A review by brooksie03051
Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

dark
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

 

Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods #1) released July 18, 2023

By Chloe Gong also known for These Violent Delights and Foul Lady Fortune duologies
 
The Kingdom of Talin hosts a game each year in its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace will award a single winner riches beyond their wildest dreams.  The games are open to all citizens and hundreds join the lottery in hopes of winning as the majority of the half million citizens in the kingdom are extremely poor and struggle to get basic necessities such as food and housing for themselves and their families.  Many are homeless as the small kingdom is overpopulated with little chance to have a decent life.  Unless of course they are one of the 88 chosen and win the annual game.  If a player is confident and has the ability, they can "jump" between bodies (taking over another person's body with your conscience which is against the law), and the competitors who excel at this ability can jump across San-Er and fight to the death to win the coveted prize. It was like the Hunger Games but in a cramped dilapidated city surrounded by regular people going about their lives and not thrown in the woods with only the other players to pick off one by one. However, one player in this year's game isn't doing it for the prize money and is known for refusing to ever jump.  Will that hinder their chances of winning?

 
For the good of the kingdom... For the good of the kingdom.
 
Apparently, this is a retelling of Antony and Cleopatra which I am not familiar with because I was never interested in anything regarding that story so I went into this book blind.  This is also the first book I've read by Chloe Gong, so I am not familiar with her writing. This was OwlCrate's first Adult BOTM Special edition pick for July, and the read-along pick in "The Nest" for September (a bookish app run by OwlCrate for all book enthusiasts, not just OwlCrate subscribers).   
 
I have read a few books that would have numerous character POVs such as GOT, but I feel that this book was a bit too short to flip between several characters and some were just too brief to even mention on their own. Needless to say, I was not a fan of that. 
 
Let the POV jumping begin...
 
  • August Shenzhi: The adopted son of King Kasa who is in line for the throne and wants the title sooner rather than later. 
  • Princess Calla Tuoleimi: In hiding from the palace for the last 5 years and rumored to be dead.  She murdered her parents and if the king finds out she is still alive, she will be killed.     
  • Anton Makusa: an exiled aristocrat formally friends with Prince August who is desperate for money to keep his childhood love Otta alive as she's been in a coma at the hospital since the exile 5 years ago.  Bills are piling up and if he doesn't get money soon, the hospital will stop caring for her and she could die. His intention is to win the game so he can continue her care and is known to be the best jumper in the kingdom.  
  • Pampi Magnes: Works at the palace and is one of the people monitoring the killing game. 
 
Calla and Anton are the best contestants in the game and decide to hold a truce to form an alliance to better their chances of being the last ones standing.  August is also tipping the scales toward Calla to her surprise in order for her to help him get what he wants.  As they work together, they begin to look at one another as more than just competition and wonder if they will be able to complete the game as intended. A few characters mention something strange/concerning going on in regard to the jumping, but it doesn't seem like there was an answer to it.  Although I did lose focus a lot while reading this and may have missed it. If not, I assume it will be explained in the sequel which I am undecided if I will be reading because this was a rough read for me.  I had a hard time getting into the storyline and although in the read-along I'm participating in, we only read a few chapters per day and give thoughts on how it's going, I struggled with motivation to pick up the book and read the few assigned chapters each day.  Due to my reluctance, I fell a few days behind because I just didn't want to read it and I considered a DNF but I sucked it up since it was a pick for the read-along and hoped it would get more interesting.
 
It picked up more towards the end and there was a cliffhanger but I just didn't get that feeling you typically have with a big cliffhanger wishing you could read the next book right away. There were a few characters thrown in there briefly, which one I completely forgot about until I went back to look at something, and seems they may be a big key to the strange things going on so to me that shouldn't have been a forgettable character.  I decided to listen to the audiobook to play catch up and get through and finish it a day early so I could move on to something else I may enjoy more. The idea of how the game is played and the abilities people have is interesting.  The backstory (although brief) of Calla was as well.  It was just missing something for me and I was left feeling a bit, meh.  It had potential and I hope that the sequel is better with a bit more backstory to the characters and how that world works to help fill in the voids and make up for what this one was missing.  I gave this a 3 star rating, but unfortunately due to my reluctance to read the second book, it actually dropped down to about 2.5- 2.75 which you cannot rate on this platform. Typically if I rate a book at a 3 or above it means I feel it is worth reading any sequel it may have. Not sure it will happen.
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