I think this book will be popular but it didn't do it for me. There was a lot of information cramped in and I struggled keeping the characters in order. I struggle for infodumping. The body swapping had some pretty dark implications too and well... no. Still a very impressive book to add to Chole Gongs achievements.

Immortal Longings is the first book in the fantasy series Flesh and False Gods, which represents the adult debut of Chloe Gong. A novel that dips its toes into the science fantasy terrain, a loose retelling of the Anthony and Cleopatra story in the context of mortal games, similar to a Battle Royale; a mix of violence with politics and romance.

We are venturing into the twin cities of Sa-er, a metropolis that captures well the essence of urban Asia with a touch of cyberpunk elements; each year a set of deadly games is hosted there by the palace and the winner gets unimaginable riches, an opportunity to climb into a better life.
This year, all is different, as among the participants there is Princess Calla Touleimi, who was in hiding for five years, after performing the massacre that ended with her parents and the palace of Er; she's decided to win the games so she can get access to King Kasa and finish what she started. Things won't be easy, especially when Anton Markusa enters the equation: an exiled aristocrat, in debt to keep alive her childhood love, and one of the best jumpers out of bodies; however, an unexpected alliance is formed between Calla and Anton, which ends becoming a relationship between two of the possible winners of the games.

Adding spice to the situation, there is Prince August, who is helping Calla to win, with the hope she will get rid of King Kasa, using this confusion to put himself on the throne.
But when it is clear that most probably Calla and Anton will become the final pair of survivors, Calla will be between the sword and the wall, having to choose between her love or the kingdom.

With this premise, we have an engaging story, which I found really enjoyable while reading, despite I found Gong had a tendency to overexpose, introducing too much information in places where the pace suffers. And it's a little bit sour, because there are many details I loved about the world she created that I couldn't enjoy more due to this.
Said that, I think the execution of the fight scenes is quite flawless, because instead of long combats with dialogue and forced dramatism, most of them end up becoming a fast and violent act, which ends with the death of one of the combatants.

Romance is a key piece of the plot, and Gong manages to create a parallelism between the story she's loosely retelling and the relationship that appears between Calla and Anton; a little bit spicy, but certainly well crafted and achieving that idea of an obsessive relationship.

Despite it being a book with certain flaws, Immortal Longings was a good read, as it delivered what I expected from the blurb. I have the curiosity to see how the series evolves in the next books.

I support women’s rights but most importantly I support women’s wrongs…
… especially when the woman is Calla Tuoleimi, the woman who massacred her parents and covered the palace in blood. And especially when she enters into a set of games where competitors fight to death.

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong - ⭐⭐⭐. 💫

I think Gong’s strength lies in her descriptions, the way they differ according to which characters and the way even the most steadfast characters will have a sense of tenderness in their descriptions. This strength is even more apparent in this book where there are more action scenes. These scenes were a gift for a person who usually skims over people fighting but these were also windows into the character’s personality, especially for Calla. However, I think this strength falters a bit in worldbuilding. Though I was first in love with it, it soon became info-dumpy, large seas of information that were difficult to wade through. A similar thing happened with the body-switching part of the book.

I also think the romance was rushed a bit but once established, I found it to be amazing! It’s similar to the romance in The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno - Garcia. Every single moment seems to be stolen time before the relationship’s eventual demise. However, at the same time - Anton’s other love interest (August’s half/step-sister), was just brought into the plot whenever convenient and never really explained well, even though she’s established as this kind of character that’s forever looming over August. This is also why I thought the romance was a bit unbelievable because if Anton loved her so much that he entered the games to pay for her hospital bills, why would he ever like Calla? Gong does try to explain this discrepancy but I never truly buy the explanation.

But I still think this was a good and fun read. Read if you like: The Hunger Games, The Beautiful Ones, any Chloe Gong book, Evermore (the song) and also This Love by Taylor Swift.

Thank you @netgalley and @hodderbooks @hodderscape for providing me with a copy of the book before its release in exchange for an honest review.

An electrifying retelling of Antony and Cleopatra, with hints of The Hunger Games and Battle Royale.

This was my first Chloe Gong book and I will certainly be exploring her back catalog now!

Every year the people of Talin flock to its twin capital cities of San-Er for the palace’s games. Citizens are selected and fight it out to the be last one standing, who then receives riches and an audience with the king.
Calla is a princess of Er who slaughtered her parents and fled. Believed to be dead by the general public, she secretly enters the games for the chance to kill the king of San, who has combined San-Er (and therefore all of Talin) under his rule.
Anton was once the prince’s friend and wished to help him change the way the leaders of San-Er ruled, but when he went rogue with the prince’s half sister and was caught, he was exiled - his qi permanently removed from his birth body. He needs to win the games to escape his ever mounting debts.
Both must win. Both are very skilled. But when they realise who one another are, they decide to team up - temporarily - to get themselves closer to the finish line… only things don’t quite go to plan.

I loved Calla and Anton as main characters. Along with Prince August, they make up our POV characters and give us different insights into the story. I really enjoyed the way that certain facts were revealed to us in a show-don’t-tell way, only when they were discovered by one of the other MCs - after all, how often do you consciously think about things you already know about yourself?

The plot was familiar - deadly contest, only one can win - however I enjoyed the way the magic system put a different spin on it. In this world, people with a particular ability can jump their qi into another person’s body. As long as they are stronger than the other person, they can temporarily (or, rarely, permanently) take over that person’s body and pilot it as their own - this does leave their birth body unprotected and vulnerable to being jumped into, however.
This added an extra excitement to the games, as it was difficult for other competitors to know who was a player and who was an innocent bystander, and meant they could change their appearance at will.

The twists and turns were enjoyable, if somewhat predictable. There is one particular detail which I, and several others I have spoken to, noticed which is either a big clue for something later on or a gaping plot hole. I’m assuming the former considering the editing team I’m sure this book had! So I’m excited to see where that leads.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed Immortal Longings and will definitely continue the series when the next book comes out!

I love retellings and when I read the description of this book I was really excited. When I got this book I was so happy and started reading it straight away, but since life got in the way, I read it for like a week. And omg I really liked it. I have Chloe's other books on my shelf and can't wait to read them. This book was so good and I can't wait for the next one.

I received a free copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own.
3,5 stars.

This book has been one of my most anticipated released this year and I was definitely not disappointed!

The body hopping was icky in my opinion, but it was still pretty cool.
This book is so action packed with all the fights, and I did like how it felt like the Hunger Games but not in an arena. With the killing your opponents, where it gets filmed. But not being completely isolated from everything.

The world building was a little confusing, but I'm not one that cares that much for it, so it was fine with me.

I liked the characters, but did of course have my suspicions as to who was a bad guy, and what the different characters intentions where.
I didn't like the name August and Anton, they literally had me confused for each other at first, silly me haha.
I also didn't care for the romance at all, eventhough rivals to lovers is pretty hot.

The plot twist, I definitely did not see coming!
And the ending literally had me screaming!

I ended up putting this one down half way through :( I’m so sorry! I really thought I would enjoy it but the writing wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Net Galley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If there is one thing Chloe Gong can be depended on for, it is high concept stories. I was immediately intrigued by this Antony and Cleopatra retelling/Hunger Games-esque fantasy novel which promoted itself as a high-stakes, political intrigue story about an assumed dead Princess who finds herself attempting to topple a corrupt empire through a series of death tournaments. It sounded perfect for me, melding urban fantasy with an anti-capitalist, anti-hero narrative concerned with dissecting the structures of empire, monarchy, and extreme wealth.

Unfortunately, however, this book did not work for me. The world-building, for one, was extremely superficial. While a wider world filled with ghost cities, foreign threats, and destitution was hinted at, there was no exploration of the actual world. In the city where the novel takes place, this lack of deep world-building continued and there was no proper explanation of wealth distribution, the housing crisis mentioned repeatedly, the court structure at the heart of the palace in the city’s centre, etc. beyond simple repetitions of the claustrophobia of the city. The characterisation was even worse. While I admire the attempt to produce a compelling and nuanced anti-hero narrative, Gong’s protagonists were extremely unlikeable and had no real concept of the suffering of others. Instead, in the name of saving the city’s population and freeing them from corruption, they repeatedly made illogical decisions about the passing of power, took matters into their own hands regarding the government, didn’t attempt to join with the city’s actual rebellion movement, and repeatedly and brutally murdered innocent people. I had no sympathy or connection to people who made decisions antithetical to their supposed purpose. And don’t get me started on the unnecessary romance, which felt so random and undeveloped. This contributed to an almost list-less story, which couldn’t commit to the topics it attempted to handle.

While I admire Gong’s first foray into the adult fantasy genre, I feel some real time needs to be given to these high concept stories which attempt to tackle such big and nuanced issues. More world-building and a deeper discussion of the political bureaucracy of this world specifically would help with this.

Fans of Chloe Gong's alternate Shanghai universe will not be disappointed, the characters and the core story may be different but the chemistry between them and the high octane battles throughout San-Er are familiar hallmarks of her writing.

As twin cities of San-Er prepare for the annual Hunger-Games style competition which bestows untold wealth to the winners, its two fiercest competitors enter a deadly dance that could end in disaster, or destiny. Seething with poverty, people and magic, San-Er is still reeling from the slaughter of the royal family of Er at the hands of none other than their Princess, Calla, years earlier. Anton, a palace brat from San, was kicked out years ago when his beloved was caught breaking the rules and is in deep debt trying to keep her alive. An alliance between them might keep them in the game, but leads to an explosive ending that will change the fate of San-Er yet again.

I'm no great Shakespeare fan so I can't really comment on how close this aligns with Anthony and Cleopatra, but Anton and Calla were spectacular individually and pure magic together. The chemistry between them was off the charts and mostly you don't know if they're going to kill or kiss each other, because they themselves seem to be struggling with that question.

The political plot and social issues, including the growing threat of the cult, plaguing San-Er were well integrated into the main storyline. Calla and Anton may be chaos personified but it was Prince August who really intriguedme, on one hand willing to betray everything to aid Calla in her quest, but with a ruthlessness that makes you question what he really believes in.

That ending, although I suspected something similar, was absolutely off the walls, but it was so perfectly executed. But it was the will they-won't they dance between Anton and Calla that wins the day. I'm already counting down to the release of part 2 of this trilogy.

This was a book that did give me Hunger Games vibes and I have very much missed the dystopian genre that was once so popular. I also do love an Urban Fantasy so this was a treat.
The characters are morally grey, which I always find interesting as it makes them less predictable and encourages me to read more. I also find this gives the characters more depth as no person is really so black and white as some characters in stories can be.
Immortal Longings is fast paced story for the majority, although sometimes the descriptions did seem a bit long which detracted from the book a little. Although at times I also found some of them very quotable and imaginative, "She stains his mind in vivid color, bright and burning and dangerous.", for example.
This was my first time reading a novel by Chloe Gong, but I think I now need to go through her other books. I'll definitely be picking up the second in the series.

no. just no. this book doesn't even make sense. cleopatra and antony retelling? get my ancestors name out of here! i just felt so disconnected because of how poorly written and not well-thought-out at all this book was. the premise is exciting but it's absolutely butchered by poor execution and little to no research.

so disappointed.

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

It was on ok read it I’m honest, I can see it becoming a marmite book.,
It was a bit confusing at times and to be honest the ‘hunger games’ style is becoming such the norm for fantasy that it’s putting me off.

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong is her adult fantasy debut, and this story is inspired by Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and with a set of deadly games.
 
The concept sounds absolutely amazing and as a Shakespeare fan, I was even more intrigued.
 
The world building was a bit confusing for me and there are two twin cities who didn’t differ enough for me. There was a lot of history and rivalries, and I quickly lost the overview. But somehow, they developed these deadly games that reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games to bring people together and the contestants had a chance for a better life if they were the last person standing. The games were my favorite part about this book.
 
The characters and especially Calla were very interesting. Calla is a princess, and her ultimate goal is the abolishment of the monarchy, and she even went so far to kill her own family and she has no problem entering the deadly games. She is definitely an anti-heroine and that was definitely intriguing, but at the same time morally questionable. Anton is the other protagonist, and he enters the games to better his life and save his childhood love.
 
They both form an alliance, and that dynamic was fascinating to follow. At the same time you can’t trust either of the characters and that made them a bit unlikeable for me. At the same time there were lengths in the plot, and I didn’t devour this story.
 
Overall, Immortal Longings is a fascinating book, but I couldn’t fully connect to the characters. 3,5 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

I had so many issues with this book that I barely know where to begin. The world was an illogical mishmash, the characters were cardboard cutouts, and there was no plot, just random events.

The premise made no sense. There was no need for Calla to attend the weird death match. The palace and king were poorly protected. She could’ve walked in every time she wanted, even if she didn’t want to jump and change bodies. At 30% mark, Calla and Anton hadn’t even met. August seemed to be the most important character. He was definitely most interesting.

This was supposed to be Anthony and Cleopatra retelling. It explains the weird names, but Shakespeare it ain’t. I would’ve DNFd this, but had to persevere to the end to find out if it ends like the play. Spoiler: it doesn’t. It might have been better if it did—definitely unexpected in YA—but there’s always the sequel. I won’t be reading it.

This is an imaginative fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. The author doesn’t follow the play very closely but uses it brilliantly as a springboard for her own plot and world.
I loved the world and magic system although the body swapping felt very uncomfortable to me. I cannot imagine a world where bodies are treated as just another set of clothes but I really enjoyed the creativity of the idea. The setting of the city of San-Er is fantastic. It’s a grim place to live where there is not enough space for all its inhabitants and yet people still flock to live there because it’s better there than anywhere else.
The three main characters are all completely ruthless and will stop at almost nothing to achieve what they want. I enjoyed the dynamics between them although I would like to have seen a bit more of August. I imagine that his story arc will be developed more in the next book. The plot is intriguing and kept me wanting to read just one more chapter while the ending set things up beautifully for the next book.
There were issues with the pacing of the novel in my opinion. There was a lot of info dumping in the early part of the book and the author seemed to repeat herself quite a bit. I felt that Calla and Anton were a bit two dimensional and was actually more interested in some of the side characters and would have liked to see more of them.
For me, this was definitely an improvement on Chloe Gong’s previous work and I’m looking forward to reading the next instalment.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers Hodder and Stoughton for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thankyou to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest review!

I initially tried to read this without audio but found it quite difficult to get into. I went back once the audio was available to tandem read and found it much more digestible!
Chloe Gongs stories have been hit or miss for me but mainly because political aspects of the stories
(just not my kind of thing) however this story wasnt too politics heavy and have a really interesting magic system to the world (definitely more fantastical in my opinion than here previous stories)

I was undecided whether the book was going to be a 3.5 or 4 star book untill the end blew me away!
Looking forward and now waiting impatiently for the second book!

I went into this book with really high hopes, having heard nothing but good things about Chloe’s other books and with the concept of this one sounding right up my street. Unfortunately it didn’t match up to my expectations at all, and whilst enjoyed the elements that felt reminiscent of books like the Hunger Games, I feel like the potential the plot had was wasted on poor writing and flat characters. The narrative voice wasn’t very engaging, and at times I lost interest in what was happening because I just couldn’t connect to the world or the characters. Additionally the romance wasn’t very convincing, it felt too trope-y for me and as that became a bigger part of the plot I just found myself cringing more and more.
I wish the romance between two of the more side characters had been explored more, as that felt a lot more genuine and like their relationship was built on more than just how much they loved to hate each other. Overall, it feels like the author could have just spent a bit more time padding out her characters instead of being overly ambitious with the world building and the confusing political system.

2,5/5 stars

Ah. This had such an interesting premise… But the execution was too meh for me.

The world building is slow, repetitive and gets almost annoying. There was such potential in the twin cities of San-Er and in the magic system of Talin, unfortunately Gong goes on and on about the same things every three pages which makes it all very hard to get through.

Moreover, the characters could have been so interesting but it all goes from 0 to 100 in about 3 pages and it’s such a shame! Same thing for the romance that was not very well introduced (no tension whatsoever for 60% of the book and then they rip each other’s clothes apart and say I love you?? Please)

I honestly don’t know if I’ll read the sequel as I’m just very disappointed by what could have been a brilliant book.

OMG, Chloe Gong totally nailed it again with this book!! Seriously, it's been one of my absolute faves this year. Think Hunger Games meets the epic love story of Antony and Cleopatra, all set in this super cool world with an awesome magic system where people can "jump" between bodies. The suspense in this book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and those unexpected twists, just like in These Violent Delights, kept me hooked. The world-building is so immersive, and the romance, though subtle, is sooo good! Calla and Anton's chemistry is off the charts and makes their characters absolutely irresistible.

Calla is a total boss - she's brilliant, ruthless, and her past is seriously complex. And get this, she refuses to "jump," which adds a crazy intriguing twist to the story. Anton, on the other hand, starts off as a bit of a mystery, but damn, he's got that charm and magnetism that draws you in. Their dynamic is fire!

Chloe Gong's writing just keeps getting better, and I'm dying for the next book. If you're into plots that keep you guessing and characters you can't help but connect with, trust me, you need to read this book. It's an epic journey you won't forget!