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dreadspawn's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Murder, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
abby_can_read's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.0
š
This was quite the book. I don't really know how to explain my feelings. I think it was interesting. I liked the magic system. The worldbuilding and the lore were interest. I struggled to like the main characters -- Calla, Anton, and August -- and I'm wasn't the best fan of the romance between Calla and Anton.
This was quite the book. I don't really know how to explain my feelings. I think it was interesting. I liked the magic system. The worldbuilding and the lore were interest. I struggled to like the main characters -- Calla, Anton, and August -- and I'm wasn't the best fan of the romance between Calla and Anton.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Child death, Blood, Gore, and Death of parent
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking
teddy_books's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
roseleebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
This book is my first read by Chloe Gong and I am impressed. The pace starts out slower, but gradually increases along with the tension throughout. The last 30% of the book was a whirlwind in a good way.
It's a story of love, obsession, and revenge. It will make you question whether anyone can have power and be uncorrupted.
There are almost no likeable characters in this book, but they do feel very real. The world that Gong has written them in shapes who they are very logically. And despite them not being likeable, Calla and Anton and even August are compelling to read about.
The worldbuilding is exceptional and I could clearly picture the atmosphere and streets of the city the characters are in. It was a character on its own which I appreciated.
There is a lot that happens in this bookincluding several reveals toward the end. The setup for the next story is absolutely exceptional and I wish I could pick it up right away!
It's a story of love, obsession, and revenge. It will make you question whether anyone can have power and be uncorrupted.
There are almost no likeable characters in this book, but they do feel very real. The world that Gong has written them in shapes who they are very logically. And despite them not being likeable, Calla and Anton and even August are compelling to read about.
The worldbuilding is exceptional and I could clearly picture the atmosphere and streets of the city the characters are in. It was a character on its own which I appreciated.
There is a lot that happens in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Blood, and Grief
victoriousbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent and Death
Minor: War
booksthatburn's review
mysterious
slow-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
IMMORTAL LONGINGS builds a claustrophobic sense of place, with densely packed buildings and strangers everywhere. The mechanics of jumping are used excellently, and explained enough to allow for a pretty cool late-book reveal. It plays with the tension between this culture of literally disposable bodies and Calla's refusal to jump. Rather than one's physical form, Qi (a person's essence) is the durable part of who they are, and it's possible to jump one's Qi into another body, taking it over either temporarily or permanently. Some people's birth bodies are lost, and they continually jump between bodies, others jump temporarily and then return to their own body. Many citizens can't jump at all, and run the risk of having their bodies used by jumpers at random. I like the way the jumping is explained and used, and if I keep reading the series it will be to see how jumping is used once the games are over.
One of the things with showing relationship chemistry in a narrative on the basis of past events between characters is that it can leave some readers feeling like the characters aren't grounded enough or their relationships don't fully make sense. I, in particular, know that I have trouble with this as a reader. I don't have an imagination filling in the gaps and wondering what tension could have led to this moment. I read how it plays out in the book right now and I either have enough detail or it just falls flat for me. This didn't work as well for me as the similarly antagonistic/romantic relationship between Juliette and Roma in THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS because once IMMORTAL LONGINGS BEGINS, Anton and Calla don't really do much to harm each other's aims until very late in the book. They're set up so that at some point they will no longer both be able to get what they want, but since that point is when dozens of other people have been eliminated it can be far away for a long time. When combined with the reveal at the very end, it means I finished the book a bit confused and not sure whether it worked well for me personally. It leans even more into this narrative style which the Secret Shanghai books also have, but the way it's refined here took it out of my comfort zone.
I've seen a lot of comparisons between Immortal Longings and The Hunger Games. This is both slightly true and mostly unhelpful as a generalization, as what they have in common are either superficial genre features or not unique to The Hunger Games. I understand why the comparison occurs to people so I'd like to take it seriously, that will be covered at length in an upcoming essay.
If you like books where things are left more mysterious and many people have hidden plans, you'll probably like this. It wasn't quite my style, I prefer the Secret Shanghai books.
One of the things with showing relationship chemistry in a narrative on the basis of past events between characters is that it can leave some readers feeling like the characters aren't grounded enough or their relationships don't fully make sense. I, in particular, know that I have trouble with this as a reader. I don't have an imagination filling in the gaps and wondering what tension could have led to this moment. I read how it plays out in the book right now and I either have enough detail or it just falls flat for me. This didn't work as well for me as the similarly antagonistic/romantic relationship between Juliette and Roma in THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS because once IMMORTAL LONGINGS BEGINS, Anton and Calla don't really do much to harm each other's aims until very late in the book. They're set up so that at some point they will no longer both be able to get what they want, but since that point is when dozens of other people have been eliminated it can be far away for a long time. When combined with the reveal at the very end, it means I finished the book a bit confused and not sure whether it worked well for me personally. It leans even more into this narrative style which the Secret Shanghai books also have, but the way it's refined here took it out of my comfort zone.
I've seen a lot of comparisons between Immortal Longings and The Hunger Games. This is both slightly true and mostly unhelpful as a generalization, as what they have in common are either superficial genre features or not unique to The Hunger Games. I understand why the comparison occurs to people so I'd like to take it seriously, that will be covered at length in an upcoming essay.
If you like books where things are left more mysterious and many people have hidden plans, you'll probably like this. It wasn't quite my style, I prefer the Secret Shanghai books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Terminal illness, and Sexual content
camiclarkbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
āImmortal Longingsā is very much āHunger Gamesā meets āThese Violent Delights,ā which makes sense since Chloe Gong wrote one of those beloved YA series. Which one? Iāll never tell.
This is Gongās first foray into the adult novel market and in some ways it shows. The pacing felt slower than in her previous books and the āspiceā could have been better integrated, in my opinion.
However, the main characters stayed true to Gongās signature āKnife Wifeā and āMale Wifeā pairing. Calla and Anton have tremendous potential and Iām thrilled to see what happens in the sequel!
In all, it was a little heavy on the world building and had long stretches between plot actionāalthough there was plenty of battle actionābut has definitely set the stage for a great book two!
This is Gongās first foray into the adult novel market and in some ways it shows. The pacing felt slower than in her previous books and the āspiceā could have been better integrated, in my opinion.
However, the main characters stayed true to Gongās signature āKnife Wifeā and āMale Wifeā pairing. Calla and Anton have tremendous potential and Iām thrilled to see what happens in the sequel!
In all, it was a little heavy on the world building and had long stretches between plot actionāalthough there was plenty of battle actionābut has definitely set the stage for a great book two!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Classism, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
wet_towlette's review
- 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
2.75
Chloe gong really canāt help herself and just has to write the same book over and over again š thereās always a main plot of political unrest and a subplot of culty sciencey murder mystery type shit. And a very tropey romance (but Iām not really complaining about that). It was okay but nothing about it stood out in the way that her some her ya books do
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Classism, and Suicidal thoughts
sydapel's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
3.5
I'm a little surprised with how much I liked this, to be honest. I feel that Chloe Gong is a really young writer, and a lot of the choices she made in the These Violent Delights series reflected that, especially when it came to connecting the characters with their environment. In creating more of her own world of San-Er, it's much easier to see it come alive in all it's capitalist hellscape. Even though most of the book is a set up for a series, there are some really impactful characters and plot points here, especially with the potential to explore themes of greed, revenge and identity. Overall, I wish her writing was more cohesive (found myself skipping past large chunks of descriptions and inner monologue in order to get to the action), but I'm looking forward to the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Sexual content
yilliun's review
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
4.0
The COPIOUS plot twists at the end gave me whiplash. Everything felt wholly original and completely unlike anything else Iāve read this year. Iām 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.
---
EDIT: dropping a star for some ethics considerations...
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.
---
EDIT: dropping a star for some ethics considerations...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual content