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ewitsemma'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: Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Suicide
vagorsol's review
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, and Child death
kittykatz96's review against another edition
To start off with I feel like this is a book best read in one sitting and then promptly forgetting about or just taking the book at face value and moving on, I did not read this book in one sitting, I found myself unable to just take it at face value, and I likely will not forget most of the baffling choices that where made. I would like to state that for my own sanity I'm not going to rate it because honestly this is a book I could see myself upon reflection going back and constantly changing the rating due to the fact that most of my issues with it don't come from the book as far as a craft stand point go, the writing was proficient, the book was well paced, most character motivations made sense and generally its not the worst written book in the world but that isn't to say that this book was something I left feeling particularly favorable about.
The magic system
A huge portion of my issues derive from the magic system. In the world of Immortal Longings the main magic allows individuals with a particular gene to hope from body to body at will as long is eye contact is made, with a few exceptions like a whole family who's bodies cant be taken over, and body that have already been taken over. Now while bodies in this world can be completely empty most of the people who are jumping are jumping to another occupied body, as in some could be doing their errands and some person with more magic than they can just invade their body and essentially subdue their consciousness. While it seems cool and interesting at first the slightest look beyond the shiny exterior shows a magic system that's implications as a whole are entirely horrific. In this book we see people Take over other peoples bodies to force them to commit suicide, take over bodies use them to the point of sheer exhaustion just to eave them passed out on the ground when they move on to their next victim, have sex, and just decide to keep an 8 year old Child's body for 15 years essentially either erasing or keeping a child in a mind prison for more than half their life . While this whole process is supposed to be illegal the book states that people openly violate and do not care about these laws, along with jumping being legal during the games but I will discuss that later. the book tries to wave away the fact that body hoping is wrong by stating that for most a body is nothing more than an accessory but this doesn't address the horror of possibly having you consciousness trapped or erased by another or the fact that some people are show to care about their birth bodies. I'm not opposed to a book having horrific magic if it looked at and handled critically but here it just isn't the implications of the magic are hand waved away or completely ignored, which leaves the reader with a feeling that the author did not engage critically with this at any point while devising this magic system.
The Games
The main back drop and plot device of the story are a death game, Involving dozens of people where everyone is granted a wristband and set lose upon the city. You will likely see plenty of people compare this book to the hunger games due to these similarities like a mad dash at the beginning to collect weapons, and everything is being broadcast live for the entertainment of the masses. One may ask why would anyone sign up for this, what do people even get from this? The prize is a massive amount of money and in the impoverished city of San-er a lot of people are willing to throw themselves in for a massive amount of money, with medical care and every cost of living being so expensive in a small cramped city. Unlike the hunger games, and most every death game media I've seen, there is no area the city is the area. With the city serving as the area for this battle royale collateral damage is a common side effect of the games, when you add in the magic system and the fact that during the games body jumping, which is supposed to be illegal, is permitted meaning that most contestants are hoping from body to body implying that most causalities involve the body, and probably the consciousness of someone who has been thrown into the middle of this game against their will. The most shocking part of this is the fact that it seems that everyone is perfectly fine with this happening for weeks if not months every year, because if someone is injured their medical bills are paid. The death games plot device is one of the most effective ways to establish a dystopian setting in plenty of works and it doesn't even seem to have a real effect on this city, filled with thousands of people wholes lives are being risked daily when they are just trying to survive and the book expects me to believe the only attempted uprising came at the hands of an angry teenage princess?
Story choices
Along with these major issues that just proved to me the author didn't take the time to look at their own work and critically engage with what they where writing, or even take a scenario for an example like two individuals hooking up in strangers bodies and consider the consequences of that act on those people, there where story choices that where just nonsensical. Lets start with the fact the costs of living in the city are so high that people are willing to die just for a chance at money to survive the main character inexplicably can afford an apartment of her own by mooching off of two of her former servants, how is this even possible? Then there is the major reveal that Calla is actually a poor orphan who stole the "real" calla's body when they where 8 years old which I guess was an attempt to make the family murderer more morally gray or to explain why she's opposed to jumping I don't know why it was there. The romance was meh and best summarized by this line "when it involves Anton Makusa, what you have is not love."
A Fundamental lack of understanding.
The most frustrating thing for me about this entire book is the fact that the concept is interesting, the writing is proficient, and the characters could be truly interesting, but due to the authors lack of critical engagement with her own work it becomes a unintentional nightmare world. While reading this book so many things reminded me of media that takes these ideas and concepts and actually critically examines the consequences of these things. This who book screamed one thing to me, The author has a fundamental lack of understanding that these actions and these elements would result in a world of consequences.
The magic system
A huge portion of my issues derive from the magic system. In the world of Immortal Longings the main magic allows individuals with a particular gene to hope from body to body at will as long is eye contact is made, with a few exceptions like a whole family who's bodies cant be taken over, and body that have already been taken over. Now while bodies in this world can be completely empty most of the people who are jumping are jumping to another occupied body, as in some could be doing their errands and some person with more magic than they can just invade their body and essentially subdue their consciousness. While it seems cool and interesting at first the slightest look beyond the shiny exterior shows a magic system that's implications as a whole are entirely horrific. In this book we see people Take over other peoples bodies to force them to commit suicide, take over bodies use them to the point of sheer exhaustion just to eave them passed out on the ground when they move on to their next victim, have sex, and
The Games
The main back drop and plot device of the story are a death game, Involving dozens of people where everyone is granted a wristband and set lose upon the city. You will likely see plenty of people compare this book to the hunger games due to these similarities like a mad dash at the beginning to collect weapons, and everything is being broadcast live for the entertainment of the masses. One may ask why would anyone sign up for this, what do people even get from this? The prize is a massive amount of money and in the impoverished city of San-er a lot of people are willing to throw themselves in for a massive amount of money, with medical care and every cost of living being so expensive in a small cramped city. Unlike the hunger games, and most every death game media I've seen, there is no area the city is the area. With the city serving as the area for this battle royale collateral damage is a common side effect of the games, when you add in the magic system and the fact that during the games body jumping, which is supposed to be illegal, is permitted meaning that most contestants are hoping from body to body implying that most causalities involve the body, and probably the consciousness of someone who has been thrown into the middle of this game against their will. The most shocking part of this is the fact that it seems that everyone is perfectly fine with this happening for weeks if not months every year, because if someone is injured their medical bills are paid. The death games plot device is one of the most effective ways to establish a dystopian setting in plenty of works and it doesn't even seem to have a real effect on this city, filled with thousands of people wholes lives are being risked daily when they are just trying to survive and the book expects me to believe the only attempted uprising came at the hands of an angry teenage princess?
Story choices
Along with these major issues that just proved to me the author didn't take the time to look at their own work and critically engage with what they where writing, or even take a scenario for an example like two individuals hooking up in strangers bodies and consider the consequences of that act on those people, there where story choices that where just nonsensical. Lets start with the fact the costs of living in the city are so high that people are willing to die just for a chance at money to survive the main character inexplicably can afford an apartment of her own by mooching off of two of her former servants, how is this even possible? Then there is the major reveal that
A Fundamental lack of understanding.
The most frustrating thing for me about this entire book is the fact that the concept is interesting, the writing is proficient, and the characters could be truly interesting, but due to the authors lack of critical engagement with her own work it becomes a unintentional nightmare world. While reading this book so many things reminded me of media that takes these ideas and concepts and actually critically examines the consequences of these things. This who book screamed one thing to me, The author has a fundamental lack of understanding that these actions and these elements would result in a world of consequences.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Classism, Body horror, Self harm, Murder, and Sexual content
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