Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

30 reviews

justagrlandherdog's review

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. The body jumping was very interesting to me. Calla and Anton weren't the most fleshed out characters written but I cared for them anyways. I can see where everyone pulls the hunger games comparisons but a few chapters in, I stopped seeing similarities. The twists! I did not see any one of them coming and tend to at least see a few. But nope not a single one. Maybe if you have better knowledge of the play maybe you will but I’ve only seen a movie version like once. I’m excited for the next one! Ready to see how that cliffhanger plays out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

If not for the last page of the book, I probably wouldn’t read the sequel and would have rated it lower. But the last page got me. If you can even call this an Antony and Cleopatra retelling, it’s definitely very loose and takes a lot of liberties with the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, War, Colonisation, and Sexual content

ltc's review

adventurous dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

lisashelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

jlyles_177's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Gore, and Violence

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

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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

jilljemmett's review

fast-paced

5.0

Every year, the kingdom of Talin hosts a game in the capital city of San-Er which chooses eighty-eight people to fight to the death to win incredible riches. Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been in hiding for the past five years, since she murdered her parents at the palace. She enters the games because the winner gets to meet King Kasa, who she plans to kill. Anton Makusa is an exiled diplomat who also enters the games. The love of his life has been in a coma since their failed attempt to escape the palace, and he wants to win the money to pay off the debt he has incurred by keeping her alive. Calla and Anton form an unexpected alliance in the games, but in the end there can only be one winner who survives. 

This book is one of my favourites of the year! It is a loose retelling of Antony and Cleopatra. There was a fantastic setting with magical jumping between bodies, so not everyone is who they appear to be. I loved the way that this magic created so many twists in the story. I guessed one of the reveals partway through the story, but the ending blew me away. I can’t wait to read the next book!!

Immortal Longings is a fantastic fantasy!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book!

Content warnings: murder, death of parents, death of siblings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

_andviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If Squid Games was televised like the Hunger Games, set in a somewhat Neo-HongKong/ Ba Sing Se-esque city state with it's citizens having a special Sci-fi power thrown in; this was a wild story start to finish.

Immortal Longings reminded me why I loved Chloe Gong's writing. Her descriptive world building is perfect for those that like to really dig into the pseudohistorical/background information of the plot elements, and for those like that me that imagine what it would look like as a show or movie. It's an omnipresent POV, following the important characters like we're watching a play unravel, just as it's inspired source does.

Quite obsessed with the love between the leads Calla and Anton- they're a perfectly dangerous and hot pair that actually are on an even playing field, which only makes me more devastated that I'll have to wait an entire year for the sequel. Calling all serious angst lovers, the ending truly destroyed me. 

Anyways, if you like badass couples that are at each others throats, but would also kill for each other, then you'll love this book!

Be warned, there's tons of injury detail/body horror/almost gory descriptions, so read with caution!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

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

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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

kingsteph's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Murder, and Death of parent