3.5/5 ☆

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’ll like this book because I wasn’t a fan of the writing style but once I got to know the character, I couldn’t imagine her story being told with any other writing style. The way of narrating perfectly embodied the character.

I’m not a fan of spitting, angry characters but Lady Jing was not just rude in the beginning but also hilarious—enough for me to keep reading the book—and her character development was slow, realistic and incredible and I loved how in the end she works through her trauma and leans to connect to those around her and manage her anger better.

Lady Jing’s relationship with Mr.Lee was so cute but intense at the same time. And it was really interesting to see the way her relationships with people changed as the book progressed.

I appreciated the way the author trickled in actual historical events and places into the story.

The climax was a little too rushed for my liking and I wish I would’ve seen words like piss-fart a little less but overall this was a lovely debut.

I was a little annoyed about Little Jing’s character, she was sabotaging herself so so much. Of course she redeems herself by the end of the book.

I felt like the ending was rushed, there were some things that could’ve been left out or written shorter so that we could have the ending a bit prolonged. I wanted to the scene in the Hulijing Court to be a lot longer, to be written more in depth.

Also, I lost a lot of time just looking up the words. I would’ve enjoyed an extra page just with some easy explanations/translations.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story.

4⭐️

<b> I am a degenerate mix of unfortunate genes and circumstances. From my dearly departed mother–a hulijing, or ‘bitch of a fox-spirit’ as I prefer to call her–I inherited my feral lack of charm; from my father–some leech-faced vampire who couldn’t be bothered to stick around–a damned inconvenient predilection for blood.</b>

Lady Jing is half vampire, half hulijing fox spirit and was sold as a child by her mother to the King of Hell, Big Wang, in exchange for a diamond. She now lives in yin Shanghai with Big Wang, and Jing has a terrible temper that often gets her into trouble. When she overhears that someone is going to steal the dragon pearl from Big Wang, she uses it as an opportunity to expose the hulijing for what they really are.

Mr. Lee is a mortal who is helping Big Wang set up the Central Bank of Hell, and Lady Jing is tasked with ensuring his safe passage into Hell. When Jing finds herself in serious trouble, Big Wang sends her and Mr. Lee to yang Shanghai. But trouble follows them amidst all of the excitement of Jing’s first time in the mortal realm.

An exciting first book in this series and an excellent adult fantasy debut! I loved Lady Jing’s feistiness and her relationship with sweet, gentle Mr. Lee. Jing is so chaotic and funny and you can’y help but love her. this book was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for the next one!

<b> “Try not to die, okay? I’ve become rather fond of you.”

“I’m very hard to kill.”</b>

I really wanted to like this novel. The description sounded so amazing, but the characters let me down. I had such trouble liking Lady Jing. As part spirit fox and part vampire and almost 100 years old she could have been so well developed and engaging, but instead acts like and has the vocabulary of an immature teenager. This was especially apparent when compared to the other characters.
The world building definitely has potential and I'm hopeful the next book will have a more solid pacing.
I debated between 2 stars and 3 stars, but since I feel like now the stage is set and the second book has a firm foundation to build on, 3 stars is the appropriate rating.

The most fun romp through 1930s Shanghai and its demon underworld! A unique voice you can't help but root for, and heartwarming romance. I can't wait to find out what happens next for Lady Jing and Mr Lee.

I couldnt get through this book. It was too long for me to commit to after not liking it 25% in. I had to dnf. I wasnt too invested in the story or the characters. The main character read to immaturely for me considering this is supposed to be adult.

The world-building was excellent, and I really grew to love the characters and world. Thoroughly entertaining!

One of my favourite things about Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao is that you start off in immortal Shanghai but get to visit mortal Shanghai too! I loved that Jing lives in the immortal realm and we saw her experiencing mortal Shanghai, and I love that Tony is from mortal Shanghai but we got to see him visiting the immortal side! The perspective and reactions from both sides were so fun!

But my ultimate favourite part? The love. There are so many different kinds of love featured in this book and the fact that Jing truly seems to believe at the beginning no one loves her, but then we see her grow and understand? That was beautiful!

Shanghai Immortal follows Jing, half hulijing fox-spirit, half vampire and the ward of the King of Hell. She is constantly being taunted by the spiteful hulijing courtiers, so when she overhears their plans to steal the dragon pearl, she takes her chance to expose them. Her search for intel takes her through both Hell and mortal Shanghai where chaos ensues.

I had a really good time reading this one! The world was crafted so well with immortal Shanghai mirroring the mortal version and creating the perfect backdrop for Jing's journey of self discovery! It was pretty low stakes for most of the book and character driven, so a lot of focus was on the relationships. Jing has a slowburn romance with a mortal she's tasked with keeping safe that was really cute and I am excited to see more of them! He really helped her open her eyes to love and friendship, creating so many heartfelt moments.

My only complaint was some of the dialogue was quite cringy and Jing acted very immature. Some of it was humorous, which is how it was intended, but I just found myself annoyed a lot of the time. It was still a really fun book though and I do plan to continue the series!

I am giving this book a 3.5 star rating rounding up to 4.

I was excited to read a debut novel by a Chinese Canadian Author that introduces people to Asian folklore and belief. The story is focused on Lady Jing who is half hulijing and half vampire who is the ward of the King of Hell. She believes that he treats her as a servant and doesn't seem to care for her.

As the story progresses, you see her grow into herself and she realizes some important things about the people around her. I found the first half of the book difficult to get through. The author uses words such as "mafan", "dabian" and so on to replace certain words and I found it difficult to keep my focus on the story. I flew through the second half of the story as the plot picked up and you get to learn more about Jing's past.

The premise of the story is intersting and I do want to continue reading the other books of the trilogy.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and this is my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Lady Jin is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and an absolute sasshole. Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell when she was a child, as his ward she has spent ninety years running errands, trying to control herself, ignoring the taunts of the hulijing courtiers and more. When she overhears one of them planning to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she decides to seize this chance and expose them. With the help of a gentle mortal, who was tasked to set up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks into a dangerous chase through Hell and then mortal Shangai, looking for intel. But some of her hijinks put the mortal into danger and she's forced to ask herself what's more important: save her face and get revenge or get the chance to love?

Sometimes when a book is really hyped I'm a bit cautious and I'm afraid of being disappointed by the story. This was absolutely not the case. Shangai immortal is the MAGNIFICENT debut by A. Y. Chao and it's unbelievably good. It's an adult fantasy debut, with a rich and intriguing worldbuilding, with half spirit, demons, deities, king of Hell, magic and so much more. The main character is Lady Jing and she's AWESOME! All trouble, really sassy, witty and smart, involving herself and a poor mortal into a quest to find intel in order to avenge her loss of face. Deities and demons in jazz age, mortal and immortals, an outstanding tale of Chinese mythology, told with brilliant writing style, intriguing and complex characters and with a plot filled with twists, dangers, love and more.
You can't not fall in love with Lady Jing. She's the best.

My original review for this book wasn't very good - and whilst I stand by some of the points I made, I wanted to come back and revisit it and give it a fair review after some reflection.

I think that the book reads a little more like YA than it does adult - but I don't think that's a bad thing. It was just a little bit difficult to reconcile what I thought I was reading to what I was actually reading.

I also found it a little jarring in the difference between the way that Ling and the others in Hell spoke, versus the way that the people in Mortal Shanghai spoke? It felt like that was the biggest issue for me.

Overall though, I did actually quite like the storyline and the twists, even if I guessed some of them.

A joyful romp through the underworld with one of the most hilarious, wonderful protagonists I've read in a long time.

The biggest problem I had with this book, that I've seen a lot of people discussing as well, is that it is marketed as Adult but reads very YA. The main character is supposedly a hundred years old, but reads very very young - she's very childish and petty, and very juvenile. I really could not get along with her and it made for a disappointing and frustrating reading experience. There were mentions of "ta-tas" and "piss-farts" every other page, and I just ended up skimming because it felt like I was reading the exact same page over and over again. I found it really hard to be invested in the story - it wasn't as exciting or captivating as I would expect a story in this setting to be. But as I said, I just couldn't get past the main character and her incessant whining - I don't think I'll be continuing with this series sadly.

Thank you to the Publisher for the Arc!

I absolutely loved this! it was fast paced and i loved the main character so much!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC! This review was voluntarily by me.

Actually, I have a tough time reviewing this because I think things that I like and dislike in this novel are nearly balanced, making me think hard about this review. Actually, I don't really feel the romance but I know it is still there. Maybe it is just me that I really like the main characters as friends more than love interests. For Lady Jing, I’m not sure whether I like her or not, I know that her character is not really to my liking but I can see her improving later in the story. One thing that I like is the worldbuilding of yin and mortal Shanghai where the description is vivid and detailed enough. I am actually interested to know more about other yin Chinese cities like yin Beijing like on who lives there and what those cities look like. The writing and the plot is nice even though there are some words that don’t really vibe with me but I think there are quite a number of jokes and hilarious moments in the story but I only get some of them so most of them fell flat. For me, if you are into fantasy set in a quite modern era, this story may be for you.

Rating: 3 - 3.5 ⭐

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of Shanghai Immortal. This was a little hard to read with the arc formatting they used but the story was absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait for this to come out in America. I absolutely love Chinese folklore and I know I will have to carry extra copies of this one in my book store

This was exactly what I was looking for in a book! I absolutely love the mmc’s and their dynamics. The writing style was good! I found the pacing was just right!

I enjoyed this book and the concept behind it - Lady Jing is half vampire, half fox spirit and she got bought, or adopted, by the king of Hell. She lives in, well, Hell - which looks a lot like 1930s shanghai because the King wanted to.
The mythology and worldbuilding is rich, and the plot interesting, even though the pace could be a bit uneven at moments, and Lady Jing's character building and burgeoning relationship with a mortal felt sometimes forced, I have to say that I still enjoyed this story a lot and would like to pick up the next book!
This is definitely a strong debut.

I want to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest revidew.

A fantasy novel taking place during the Jazz Age of Shanghai peaked my interest. I enjoy reading fantasy with historical elements to it. The world-building this novel had a lot of potential but I found it fell flat in a couple areas.

In the first half of the novel, the author created a rich and vivid description of Hell where are main character lives. As the reader is given a tour of this underworld, they are able to discover a unique world.

While I enjoyed the world building in this novel, I felt that the plot was weak and over done. The characters help guide the reader through this book but I found the second half of the novel to drag on. There is a lot of banter between characters and introductions of new settings to distract the reader from the lacking plot.

The novel’s main character Jing is an over the top character. Her behaviours were amusing at first but I found her to be exhausting as I read the book. However, the secondary characters are charming and I enjoyed the scenes when they called Jing out on her behaviours.

Overall, as I contemplate the novel as a whole, I had to rate this book lower. I really wanted to enjoy this book and I may still give this author another chance.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc.