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A review by thereadingrambler
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
emotional
fast-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
5.0
The Emperor and the Endless Palace
One Sentence Review: This is the romantasy I want: emotional, compelling, beautiful; a book that says something about something and gives us a beautiful story with elegant writing and emotional depth.
This book’s blurbs are effusive: “iconic,” “exuberant celebration,” “brilliantly imaginative,” and “groundbreaking,” to pull a few descriptors from the back. I was interested in the book when I saw it announced and put it on hold at my library, not knowing the advance praise it had received. When I read the back, my skeptical barometer ticked up. I know they select the best quotes, but did they really have *five* fairly big names in multiple industries and genres giving reviews that adulatory for a debut author? More importantly, did this book deserve that level of praise? I’m pleased to report that, in my opinion, at least, it did.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace follows two queer Asian men across time as they are reincarnated and find each other again and again. One of the pair always Remembers (capital R) the past lifetimes, and one sometimes does. They don’t always meet in every lifetime, but in the ones they do, it always ends tragically for them.
Despite the seeming complexity of the plot, the book is fairly short (just over 300 pages), largely because the reader isn’t given much information about how all this reincarnation works and why one man can Remember. The reader has to accept this. You’re told on the front flap that this is a reincarnation love story, and I think knowing that going in is helpful because the narrative doesn’t make that clearest until fairly far into the book. I think without that piece of information in advance, the reader would struggle significantly more with figuring out why we have these three timelines and how (and if) they are connected. There are clues seeded (some more obvious than others) along the way, but I think knowing about reincarnation in advance lets me focus on the emotional aspects of the story versus trying to figure out who these people were. And let me assure you that the real plot twist(s) have nothing to do with revealing that they are reincarnated souls over millennia. That is somewhat incidental to their story. The weight and heft are in our two main characters.
Most of the cast is repeated throughout time, but they are not the same character. For instance, the villain always looks the same and has the same motivation but is unique in each iteration—his personality, tastes, career, skills, etc. This is the same for every character, including the two leads. They are complex and layered—I loved and hated them in equal measure, but I was always rooting for them to get what they wanted and to find success and happiness in every one of their lives, even as I knew the possibility of that was slim or doomed.
I would recommend this book to people who like the idea of romantasy but haven’t been able to find one they like because they are entering romantasy from a love of fantasy, not a love of romance. I would recommend this to people who enjoy their fantasy to skew a bit more magical realist than BrandoSando magic system.
Oof. And that ending.
CW: Sexual assault
One Sentence Review: This is the romantasy I want: emotional, compelling, beautiful; a book that says something about something and gives us a beautiful story with elegant writing and emotional depth.
This book’s blurbs are effusive: “iconic,” “exuberant celebration,” “brilliantly imaginative,” and “groundbreaking,” to pull a few descriptors from the back. I was interested in the book when I saw it announced and put it on hold at my library, not knowing the advance praise it had received. When I read the back, my skeptical barometer ticked up. I know they select the best quotes, but did they really have *five* fairly big names in multiple industries and genres giving reviews that adulatory for a debut author? More importantly, did this book deserve that level of praise? I’m pleased to report that, in my opinion, at least, it did.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace follows two queer Asian men across time as they are reincarnated and find each other again and again. One of the pair always Remembers (capital R) the past lifetimes, and one sometimes does. They don’t always meet in every lifetime, but in the ones they do, it always ends tragically for them.
Despite the seeming complexity of the plot, the book is fairly short (just over 300 pages), largely because the reader isn’t given much information about how all this reincarnation works and why one man can Remember. The reader has to accept this. You’re told on the front flap that this is a reincarnation love story, and I think knowing that going in is helpful because the narrative doesn’t make that clearest until fairly far into the book. I think without that piece of information in advance, the reader would struggle significantly more with figuring out why we have these three timelines and how (and if) they are connected. There are clues seeded (some more obvious than others) along the way, but I think knowing about reincarnation in advance lets me focus on the emotional aspects of the story versus trying to figure out who these people were. And let me assure you that the real plot twist(s) have nothing to do with revealing that they are reincarnated souls over millennia. That is somewhat incidental to their story. The weight and heft are in our two main characters.
Most of the cast is repeated throughout time, but they are not the same character. For instance, the villain always looks the same and has the same motivation but is unique in each iteration—his personality, tastes, career, skills, etc. This is the same for every character, including the two leads. They are complex and layered—I loved and hated them in equal measure, but I was always rooting for them to get what they wanted and to find success and happiness in every one of their lives, even as I knew the possibility of that was slim or doomed.
I would recommend this book to people who like the idea of romantasy but haven’t been able to find one they like because they are entering romantasy from a love of fantasy, not a love of romance. I would recommend this to people who enjoy their fantasy to skew a bit more magical realist than BrandoSando magic system.
Oof. And that ending.
CW: Sexual assault
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault