Immortal Longings: The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller (Flesh and False Gods)

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Maybe Gong’s intent is to demonstrate how delusional Calla is in her savior complex, but Calla also spent FIVE YEARS in hiding and you’re telling me the best idea she could cook up in that half-decade is “kill king to save kingdom”? Clearly, the monarchy wasn’t working in the first place, how stupid do you have to be to believe exchanging one figurehead for another would allow for meaningful change??? The book tries to be self-aware by pointing out these flaws but the ideas are so simplistic I don’t see anything to have a major epiphany over lmao: Well, after this ending it’s time to suffer as I wait for the sequel. I won’t forgive Chloe Gong for leaving me hanging like this. although I should have expected this As a political science student, I can't help but not mention the aspect of power in this book. I really love how the author discusses political power in a society that at first seems dystopian but is not far from the reality of a large part of the countries of the East. If I have to highlight something in this book above all else, it would be the power games. Calla and Anton are characters immersed in a deadly game where one has to survive by killing everyone else. While Gong’s first book “These Violent Delights” is a retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” in 1920s Shanghai, Anton and Calla’s story draws its inspiration from Shakespeare’s tragedy “Antony and Cleopatra .”

Princess Calla Tuoleimi has been in hiding for five years, ever since she murdered her parents to free the people of Talin from her tyrannical family. Only one person stands in her way of finishing the job: her reclusive uncle King Kasa. However, she knows he always greets the victor of the games. If she wins, she will finally get the chance to kill him. Immortal Longings is brilliantly escapist. But I could not ignore Gong’s exploration of biopower and her allegorisation of healthcare, especially in the context of a post-pandemic world. The magic system is called jumping, in which a person’s qi– meaning soul or life force in Chinese – transfers from one physical body into another physical body. This can be done on a whim, or for the purpose of survival if the original host body is injured or dies. Jumping is frowned upon in the palace. In defiance, Anton would jump from body to body, changing his physical appearance on a whim. Calla, however, is vehemently against jumping. Their opposing approaches to bodily agency and bipower positions them as adversaries once more. While Calla sees the physical body as a temple, Anton only sees a physical body as a temporary host for his soul.At the outset of the book, I was captivated by the setting of San-Er, a place inspired by a historical area of Hong Kong. The vivid portrayal of the city authentically captured the essence of a bustling metropolis in East Asia, evoking nostalgic memories of the sounds and the dense urban landscape of my hometown. However, it seemed that Chloe Gong believed readers required an extensive amount of city description throughout the entire book. Frankly, I've read French classics with less information dumping than this. Gong's paragraphs seemed to repeat the same information, just phrased slightly differently. While I understand that this may not be the final version of the book, it felt more like an unedited draft, despite its considerable potential.

Then we have August, who was honestly my favourite character, despite being the one with the most questionable motives. He is a really twisted character. One moment, he may seem to have the purest of intentions, and the next, he is a sadistic asshole. But that’s exactly what made him the most interesting character to me. Out of all the characters, he is the one that had the most depth, and the moment you thought you started understanding him, he does something that just makes you question his whole character all over again. He seems to genuinely care for the kingdom and its people, but his approach to trying to better the kingdom makes you wonder whether you should root for him or not. His relationship with Galipei is something that I took a strong interest in. Galipei seems to be truly devoted to his prince, and although he probably deserves better, I genuinely shipped him with August. I felt like there was so much tension there, and I just couldn’t help myself. It got to a point where I wanted to say that I was invested in their dynamics as much as I was in Calla and Anton’s. the thing with magic in fantasy is that it should follow some rules and logic, which again gong epically failed at establishing. because body jumping is so common, how is it regulated? the flimsy regulation in place is that each individual has an identification number. except apparently this number can be easily accessed if you put your mind to it. so how do you ever know if the person you’re speaking to is actually them? well you don’t. The relationship between those two had me on my knees. The tension!!! Miss Gong right here is a queen at writing rivals-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers however you perceive their ship to be. The aspect of both of them participating in the games and having to face each other in a battle to the death if they want to attain their goals made their whole dynamics so much more alluring. Their banter and interactions were everything!! I found myself more than once just squealing because I could not handle what was being thrown our way. The angst intertwined with these somewhat fluffy and sweet scenes and topped off with a couple of steamy scenes just made their whole relationship so much better. I’m gonna be honest I wish there was a tad bit more development for it. It felt a bit sudden at first, but aside from that, I have no complaints.Gong has taken the beating heart of her YA series, tore it out and ramped everything up to eleven. This is a violent book, drenched in blood and death. The stakes are always rising higher, with new and intriguing players stepping onto the board at unexpected moments. She unleashes her trademark, cut-throat twists with some moments that made me want to throw the book across the room. If you thought her previous twists were awful, we have reached new levels of evil genius.

The characters: the romantic relationship dynamics are giving Jude and Cardan from the Cruel Prince but better–or worse depending on your perspective. I hate how Gong chose to narrate the story using long paras of info dumps. I was vibing with the descriptions of the city San-Er, noir era fusion of a walled city Kowloon and ancient Rome which has cell phones and a king's rule. Which was good. There's so much happening in this setting, that all information is rained upon us rather than being depicted as exciting scenes to look forward to. And these paragraphs don't even scratch the surface of what's wrong with the ruling power and how it affects different class of people. Just repetitive mentions of poverty, lower class struggles from a non-personal lens. Fascinating,” August says. “I don’t remember the last time there weren’t riots the day before the games.” The needle-thin between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion."

Table of Contents

The games are described as “a thrill that anyone can participate in, a solution to a kingdom simmering with complaints.” How does this frame the relationship between the royal palace and the residents of San-Er? How do the people of San-Er seem to view the games? The monarchy? August lifts an eyebrow. It is hard to do in this body. He gestures for the photograph instead, and the man hurries to pass it over. The entire darkroom seems to hold its breath. The vents stutter to a halt.

Why do you think Calla fights her feelings for Anton? How does he approach his attraction to her? Does this foreshadow the ending? Why or why not? But my problem started in the middle of the book. The characters are what disappointed me the most here. From the beginning Anton, Calla and August are introduced to us as 3 psychopaths who have no problem killing anyone to achieve their goals. But throughout the book that image was only maintained by August, Calla loses the anti-hero image a bit and plays a lot with the role of a selfless hero. And Anton ended up being a very underdeveloped character except towards the end where we see more of him. Kowloon’s status as a Chinese enclave inside British-controlled Hong Kong meant that the city was left unattended by both British and Chinese police. It was essentially ungoverned and lawless. Where are your parents?” she asks. “This area is no good. The Crescent Societies have their eye on it. You’ll get yourself invaded.” The needle-thin alleys between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion.Certain residents of San-Er have the ability to jump from body to body, but not all of them. How might this affect how you interact with others you meet in a city? How does it contribute to the texture of San-Er? Is invading a body unethical? When might it be acceptable? If you had the ability to jump, would you? Calla finds both an unexpected alliance with Anton and help from King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to mend Talin’s ills. But the three of them have very different goals, even as Calla and Anton’s partnership spirals into something all-consuming. Before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for—her lover or her kingdom.