Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC! I loved Tia and Harper who are the main characters of this book this may be my favourite sapphic book I've ever read!! This book had duel POV, enemies to lovers, duel identities, found family (my favourite trope) and a fantasy world set in Singapore!! I absolutely loved how the book had fun rom-com moments but also had such deep complex scenes between the characters that helped you understand them and their motives a lot better. I would say if you are a fan of the renegades series you should definitely pick this book up!!!

The main characters of this book call each other Kit and Bunny.

If that isn’t enough to immediately sell you on this book, I don’t know what to say other than I guess you and I are just built different.

What? You expect more from a review?

Picky but fine.

LGS really has three things going for it, the characters, the worldbuilding and the action.

We follow Tia and Harper, also known by the aliases (aliasi?) Lune and Raven. One tasked with dealing with the magical criminals of their city, the other, you guessed it a criminal of the city. I am a diehard for the imposter who worms their way into a tightknit group only to become more embedded in it than intended, and LGS is a superb example of that.

Essentially, if you love ride or die dynamics, run don’t walk to Barnes & Noble to preorder this book.

I especially loved this book for the fact that its characters not only stood up great in terms of their relationship, but are memorable and addictive in isolation as well. At the core of this book is definitely the pairings (Harper & Tia primarily but I also adored Niko & Kiran were a delightfully charming background feature). Chong is immediate in how she builds motives and histories in such a beautifully organic way, the setting felt super lived and breathed in. Every character is torn between the decisions and expectations of others, and watching Harper particularly step aside from the mould built for her was soooooooooooooo satisfying by the end.

That being said this is very much a, the characters drive the plot rather than the plot drives the characters, so some subplots do feel very out of left field. The plot is there to pressure-cook the characters, not the other way around. That didn’t bother me in the slightest but I can see how that might grate.

Next the worldbuilding.

Chong gives LGS enough padding for you to chew on that you’re definitely intrigued, and shes good enough at it that I was left definitely wanting more. She sets her world’s rules but isn’t afraid to break them, which adds an urgency to the writing that I could not get enough of.

We’re immersed in this fantastical, highly technological setting, I was honestly impressed with how well Chong kept up the stakes. Healing at all ends of the spectrum seems possible in this world, yet I definitely still feared for the characters which isn’t an easily done thing. Mostly, I think, because the writer does a superb job of tying stakes to the world not just the individual.

This book leans slightly sparse in terms of prose and as mentioned is very character centric. Again not something I minded in future (please, God [and sinners]) I’d love to see the world at large. LGS focuses on two very high ranking individuals of this world, and we have bits of the lower classes/less magical individuals seeded in but not thoroughly. I’d love to see this world and its magic/tech in contexts outside of the very powerful.

For how the prose is sparse, there’s a punchy rhythm to especially the action scenes that is as much addictive as it is heart racing. It’s cinematic in a way, and Chong makes sure you feel the gravity in every blow dealt. The seamless melding of stuff like hallucinations and telekinesis, with very modern tech was so much fun to read. I love how much effort clearly went into plotting out how these facets wove together, and it absolutely pays off.

For how I praise the action, however, I will say the dialogue did drag a bit for me. Everything has a dialogue tag when they’re not necessarily needed, which bogs down the sharpness of some reveals/cliffhangers for me. But that is honestly just pedantic.

If you’re looking for something with genuinely gorgeous characters set against a backdrop of warring factions, not to mention how deliciously sapphic the whole thing is. I would absolutely recommend Love, Gods and Sinners on every possible level.

For a debut this was ambitious yet intimate, action packed but meaningful. And I for one cannot wait to see what Chong has in store for us next.