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

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Enter Anton Makusa, an exiled aristocrat. His childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace, and he's deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Thankfully, he's one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, flitting from body to body at will. His last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning. Princess Calla has been in hiding for five years, ever since she murdered her parents to free the people of Talin from her tyrannical family. But now she has to finish the job and there’s only one person standing in her way – her reclusive uncle, King Kasa. However, the King always greets the winner of the games. If she wins, she will finally get the chance to kill him.

He lets them suffer in their filth and misery instead, even those who once lived under his very roof” Try living like us Calla! (I point this out because despite being forced to be in hiding with the poors, Miss Ex-Princess has her own apartment, enough money to take care of a cat, buy food whenever she wants, and never seems to be without basic comforts the rest of the city residents don’t have lmao). 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.I love when an author writes so well that you can be easily transported to the place where the story takes place. I really like that about Chloe Gong's writing. With her young adult books I loved the highly detailed setting of Shanghai in the 20s/30s. In immortal longings I found an equally detailed setting. I could imagine the place without any problem, I could feel myself walking the crowded streets of San-Er with the characters. Otta Avia is in a coma for years until she suddenly rises from her hospital bed and requests to be taken to the palace. Why is this unexpected? How does this foreshadow the ending, and the next book? Honestly, every character in this book is a major walking red flag, but for them I’m colorblind. I couldn’t help loving them. Flaws and all. I love some good, morally grey characters and red flags. From my (limited) understanding, Kowloon was a fairly underserved area with “no tax, no regulation of businesses, no health, or planning systems, no police presence [...] criminal activity flourished” ( Atlas Obscura), especially under gang control and opium production. Locals came to call is “Hak Nam” which translates to mean “City of Darkness” but at the same time, Kowloon was a major producer of plastics, textiles, food, etc. A lot of the people who lived there had respect for each other and the lawlessness did not necessarily always translate to violence. In fact, the city was a major influence on themes like cyberspace, autonomous governments, and the idea of humanity persevering in the most unexpected places.

there was no bite or grit or edge or excitement. they each felt exactly the same— equally boring and subpar with no personalities. Who would dare?” August asks matter-of-factly. It’s not a boast. It’s the profoundly confident manner of someone who knows exactly how high his pedestal is because he hauled himself there. 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. In the final scene, Calla thinks she is crowning August as the new king of San-Er, only to realize she has crowned Anton. What happened? Would you consider this a happy ending for Calla? What are your predictions for the sequel? The structure of the games in Immortal Longings starts with a Dacun, which is like the Hunger Games cornucopia bloodbath, then several weeks of senseless killing until it gets down to the final two players in what is called the Juedou. Players are given free rein to kill and body jump; they all get little wristbands (which I have mentally been picturing as white apple watches) that ping whenever there are other players nearby, but there are no other rules. They aren’t in a controlled environment, all of San-Er is their playing field and so people become casualties. WHICH EYE DON’T UNDERSTAND.

Table of Contents

this book ripped me apart and i was obsessed with how dark it was - this is so different to her typical YA genre and i truly think that this is my favourite book of hers so far! this book looks at everything: childhood trauma, graphic violence, horror, spice, so this is not suita

Here’s a full description of the story, a riff on Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, with a setting that Gong told io9 was inspired by Hong Kong’s historic Kowloon Walled City (read the rest of our interview with her from November 2021 here). By the way, the guy Calla is trying to institute into power signed off on a rural province being torched to the ground: This is someone else’s body, but in San-Er, that detail is as normal as jumping. When it comes to this sort of use, bodies are only accessories, discardable and utilized based on need.” It might be our fault. I can’t help but think that the mindless praise she has received over the years has fed into the notion that she is more than just a decent writer, but a great writer. She doesn’t need to improve anything. Look at her numbers on TikTok. Look at how many special editions her books have. Look at the New York Times Bestselling Author stamp on all of her covers. Or maybe it’s not our fault at all, but she simply surrounds herself with people who are too afraid to tell her to change anything. Worse, people who genuinely like what she writes. I know I sound rather rude, but I cannot emphasize enough how boring, lifeless, and terrible this book was.

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One of the main themes of Immortal Longings is betrayal. How is this explored throughout the book (i.e. between characters, through the setting, between social classes, etc.)? Were there instances of betrayal that surprised you? 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? Chloe has mentioned in a couple of TikToks advertising Immortal Longings that the book is a “NA fantasy trilogy [...] 1990s Hong Kong stylized vibes” with the intended effect of being a “90s Asian noir city.” It’s an intriguing premise but it was only after I talked to a couple of other reader friends, some being natives of Hong Kong, that I was made aware of the historical context Gong was likely taking inspiration from: Kowloon Walled City. 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. Though the light overhead runs only in one shade, coloring the photograph the wrong hue and washing out the subject’s eyes, there is no doubt. The woman in the photograph is stepping off the stoop of a building—her nose and mouth covered with a mask, her hands gloved in leather, her body angled away in movement—but August would recognize her anywhere. She is not the sort to abandon her body, even under such circumstances. She would instead flaunt what she managed to keep, living in this city for five long years right under his nose.

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