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A review by beereadsya
Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong
4.0
"can't i be curious about how far your love stretches?" ... "you would have to find new skies and new earth, or else it would never stop stretching."
fancy hunger games fanfiction. that is what this entire book is. NOW, before someone is like "well isn't that a bad thing?" no! that isn't a bad thing. in fact, it's a great thing, because it made me all the more interested in this story, especially knowing how the original stories that this is based on end. i'm always one for a good retelling, and this was a good retelling. i've seen a good number of books that are based on the same premise as the hunger games, and while the social and governmental commentary that made the hunger games so great usually isn't there, a good story is a good story nonetheless.
now, i understand a lot of the bad reviews from a completely objective, critical standpoint. there were definitely things that could've been edited, changed, or even left out completely, and the story would have stayed the exact same. much of this book was flowery language in an attempt to make the readers more interested in what was happening, but i think it had the opposite effect on most people. i think the same can also be said for many chloe gong books though, as chloe has a tendency to overdescribe to ensure that the reader envisions the setting exactly as she intended for it to be seen, which isn't a bad or good thing, depending on how you personally look at it. i think it doesn't leave much to the imagination, for sure, but i also feel as though that is the charm of a chloe gong book. anyway...
on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, from an enjoyment standpoint, which is where i'm personally reviewing this from, it was a good book. the premise was interesting, the characters were complex and enjoyable, and the magic system was unique. all things i want in a good fantasy book. this is probably the fastest i ever got hooked into a chloe book, which is crazy because i got hooked into the secret shanghai series extremely quickly.
my last note is that this book... still feels very young adult, which i noticed was a gripe from many other readers. however, i'm not a regular adult reader (i am a young adult kid at heart, i'm sorry to my adult fans out there.) so i might not be the right person to judge that. anyway!
so, objectively a good book? maybe not, but in my head, it was a great book. and i do have high hopes that the second one will be much better, as chloe will be free to expand on the story rather than worldbuilding.
4 stars out of 5.
fancy hunger games fanfiction. that is what this entire book is. NOW, before someone is like "well isn't that a bad thing?" no! that isn't a bad thing. in fact, it's a great thing, because it made me all the more interested in this story, especially knowing how the original stories that this is based on end. i'm always one for a good retelling, and this was a good retelling. i've seen a good number of books that are based on the same premise as the hunger games, and while the social and governmental commentary that made the hunger games so great usually isn't there, a good story is a good story nonetheless.
now, i understand a lot of the bad reviews from a completely objective, critical standpoint. there were definitely things that could've been edited, changed, or even left out completely, and the story would have stayed the exact same. much of this book was flowery language in an attempt to make the readers more interested in what was happening, but i think it had the opposite effect on most people. i think the same can also be said for many chloe gong books though, as chloe has a tendency to overdescribe to ensure that the reader envisions the setting exactly as she intended for it to be seen, which isn't a bad or good thing, depending on how you personally look at it. i think it doesn't leave much to the imagination, for sure, but i also feel as though that is the charm of a chloe gong book. anyway...
on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, from an enjoyment standpoint, which is where i'm personally reviewing this from, it was a good book. the premise was interesting, the characters were complex and enjoyable, and the magic system was unique. all things i want in a good fantasy book. this is probably the fastest i ever got hooked into a chloe book, which is crazy because i got hooked into the secret shanghai series extremely quickly.
my last note is that this book... still feels very young adult, which i noticed was a gripe from many other readers. however, i'm not a regular adult reader (i am a young adult kid at heart, i'm sorry to my adult fans out there.) so i might not be the right person to judge that. anyway!
so, objectively a good book? maybe not, but in my head, it was a great book. and i do have high hopes that the second one will be much better, as chloe will be free to expand on the story rather than worldbuilding.
4 stars out of 5.