This wasn’t what I was expecting. It was unique and a wild ride, but it was a bit too much for me. I wasn’t expecting so much smut. The bond between the characters felt much more lust-based than love-based. But I think there are some people out there that will love this for sure! Just not my cup of tea.

TW/CW: Sexual assult, drug use (by choice and forced), infidelity, manipulation, abuse

The Emperor and the Endless Palace, also known (in my head) as "The razor blade blowjob acid trip drug-addled fever dream wash of vibes that left me unsatisfied." Love is love but I sadly didn't love this.

I hate to leave a negative review, especially as I know this one is long overdue but I feel compelled to finish what I started. I wanted to love this book. and was excited that it was both LGBTQIA+ rep as well as AAPI but it fell short for me. I wanted the lush, romantic, time-crossed, star crossed, reincarnation queer love story inspired by asian folktales that this was marketed as but it was more disjointed, scattered and incoherent than I anticipated. I have no problem with sex on the page, (I mean who wants closed door romance, certainly not me haha) but I will say I found them more, ah.. plentiful..than anticipated and several were pretty concerning/triggering/alarming and the book may have needed content warnings. I mean...SPOILERS: this book will forever in my mind be the razor blade blow job book and the forest fox sex that went on so long the human withered away and died book. I also did not love the cheating or the r*pe/non-consensual bits. But more so it just felt like the book did a poor job of showing us the through line of who the couple was, and yet didn't do a good job making us really wonder who was who and root for various couplings or execute the political aspects well. It honestly was just, as I said earlier, some sort of acid trip fever dream that did a meh approximation of what I thought it was going to be and left me mostly ambivalent and eh about it, aside from some of the parts that were too bizarre to even really hit.

Yay queer books and yay asian rep but this was not it for me. It lacked good pacing, fluidity, a clear narrative, and seemed like it didn't know what it wanted to be. When I later saw/read that the author was trained as a scriptwriter it made more sense because this (and I never say this) might have made more sense as a visual piece of art like a tv series or movie. It was all sort of strange broad strokes and more VIBES than anything else. I'm not saying don't give it a shot but please for the love of all that is good, read content/trigger warnings first and maybe even some reviews outlining some of the stranger content. I do applaud how this book didn't make any attempts to dim down the vibes to try and appeal to a wider audience. It was delightfully unapologetic in its gay-ness and asian-ness and for that I'd give it another half point but just know it's kind of a wild blur and yet also a car crash I couldn't look away from, despite wishing I had.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.25 stars

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was drawn to this book because it said it was about two boys who fall in love no matter which life they find each other in, but what I read instead was two boys who fuck no matter what life they find each other in.

I did not like this book very much because of the amount of lust and how we were supposed to believe the main characters’ connection spanned centuries when their relationship was 90% sex. I also had qualms with how the characters were supposed to be reincarnated, except their personalities didn’t have enough similarities. The only continuity was the cycle of their relationship.

The biggest redeeming quality of this book was the setting. I loved reading a book where queer people dominated the world, both in modern times and historical.

Although this book was not for me, if you don’t mind insta-lust, you might love this! This has such a great premise, and the setting of the book was wonderful.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace was such an interesting read. Told from three different timelines, this story kept you on your toes as weaves back and forth between each and they honestly could have been their own stories. Finding the common thread between them kept the reader guessing.

This book kept me guessing where it was going next throughout the first half of the story. Then the plot twist hit and it was so good. This story is elaborately thought out and an adventure from start to finish. Potential readers should note that this story is incredibly spicy and does also contain some situations where consent is dubious so please take that into consideration before reading.

Sexy and unapologetically queer, this is a rich and riveting fantasy romance set between two expertly evoked settings in space and time.

this had three interwoven parts that needed more expositions and engaging characterization to keep me hooked on all three but … i don’t think it succeeded. two across time and space may have worked, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ plus i did have some background already on ninetales lore.

many thanks to harlequin trade publishing, MIRA, and netgalley for the advance reader copy.

Epic love story, but not a romance. It´s messy, complicated, and beautiful. Reincarnation is often done incorrectly, but I think it was done correctly here. It gets you hooked quickly and my favorite storylines were the first two. That being said, I think I would have enjoyed it more had the marketing been different.

While I did enjoy the fantasy aspects of the book and it had a lush writing style, it felt jumpy in some places and often hard to follow. I did not connect with the main character very well, which left the overall story feeling bland.

This book was a bit more graphic than what I expected. I appreciate the rep, but to me this leaned more in the spice direction than fantasy which is my preference. This book will definitely find its readers.

Deeply enjoyed this heartbreaking yet hopeful queer fantasy! Please give this a chance when building your 2025 TBRs!

I loved the characters finding each other every time! I just wish there had been more of the fairytale happy ending! I was connected and was wishing for the best, but this book was so amazing! I was hooked!

Fun, erotic, gay, and campy book. Love that it is set in China and represents Asian queer culture. It’s a lot spicer than I anticipated I wish it had more history/worldbuilding vibes.

When my non-romance reading friends were surprised by the amount of sex in THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE, I just didn't believe them. But wow, the choice to basically open with a sex scene. Which is fine, it just needed to set my expectations. However, as we got to the more narrative parts, and started to connect the multiple stories through generations, it starts to mellow out (the scenes still read hot, but not as unexpected).

I do like how Justinian Huang kept the story moving through the generations, making parts harder to connect, and figuring out who is who, especially since it seems as though it doesn't appear that the same person remembers the past with each iteration of the couple. Also the way that I got mad at the ending until I realized it was a series. Please give me the next book now.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang is a sexy, unapologetically queer, and deeply cultural masterpiece that deserves recognition. As a fan of historical fiction, I was particularly drawn to the vivid flashbacks to the Emperor's palace. Huang's imagery was breathtaking, transporting me to another time with its ornate palacial descriptions.

One of my main gripes with contemporary romances is their tendency toward unrealistic dialogue and characters who feel disconnected from reality; however, Huang skillfully avoids this pitfall. He captures the essence of West Hollywood's gay nightlife with authenticity and nuance. I especially appreciated how he portrayed an Asian gay man as fully dimensional and not a stereotype—his voice feels natural and lived-in, much like his white counterparts after generations in the U.S. (Side note: I listened to the audiobook while reading, and the narrator did a phenomenal job bringing this voice to life. As a first-generation Mexican-American, I resonate with this detail of sounding like my peers, and I imagine it might go unnoticed by those who don't share a similar experience.)

The only reason I hesitated to give this book five stars was the sl*ve/knife portions of the flashbacks. While integral to the story and the character's development, those parts weren't entirely to my taste. That said, this is more of a personal preference than a critique of Huang's storytelling.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. It's perfect for readers who enjoy fantastical romances that transcend generations and timelines, Achillean love stories that tug at your heartstrings, and tales rich with Chinese culture and folklore. I think Huang has an extremely unique point of view, and his voice to the romantasy genre is entirely needed. What an amazing story to debut with--I anxiously await more by Huang in the future.

So many elements of this story were masterfully crafted--but it still fell flat for me, as I didn't really connect to any of the pairs (in any of the timelines). I felt that their relationships, dynamics, and internal/emotional lives needed to be explored much more for me to find them engaging. Which was a shame, because truly this story--especially the ending!--was beautiful and powerful in so many ways.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

I love danmei and had very high hopes for this book. While I was engaged the entire time it did not deliver on any romance plots. I was expecting something closer to Cloud Atlas with the multiple lives intertwined but instead got... whatever this was. An overwrought, sex first, feeling never, pretentious book. The narrative needed more meat to it to accomplish the sweeping scope of the premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting tale about reincarnation and it took me a bit to figure out how the three timelines connected. I really enjoyed two of the three timelines and really enjoyed those two characters the most. I enjoyed the story this book was telling and how all the lifetimes intertwined.

Fun reincarnation fantasy that involves three gay lovers, at least two distinct time periods besides the modern LA club scene, and a winding path between all of them as they uncover it. Full of longing and melancholy, and a lovely read besides. Are there some unfortunate turns of phrase? Yeah, absolutely. Debut novel though, and Harlequin, so I'm willing to give it some leeway.

BRO THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOOOOOOD. I FEEL LIKE THIS BOOK FILLED A WHOLE THAT IVE BEEN MISSING RECENTLY. It just had everything i could possibly want out of a story like this. I just. Chefs kiss. I wish i could reread it again for the first time cuz i dont think i appreciated it enough. I need to take my time with it. Also everyone is this book was unapologetically horny on main. Would recommend 💯💯💯💯

The plot for this book was so convoluted. It felt like the author had a basic idea of what they were going for but didn't know how to follow it out well. There was no investment in the characters, and the different time periods, while an interesting idea did not play out well. I think if this book had taken a little more time fleshing out the story versus designing a gorgeous cover it could be a much better book.