Scan barcode
catsandbookspluspup's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
That cliffhanger!! š¤Æš±
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Genocide, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content
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: 5āļø/5
I love Chloe Gongās writing. I think she has immaculate control over her language. I love her descriptions, even when theyāre 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: 4.75āļø/5
Now again, Iām a big Chloe Gong fan, so maybe thereās 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 wouldāve loved a touch more from our side characters ā as well as to not have our background characters feel so background ā but these are small gripes.
Plot: 4.5āļø/5
Alright, Antony and Cleopatra retelling. How does Chloe Gong just reimagine Shakespearean tales in the most interesting way possible? I donāt know, but I do love. The longing, the love, the competition, the forced trust, the game: all of it is so brilliantly written, you canāt 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 didnāt need to happen in the way that it happened, strictly for the sense that I knew exactly what had happened to Anton, and I donāt know why that wasnāt a plan Calla and him created, instead of it being a betrayal. I understand that it echoes the betrayal Antony goes through at Cleopatraās hands, but it felt forced the way it happened ā 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: 5āļø/5
Hi, Chloe. Um, I need the next one pretty, pretty please.
Final Rating: 4.75āļø/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
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 didnāt enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time Iāve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now Iāll admit Iām not as familiar with Shakespeareās 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 wasnāt 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 couldnāt 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 didnāt 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. Donāt get me wrong Gongās writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didnāt 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 didnāt immediately work for me was because Antonās motive for winning the games was to save āhis exā but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didnāt 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 elseās 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 Shakespeareās 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 ā 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 didnāt enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time Iāve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now Iāll admit Iām not as familiar with Shakespeareās 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 wasnāt 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 couldnāt 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 didnāt 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. Donāt get me wrong Gongās writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didnāt 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 didnāt immediately work for me was because Antonās motive for winning the games was to save āhis exā but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didnāt 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 elseās 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 Shakespeareās 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 ā 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
taryn_g's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Death of parent, Genocide, and Colonisation
Minor: Medical content, Confinement, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
adancewithbooks's review
dark
slow-paced
1.25
Thank you to Hodderscape and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
After having read three books by Chloe Gong that I for the most part enjoyed, I was actually looking forward to her foray into (new) adult fantasy. Unfortunately this book did not work for me at all.
One of the big plot points of this book is that Call is using the yearly game to get close enough to the king to kill him. Five years ago she killed her parents, the rules of the co-kingdom and would have killed the current king if she had not been stopped. Now she has been in hiding for 5 years in their walled city.
For five years she does absolutely nothing. She just hides. No plotting, no planning and al of a sudden this years game is going to be it. There is no explanation, nothing on what she has been doing these 5 years that explain why she is now moving or why she couldn't move. And lets not forget, how can you hide for 5 years in a walled city, near the caretakers she had while in the palace. She has an own appartment and a kitty. She doesn't work but has money. And lets not forget that she should be standing out as she doesn't body jump like the rest of them.
That is the big power in this book. Body jumping. There is a yellow flash when you jump so everybody knows. People have an own identification code to still be able to identify themselves. But there doesn't seem to be anyone stopping from jumping into a random person every 5 minutes. No consent needed. And if they are just about to get killed in that body, lets just jump to the next one. Tough luck for that body's owner. Even worse luck for those that don't have the jumping gene. They are meaningless and at any point they can be used and have no idea what has been done with their body. This is not at all adressed in the book and it feels very icky.
The game doesn't make sense. Why kill when the chip just has to get pulled or removed from a person? Make it make sense? Why would you even enter this killfest voluntarily because they all have to sign up, only the last 89 get chosen from all those signed up. And great there is something nice at the end, awesome. Money for those poor can be a great incentive. I get that. But the book doesn't actually talk about that. About previous winners and what it got them. And it is in the middle of the city. Nobody cares about collateral damage. What? Well there are barely any rules so whatever. If that joined school teacher just pulls a kid in front of them you just kill them both.
Adding on to that, I didn't really care about any of the characters and I also have isues with a lot of the plot twists that I don't want to get into because of spoilers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide
Murder of a child | Consent
More...