There are a few books that I just feel a little too dumb to read, and this was one of them.

I loved These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. The world, the writing style, the story. I think that the mythology/historical Shakespeare thing that she does is amazing. However, I feel like I needed a bit of an introduction to the world before the story started, simply because there is so much going on. I did go into this almost blind, which might’ve been my problem.

Calla, Anton, and August are all wonderful characters, but I do think that they fall into the category of being a bit too unbelievable. With the Hunger Games style plot line, it felt just a bit too perfect for my liking. Everything worked out so well, and even the hiccups were handled without comment, and within a few pages. It felt a bit more rushed, as if some things had to be cut or moved without revision and just needed to be in the book.

By the second half though, I couldn’t put it down. I think that the ending was perfect, and I’m really excited to see where the next book takes off. That being said, both plot twists were almost expected, and I did see the coming by the 2nd to last chapter.

Overall, I would give this a 3 out of 5. I think that the storyline is similar to that of All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody, and this would make a great read for someone who loves more of a sci-fi inspired setting. I would also say that it reminds me a bit of The Walled City by Ryan Graudin, as they are both based on the same historical cities.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF. In between requesting this ARC and starting to read it I'd attempted Chloe Gong's other books and I could not get through her writing style. It's just personally not for me. A lot of the issue I have with her writing is her fantasy building without context, just saying "that's whatcha-ma-call-it" and not giving any context as to what that's supposed to mean or do.

For the first of a fantasy series it did ok, but boy was there a lot to learn and imagine in this one. Definitely a harder read to get into if you don't know the reference material. I eventually did get into it as the game started and the political drama ramped up a bit as well but the second half was miles better than the first.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved her YA books and I was so excited to read her first adult book. That it's also a retelling, but set in this new fantasy world, yeah, I loved it, and I couldn't get enough! I loved this story!

All of these characters have complicated pasts, which complicates all the plots and scheming going on with these games. I loved getting to know them, and seeing how this world worked with the magic and the politics. I just had to know more!

The relationship with Calla and Anton, was complicated, since they were both after the same prize. That there were the games going on, with all the body jumping further complicated matters. But oh, I really enjoyed reading about the pair of them!

That ending was just amazing though! It has me so excited for the sequel, because while I had the idea that something like this was going to happen, it did, and I need to know what's going to happen next! The wait for book 2 is going to be evil!

This was such a fantastic read, and I can't wait to continue this series!

I wasn't sure I would enjoy this book as some authors struggle to make the jump from YA to adult fantasy and while this book does have a few issues, it was still a solid and engaging read! I can't wait to read more adult fantasy from Chloe Gong!

i enjoyed this one quite a bit! i only ever read This Violent Delights by Chloe Gong and had enjoyed her writing style, so i was intrigued to dive into this new book and it didn’t disappoint me at all! it made me
excited to read more of her works. great characters and the story was engaging and kept me entertained.

In all honesty I wasn't sure I would like this just cause it's not something I would normally pick up but I wanted to read it so bad. I was genuinely interested in the story and enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend reading this book it is so well written.

Currently a DNF. I have started it twice and cannot get into it. I think I'm just not in the mood, I will try again in a few months and update my review then.

Thank you netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

While this author usually writes in the Young Adult category, this Adult Fantasy book is a breath of fresh air! Gripping and mysterious, the world-building and story are both excellent! I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of this book!

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong was one of my anticipated reads of the year. After loving These Violent Delights and Foul Lady Fortune, I was eager to see what Gong followed up with.

However, this was the least captivating novel I’ve read by Gong. While the plot was exciting and seemed on par with traditionally successful YA books, its execution fell short. There was far too much “telling” rather than “showing”, which made for pages and pages of bleak and uninteresting text. The worldbuilding was very flat, and rather than immersing the reader in the story, it felt like I was reading a textbook that explained the history of the city/setting.

I won’t go into the actual plot, because it did not live up to my expectations for an author’s fourth novel. My main issues were with the writing style and lack of character, setting, and thematic development. There were opportunities for further discussions of social classes, communism, and corruption, but these chances were missed in favour of lengthy descriptions.

Thank you, NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Chloe Gong for this ARC of Immortal Longings.

Immortal Longings was a thrilling, fast-paced, fun and nail-biting journey and i cannot wait for the second book. Chloe Gong does it again!

Immortal longings

I have seen rave reviews for this one and then I’ve seen reviews from the extremely disappointed. I’d say I fall somewhere in the middle.


The backdrop is a hunger games-esque battle hosted in the kingdom of Talin’s capital, San-Er, by the king each year. The winner gains audience with King Kasa and unimaginable wealth and treasure.

A cast of questionable characters rounds out the story and, of course, in true Chloe Gong style, the plot is rife with political intrigue and strife, infighting and plots for revenge.

In a lot of ways it did feel like what I’ve come to expect from Chloe Gong albeit a bit less polished and a little more fragmented. The world building felt a bit more clunky. Such that I wondered if, bring her first adult novel, she was under pressure from publishers to get it out in a hurry. Between the heavy politics and world building, I found the first half, at least, to be a slog which, in turn, made the characters harder to connect with.

There was a point, however, where things turned a corner though…and then that ending!!!! Whoa! With a cliff hanger like that, I will have to read the next one.

Something really interesting she added was the ability of a certain group of the population to jump bodies. Certain individuals quite literally have the ability to move their soul (their qi) and take over a different body, essentially overlapping and overpowering that body’s original owner. It felt a little morally grey and played a key part in the story. I felt like Gong was just starting to really dive into the depth of this part of the story line when it ended so I’m curious to see where that goes in the next book.

I am a long time Chloe Gong fan and have adored each of her books, but even I have to admit that this just... wasn't the best. It was advertised as being Hunger Games so of course I was even more excited to read it and another shakespeare retelling!! But sadly, it didn't meet my expectations and was instead extremely underwhelming.

I felt nothing towards the characters and this is marketed as adult, yet the characters felt extremely juvenile and flat. I was hoping for more and I know Chloe can write amazing characters, however, it feels like most of her characters in her books act pretty much the same? This is just my thoughts, but I was really hoping to love Calla and Anton and sadly that wasn't the case.

Characters are what make a book for me, however, in the case the author lacks in that area I always hope the story will make up for it--but instead we get info-dumping and a story that felt long and dragged out where I found myself very bored :/ I'm not sure I will continue the series, but who knows maybe my mind might change!

This book was very well written.. The ideas were very Hunger Games. If you liked the Hunger Games you will probably like this book. It may have been a little less authentic because of that though.

If you could switch bodies and pretend to be someone else for a while, would you? What are your thoughts on murdering just a couple of people in order to make a lot of money and meet a king? And would you be okay if somebody needed to invade your body to escape a situation, but it's okay because maybe they will return it? Let's be real here, good God no. I may like money, but I'm not interested in murder, dying, switching bodies, or essentially being possessed.

Immortal Longings is a crazy good book following an enemies to lovers trope in a world where people can jump in and invade one another's bodies, with a major competition to the death. Jumping bodies isn't necessarily well liked, but it can come in handy for those who choose to do so and especially in this murderous game.

I loved this book. It was amazing and incredible and had so many good lines. I loved collecting quotes and organizing them based on what I was thinking at the moment. I had two separate romance categories, foreshadowing, and brilliant lines. Hilariously enough though I could not keep the colours organized to save my life but in my defense this was my first time annotating through the app and I was too busy vibing with everything and trying to remember which colour was for which couple and which was foreshadowing versus brilliant lines (news flash it was almost always one of three colours and the meaning kept changing but that's not important). I had lots of fun reading the book and selecting my favourite lines for so many different reasons. I also loved tagging a bunch of them with my immediate reaction, especially near the end when I had so many thoughts on everything.

The concept was so cool and I was living for it from the first time I read the synopsis. I loved the idea of the games and the jumping and enjoyed seeing it all being executed. Books that have wild concepts are always so much fun to read with the world being built up to support it all and you being thrusted into the midst of it all.

I had some problems with the book, some of them including spoilers, but they weren't major enough to really impact how I felt about the book as a whole. I was enjoying the book too much, especially towards the end, to find the problems to be anything big.

I loved the cast. Every character had something compelling about them that made you want to know more about them. Even some of the smaller characters had me wanting to know everything about them. They also all had great chemistry and I loved seeing even the smallest romance or tension build between different characters. I was constantly rereading moments to see if I saw the dots connecting or if it was wishful thinking. The angst, banter, and every heartfelt moment was so worth it.

I desperately need the sequel since the ending was so amazing and I have so many questions for so many characters. I love when the end of a book leaves you needing to know more and creating a million theories for every one moment.

If I were to rate this book, I would give it a 5. It's probably one of my top 3 favourite books of the year and it was just so thrilling the entire time. I have a hard time rating books but I can confidently say that I loved the book and was entirely giddy after finishing the book and buzzing with excitement over everything I had read.

I was able to read this e-arc thanks to Simon And Schuster Canada and Netgalley so a big thank you to them. It was my first time reading Chloe Gong after collecting her previous series and never actually starting those books since I was hoarding the collection before finally starting them. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

My first Chloe Gong read and definitely not my last! I enjoyed this book despite taking longer than anticipated to get through it. Like with any SFF, you will need to do some legwork to understand the workings of this world, but as a fan of THG and other competition-esque novels in this genre, I enjoyed this one.

This book had a unique premise with the magic of body switching combined with the hunger games style war games. I enjoyed the fast paced action and imagery of the city. I also found that the magic system and world were well explained and I didn’t feel like there was too much information dumping. I like the characters but I felt like their relationships lacked depth. Their intimacy seemed to go from distrust to allies to quickly and I didn’t really believe it. Otherwise I really enjoyed the story and after the cliff hanger ending I would definitely pick up book 2!

4.5
I really enjoyed this novel. I feel like it was a perfect mix of contemporary and fantasy. I also loved that there was romance but that it was only a subplot instead of it being a full romantasy novel. I really liked the chemistry between the two love interests and their banter. This book was Chloe Gong's debut adult novel but it felt as if she had been writing in the adult fantasy genre for her entire career.

This novel proves that writing is a skill that can be improved. Having not been the biggest fan of Gong's first novel, her first foray into Adult Fantasy completely changed my mind. While this definitely is a much looser adaptation of its source material than her debut duology, this Antony and Cleopatra retelling brings dystopian lit back into the mainstream with an intricate magic system that toes the line between fantasy and sci-fi. I look forward to continuing this series, especially after all those twists!

I am a sucker for a good retelling/re-imagining. It is always amazing to see what Gong manages to do with Shakespeare's works. Fantastic as usual!