation, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Terminal illness and Suicidal thoughts
yilliun's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The COPIOUS plot twists at the end gave me whiplash. Everything felt wholly original and completely unlike anything else I’ve read this year. I’m not interested in Fae type fantasy worlds right now so this was a perfect solution.
There are certainly plot holes that I hope Gong will address in later books, but for me nothing really detracted from the story enough. The beginning 100 pages were certainly a drag and difficult to understand, however, I see that as a necessary step when getting into a new fantasy series. I think once the games begin in earnest the plot really picks up.
There are certainly plot holes that I hope Gong will address in later books, but for me nothing really detracted from the story enough. The beginning 100 pages were certainly a drag and difficult to understand, however, I see that as a necessary step when getting into a new fantasy series. I think once the games begin in earnest the plot really picks up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual content
azrah786's review against another edition
3.5
[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, gore, injury, murder, death, child death, death of parent, genocide, war, colonisation, classism, kidnapping, suicidal ideation, medical content, terminal illness, grief, sexual content
--
Another Anthony and Cleopatra reimaging, another let down.. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time I’ve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra as I am with Romeo and Juliet so maybe that is what put me at a bit of a disadvantage. However, I do think that Chloe Gong may have been a bit too ambitious with how much was actually thrown into this first book more than anything else if we set aside the fact that I wasn’t able to appreciate all the nuances to the original play it was inspired by.
Down to the bare bones it is a story surrounding a handful of individuals wanting to overthrow a king, each for their own reasons and there is a tournament to the death involved in which two of the main protagonists are participants. I think where things got a bit flimsy surrounded this tournament as though all the action and tension was written quite well the games themselves sort of felt a little disconnected from the rest of the story for me.
The setting of San-Er gave glimpses of Ancient Rome but I believe it is inspired by the Kowloon Walled City (Hong Kong). However, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Shanghai of These Violent Delights and how the city there shone as its own character.
I felt in Immortal Longings the story didn’t really capture the feel of the setting maybe until halfway through and again I feel like this came down to how Gong was also trying to bring this dystopian Hunger Games vibe in for the games on top of everything else. Don’t get me wrong Gong’s writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didn’t link up to the narrative straight away so it all felt like a separate thing.
What I was most looking forward to in the book was the reluctant alliance dynamic. It is one trope that I really enjoy reading about and the one that formed between Calla and Anton was great, full of the right amount of banter and camaraderie (if it can be called that) that comes about when two opposing forces have to team up. Where their relationship fell short I believe is with the romance side of things or at least the fact that it came around too quickly.
In fact this can be said to be the case for a couple of things in the book for instance coming back to how much was going on, for an adult fantasy it was too short. Certain scenes and developments could have been given more room to breathe in the narrative with a couple more pages. I think why the romance didn’t immediately work for me was because Anton’s motive for winning the games was to save “his ex” but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didn’t really get enough time showing them working together to justify it.
More than the games I was intrigued by the wider politics that were happening in the background and the mystery that it brought about. But the best part of the book was without a doubt the power/magic system. This whole idea of people having the means to jump out of their body and take over someone else’s was so compelling and made for some great twists in the book. I caught onto a few of them but they were honestly written in so well I was still impressed. Also the whole idea of autonomy and morality and identity that comes in was really interesting especially when you have characters constantly jumping around and others who refuse to do so.
So despite not loving this one as much as I had hoped, it has still left some fascinating questions behind which have me super keen to get my hands on book two as well as that killer ending! It was one twist I saw coming but am super excited to see develop.
I plan on trying to get my hands on Shakespeare’s work if I can before book 2 releases and then give this one a reread so I can catch all the call backs that I am sure are there because that was one big highlight I had with These Violent Delights!
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, gore, injury, murder, death, child death, death of parent, genocide, war, colonisation, classism, kidnapping, suicidal ideation, medical content, terminal illness, grief, sexual content
--
Another Anthony and Cleopatra reimaging, another let down.. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time I’ve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra as I am with Romeo and Juliet so maybe that is what put me at a bit of a disadvantage. However, I do think that Chloe Gong may have been a bit too ambitious with how much was actually thrown into this first book more than anything else if we set aside the fact that I wasn’t able to appreciate all the nuances to the original play it was inspired by.
Down to the bare bones it is a story surrounding a handful of individuals wanting to overthrow a king, each for their own reasons and there is a tournament to the death involved in which two of the main protagonists are participants. I think where things got a bit flimsy surrounded this tournament as though all the action and tension was written quite well the games themselves sort of felt a little disconnected from the rest of the story for me.
The setting of San-Er gave glimpses of Ancient Rome but I believe it is inspired by the Kowloon Walled City (Hong Kong). However, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Shanghai of These Violent Delights and how the city there shone as its own character.
I felt in Immortal Longings the story didn’t really capture the feel of the setting maybe until halfway through and again I feel like this came down to how Gong was also trying to bring this dystopian Hunger Games vibe in for the games on top of everything else. Don’t get me wrong Gong’s writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didn’t link up to the narrative straight away so it all felt like a separate thing.
What I was most looking forward to in the book was the reluctant alliance dynamic. It is one trope that I really enjoy reading about and the one that formed between Calla and Anton was great, full of the right amount of banter and camaraderie (if it can be called that) that comes about when two opposing forces have to team up. Where their relationship fell short I believe is with the romance side of things or at least the fact that it came around too quickly.
In fact this can be said to be the case for a couple of things in the book for instance coming back to how much was going on, for an adult fantasy it was too short. Certain scenes and developments could have been given more room to breathe in the narrative with a couple more pages. I think why the romance didn’t immediately work for me was because Anton’s motive for winning the games was to save “his ex” but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didn’t really get enough time showing them working together to justify it.
More than the games I was intrigued by the wider politics that were happening in the background and the mystery that it brought about. But the best part of the book was without a doubt the power/magic system. This whole idea of people having the means to jump out of their body and take over someone else’s was so compelling and made for some great twists in the book. I caught onto a few of them but they were honestly written in so well I was still impressed. Also the whole idea of autonomy and morality and identity that comes in was really interesting especially when you have characters constantly jumping around and others who refuse to do so.
So despite not loving this one as much as I had hoped, it has still left some fascinating questions behind which have me super keen to get my hands on book two as well as that killer ending! It was one twist I saw coming but am super excited to see develop.
I plan on trying to get my hands on Shakespeare’s work if I can before book 2 releases and then give this one a reread so I can catch all the call backs that I am sure are there because that was one big highlight I had with These Violent Delights!
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Classism, Sexual content, Grief, Blood, Violence, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Genocide, War, and Terminal illness
carmineslamp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
4.5
AHHHHHH. AHHHHH?? I was a little hesitant about picking this up because I wasn't really sold on the writing style of These Violent Delights, but GIRL. She knocked it out of the park with this one. Maybe she IS right to keep basing her books on Shakespeare plays. I'M LITERALLY GOING TO READ ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK!! I hate how she left me on a cliffhanger though,,, she hates me :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Child death
Minor: Kidnapping
Spoiler
Child death for Eno, who I'm PRETTY SURE is hovering at about fifteen years old, AND he often wears the body of a child MUCH younger, sowinglesswarrior's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It’s like the hunger games but not and while aspects of it feel very magical and otherworldly, other parts are pretty modern.
All in all, I really liked and the end? Well. That was pretty awesome
All in all, I really liked and the end? Well. That was pretty awesome
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Blood
ltc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child death and Sexual content
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I received this as part of my FairyLoot subscription.
"Immortal Longings" is the first book in a new fantasy series from Chloe Gong. Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been hiding in plain sight for five years. Her entire family was murdered, and she was the one to do it. Now she has one last family member to bring down, and she has one shot to be able to do so. Every year, the kingdom of Talin hosts a competition in which people who can jump bodies are invited to come and compete to the death to win unimaginable riches. The winner also gets to meet the elusive king, Calla's uncle. Through unexpected alliances, Calla finds herself fighting to win this game, but she learns quickly that everyone has their own motivations, and they all might not align.
I had heard about this book, and was interested because it was another Shakespeare retelling, but I honestly was not going to pick it up because I did not enjoy Chloe Gong's previous duet, "These Violent Delights". However, since I did receive a copy of it, I figured I would give it a shot. Overall, I did enjoy this book more than "These Violent Delights", but I am still not a huge fan of Chloe Gong's writing style.
This novel felt very futuristic with its technologies and characters fighting in this game, which is typically not a setting I really enjoy; however, I think it was executed well. The characters seemed fleshed out, but I just did not connect with them. There is something about them that feels standoffish, and it makes it difficult for me to read and become invested in their story. I think it might be because of the jumping bodies plot point. Since characters can jump, their physical descriptions are always changing, and it felt kind of messy to me. I really had to pay attention to whose perspective I was reading from.
I likely will not continue with this series, but I will happily recommend this to people who ae interested in this type of fantasy.
"Immortal Longings" is the first book in a new fantasy series from Chloe Gong. Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been hiding in plain sight for five years. Her entire family was murdered, and she was the one to do it. Now she has one last family member to bring down, and she has one shot to be able to do so. Every year, the kingdom of Talin hosts a competition in which people who can jump bodies are invited to come and compete to the death to win unimaginable riches. The winner also gets to meet the elusive king, Calla's uncle. Through unexpected alliances, Calla finds herself fighting to win this game, but she learns quickly that everyone has their own motivations, and they all might not align.
I had heard about this book, and was interested because it was another Shakespeare retelling, but I honestly was not going to pick it up because I did not enjoy Chloe Gong's previous duet, "These Violent Delights". However, since I did receive a copy of it, I figured I would give it a shot. Overall, I did enjoy this book more than "These Violent Delights", but I am still not a huge fan of Chloe Gong's writing style.
This novel felt very futuristic with its technologies and characters fighting in this game, which is typically not a setting I really enjoy; however, I think it was executed well. The characters seemed fleshed out, but I just did not connect with them. There is something about them that feels standoffish, and it makes it difficult for me to read and become invested in their story. I think it might be because of the jumping bodies plot point. Since characters can jump, their physical descriptions are always changing, and it felt kind of messy to me. I really had to pay attention to whose perspective I was reading from.
I likely will not continue with this series, but I will happily recommend this to people who ae interested in this type of fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Death
Moderate: Child death
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