A review by sophiareads_
Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

Content Warnings: death, violence, medical experimentation, imperialism, racism 
 
Four years after the end of Our Violent Delights, the two gangs who previously ruled Shanghai have dissolved and been replaced by new factions: Nationalists and Communists. But there is a third faction sweeping into Shanghai - Japanese imperialists - who are suspected to be responsible for a new series of suspicious murders in the city. Rosalind Lang, having escaped a brush with dead which left her near immortal, is pulled from her usual role as the assassin code named Fortune, and told to go undercover as a spy with another agent, Orion Hong, who will pose as her husband. 
 
I had SO much fun reading this book - it's all spy thriller/mystery stuff with a healthy dose of magical elements and (of course) some romance. This was a story I found really easy to fall into. It's so full of intrigue and once I hit around page 200 I was genuinely struggling to put it down. My main condition for thriller/mystery stories is that the aha! moments be suitably satisfying, and I am giving Chloe Gong a definite pass on that count. Some of the twists and turns literally had me gasping out loud (or aggressively sitting the book down and staring at all wall for a sec). The forced proximity/fake relationship trope is just *chef's kiss* and it works so well with the cool spy stuff (I was kinda getting Mr and Mrs Smith vibes at some points). Rosalind and Orion's dynamic was just a lot of fun to read. Characters are definitely another real plus with this novel - as usual I am fawning over the morally grey women (Rosalind Lang I would die for you) and I was happy to find myself just as invested in the new characters of this book as I was in the returning characters from the These Violent Delights duology. 
 
Roll on the sequel!! I am already waiting impatiently! 
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