Scan barcode
risaleel's review
adventurous
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Death and Body horror
Minor: 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
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: 5⭐️/5
I love Chloe Gong’s writing. I think she has immaculate control over her language. I love her descriptions, even when they’re 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: 4.75⭐️/5
Now again, I’m a big Chloe Gong fan, so maybe there’s 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 would’ve loved a touch more from our side characters – as well as to not have our background characters feel so background – but these are small gripes.
Plot: 4.5⭐️/5
Alright, Antony and Cleopatra retelling. How does Chloe Gong just reimagine Shakespearean tales in the most interesting way possible? I don’t know, but I do love. The longing, the love, the competition, the forced trust, the game: all of it is so brilliantly written, you can’t 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 didn’t need to happen in the way that it happened, strictly for the sense that I knew exactly what had happened to Anton, and I don’t know why that wasn’t a plan Calla and him created, instead of it being a betrayal. I understand that it echoes the betrayal Antony goes through at Cleopatra’s hands, but it felt forced the way it happened – 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: 5⭐️/5
Hi, Chloe. Um, I need the next one pretty, pretty please.
Final Rating: 4.75⭐️/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
axel_p's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I can't wait for the sequel. I couldn't keep up with all these plot twist.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, War, Sexual content, Trafficking, Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Blood, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Xenophobia
palmkd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Immortal Longings is the first in a new trilogy which is part hunger games part Antony and Cleopatra retelling. In this depressing world the powerful have much and everyone else little. Some lucky people have the ability to "jump" into other bodies which as you can imagine causes a bit of chaos. The main characters in this tale are all rather obsessively driven towards their goals. How much collateral damage will there be and are they really focused on the right thing?! The story ends on a bit of a "mic drop" kind of note which was a nice spin. This is adult fantasy and there's one particularly spicy scene which I don't feel really added to the story. Overall it was a compelling adventure and I look forward to seeing what happens next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Murder
_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!
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!
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
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
lucy_is_reading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Child death, and Gore
More...