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caitlin033's review
dark
emotional
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping and Suicidal thoughts
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 didn’t enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time I’ve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with Shakespeare’s 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 wasn’t 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 couldn’t 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 didn’t 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. Don’t get me wrong Gong’s writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didn’t 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 didn’t immediately work for me was because Anton’s motive for winning the games was to save “his ex” but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didn’t 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 else’s 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 Shakespeare’s 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 – 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 didn’t enjoy aspects of this book but this now happens to be the second time I’ve been disappointed at the outcome of a retelling around these figures despite the fact that the dynamic they evoke interest me SO MUCH.
Now I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with Shakespeare’s 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 wasn’t 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 couldn’t 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 didn’t 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. Don’t get me wrong Gong’s writing and descriptions of the atmosphere were great I just feel like they didn’t 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 didn’t immediately work for me was because Anton’s motive for winning the games was to save “his ex” but then romance rapidly ensued with Calla and we didn’t 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 else’s 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 Shakespeare’s 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 – 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
carmineslamp's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
4.5
AHHHHHH. AHHHHH?? I was a little hesitant about picking this up because I wasn't really sold on the writing style of These Violent Delights, but GIRL. She knocked it out of the park with this one. Maybe she IS right to keep basing her books on Shakespeare plays. I'M LITERALLY GOING TO READ ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK!! I hate how she left me on a cliffhanger though,,, she hates me :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Child death
Minor: Kidnapping
brooksie03051's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Kidnapping
kdailyreads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Violence, Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Terminal illness, Cursing, Trafficking, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
alexalala's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery / Saga Press for this Advanced Copy. All opinions are my own.
Okay... this book probably wasn't for me, but I know a lot of people will go FERAL for it.
Calla is a princess in hiding after murdering the royal family. Anton, a former aristocrat raised in the palace, is jumping from body to body trying to pay his bills. August is the heir apparent looking to speed up his crowning. All three will get involved in the annual games, a fight to the death televised for the masses in this dystopian sci-fi urban universe.
The good: I loved how morally grey the characters were and how they frequently interacted throughout the book. The games had serious Hunger Games vibes that many people will enjoy. Eno was a delight and my favorite. The ending? Big twist, really nice, and made me want to read the next book (despite not really loving this one). The ending alone added an a few points for me when the first part of the book was hovering around a 2 for me.
The bad:
I had four serious issues with this book:
1. Romance. It felt super shoehorned in to me, I didn't catch any natural build-up of feelings or tension and suddenly they'd be all over each other and never think about it again until the end of the book. We're in love! Without any real emotional intimacy or discussion, which felt weird to me.
2. Pacing. This book felt sooooo slow. So many things were happening yet it really dragged. I kept going on my phone and not getting really invested in the story until the last 15% of the book.
3. Lack of worldbuilding. Hear me out, because we do get a lot of world-building, but I also feel like there was very little discussion about this body jumping and its impacts. For something that seems SO violating and chaotic, body jumping isn't really addressed in terms of how a. people deal with their bodies being hijacked regularly, b. how society still functions.
4. Forced plot twists/unexplained motives. Why was Pampi doing all that? Why did Leida really do what she did and where did it come from? Idk, I didn't get it and wanted more.
Overall, I think people will really like this book especially if they like Chloe Gong's style.
You will like this if you like: dystopia, sci-fi, royalty/palace politics, fight-to-the-death tournaments, enemies to lovers (to?), special abilities, Shakespeare retellings, and the Hunger Games.
Okay... this book probably wasn't for me, but I know a lot of people will go FERAL for it.
Calla is a princess in hiding after murdering the royal family. Anton, a former aristocrat raised in the palace, is jumping from body to body trying to pay his bills. August is the heir apparent looking to speed up his crowning. All three will get involved in the annual games, a fight to the death televised for the masses in this dystopian sci-fi urban universe.
The good: I loved how morally grey the characters were and how they frequently interacted throughout the book. The games had serious Hunger Games vibes that many people will enjoy. Eno was a delight and my favorite. The ending? Big twist, really nice, and made me want to read the next book (despite not really loving this one). The ending alone added an a few points for me when the first part of the book was hovering around a 2 for me.
The bad:
I had four serious issues with this book:
1. Romance. It felt super shoehorned in to me, I didn't catch any natural build-up of feelings or tension and suddenly they'd be all over each other and never think about it again until the end of the book. We're in love! Without any real emotional intimacy or discussion, which felt weird to me.
2. Pacing. This book felt sooooo slow. So many things were happening yet it really dragged. I kept going on my phone and not getting really invested in the story until the last 15% of the book.
3. Lack of worldbuilding. Hear me out, because we do get a lot of world-building, but I also feel like there was very little discussion about this body jumping and its impacts. For something that seems SO violating and chaotic, body jumping isn't really addressed in terms of how a. people deal with their bodies being hijacked regularly, b. how society still functions.
4. Forced plot twists/unexplained motives. Why was Pampi doing all that? Why did Leida really do what she did and where did it come from? Idk, I didn't get it and wanted more.
Overall, I think people will really like this book especially if they like Chloe Gong's style.
You will like this if you like: dystopia, sci-fi, royalty/palace politics, fight-to-the-death tournaments, enemies to lovers (to?), special abilities, Shakespeare retellings, and the Hunger Games.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
bookcaptivated's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
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