From the first page, I was not feeling the book. I ended up not finishing. It felt soulless and uninteresting. It was missing a spark and the writing felt super dry.

I'm still kind of reeling from the reveals at the end of this book. I really loved the world and the magic system and the concept of the game. I have a feeling that this game won't be as big of a part of the overall series but was the driving force of this first book that truly was a set up for the series. I bought in to the romance, even tho it doesn't follow a "typical" romance trajectory. There were some characters I would have liked to see more from and some scenes that could have been built out a bit more. Overall, I really liked it and will continue on in the series.

“That’s the first time a princess has ever whimpered for me.”

I had such a fun time with this one. I am not a big fan of retellings only because more often than not I feel like I don’t know the original story or myth and then I think I’m missing something crucial to the story. That thankfully wasn’t the case with this one.

It’s supposedly an Antony and Cleopatra retelling, but I only recently acknowledged which character was Antony…yes…there is a character named Anton so I should have known better but alas.

The magic system in this involves JUMPING into people’s bodies which was just so unique. I really enjoyed it and loved all the little twists and turns with it. Add in a city-wide game where the winner gets *unimaginable riches* and all the winner has to do is kill everyone else in the game… yeah things are bound to get wild.

It’s the beginning of a new series, but I personally think it ends in a place where you could call it a standalone and feel okay about it…which is probably what I’ll do.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Unfortunately I found this super boring and not what I was expecting at all. I think I’ll try it again sometime as I’ve never read this author before and will definitely try previous books but for now I must move on. Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

I had such high expectations for Immortal Longings because I love all of Chloe Gong's prior works, and find myself quite obsessed with them. I'm not sure if it's that she's trying for a different writing style or something with this one, but I didn't love it and found it to be very different from what I expected. I feel like I didn't learn enough about the characters to love them, but I have hopes for the future of this series.

This severely let me down... I can tell Chloe knows what she wanted to write but she missed the mark. It was like 90s sci fi meets gothic gamer city where everyone is sad and poor but no real depth to poverty and desperation. I think she was really going for a Jady City type vibe and it just didn't hit unfortunately.

Inspired by the Shakespeare play Anthony and Cleopatra, Immortal Longings moves the setting to a cyberpunk dystopia. There is a lot of discussion of politics and economic issues that are very prevalent today.

I'm on the fence with this one. There are many things that I liked about this book, and there are things that feel a bit ethically dubious. It could just be me being a bit sensitive on an issue, but body swapping is already dubious, when you mix sex with body swapping, that's when I feel very uncomfortable. It's no longer a love story, but an ethical examination of consent. It really gets weird when the author does not even examine this. How do you not even say something in a wold where Wonder Woman 1984 existed?

The ending was great, and I may read the next book. But I really think this got in the way of me actually connecting to the characters.

I was excited to read this as I am a fan of Chloe’s previous work.

Unfortunately, I tried picking this book up on two separate occasions and it was just not for me. I had a hard time following the initial dive Into the world.
The second time I picked this book up, I got about 15% in before I decided this book might just not be for me, and decided to put it down!

I usually am most interested in characters at the initial start of a story and felt I was maybe too overwhelmed with the plot before diving deeper into the rest of the story’s elements.

I had higher expectations for this book because I have enjoyed the authors previous works. The description was compelling and the body switching was interesting, but I found the story hard to get into. You meet the characters and you see them interact with other characters, but you don't really learn a lot about them. I think the book was an interesting to start to a series, but I hope the next books are better.

I am bone-deep obsessed with Chloe Gong's other works, but whew doggy. She's a talented writer but this didn't showcase it. The rest of the series can be redeemed if she tightens it up. Please empower her editor to cut down on the approximately 12 storylines and 57 characters!!
As always, a forehead kiss to the darling publicist at Gallery who accepted my request!! Thanks to you and S&S and Netgalley in general.

I went into Immortal Longings hoping for the morally gray characters I love. Sadly that was one of the only parts of the book I actually liked. I know this is Chloe Gong’s first foray into adult fiction. It didn’t hit the mark for me. The writing felt very juvenile. The relationship between Anton and Calla also missed the mark for me. It didn’t feel believable. The best character in the book was Mao Mao the cat. Overall it was a disappointing read.

Well this was my most disappointing read of the year. I gave this a 1.5. Which is heart breaking, because I LOVED Chloe's previous series, These Violent Delights. I was so incredibly disappointed and I wish I could rate this better.

For a supposed adult fantasy book this story was painfully under developed- the plot, the characters, the world building, all of it. It felt like someone hadn't done enough editing and this was a first draft.

One of my biggest issues is that I was bored. I didn't care about the story, and it took forever to get through. the ending was a let down and I finished not caring. Also, the idea of jumping between bodies without consent gave me the ICK and really turned me off to this book.

For the first half of this book, I thought I’d rate it 3 stars. The world building is confusing/convoluted, and the “games” are hard to follow. However, I did find myself entertained by this book especially in the second half. I think maybe if this had come out before hunger games I would have liked it more. But I did feel an attitude of “been there done that” while reading. Another reviewer compared it to “a tv show you put on while cleaning” and I think that’s the perfect way to describe it. But the ending… the ending yall. It definitely convinced me to continue to the series!

I really enjoyed Chloe’s debut into adult fiction! This one is a lot faster paced than tvd and I’m here for it! I enjoyed the hunger games but played in the real world vibe and I have so many questions about the end! Like I need to know what really happened lol. Can’t wait for the next one!

I love Chloe Gong and will read her grocery list if she lets me. I will say that I can understand why people might be confused by the magic system, and to that I say: just go with it. The gaps will fill themselves over time. It is not the best world building in the world, but I promise it does make sense. I really recommend giving this book a shot if you are someone who enjoyed These Violent Delights. It does read YA still, even though it is marketed as an adult debut.

I really wanted to like this book. I was so excited for Chloe's adult debut but unfortunately this one just fell flat for me. First of all, unlike her previous works this one was a bit dry. I didn't feel like I could get in the heads of the characters or understand them emotionally. Second of all, the world building has so much protentional but ultimately felt very similar to world's we've seen before. The hunger games-esque competition, the altered carbon-esque approach to body swapping. I know this is meant to be a retelling, but retellings should ideally bring something new to the table and I just didn't feel like anything new was there. Thirdly, it was just dense. The info dumps had me reeling. I barely understood what was going on half the time, and I 'm a seasoned fantasy reader. I really did think that there was potential here but the execution could've used some work.

This is a story about immortal lives not worth living forever.

I’m so happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I don’t see the Antony & Cleopatra elements at all, but ignoring that it’s definitely worth picking up. The 3 alternating view points worked nicely, and it was fun to explore the dystopian land space while the characters try to survive the hunger games style city wide competition. Looking forward to book 2!

Thank you @netgalley & @sagapressbooks for the eArc!

Very fast paced from start to finish with rotating POVs that keep you thoroughly entertained. I did not expect the cliff hanger ending but this was a nice novel that transcended being age appropriate for older teens into adulthood. It read like something you have read before but then you would feel like it was something completely new and unique. This is so important when so many books are released each year.

Fun mashup of Anthony and Cleopatra and The Hunger Games. At least this time, most of the combattants are adults. Lots of body-swapping and assassinations.
Told from several POVs, it was fascinating seeing the difference in how a character saw themselves and what other people think. Everyone is a hero of their own story.