📕 Title: Immortal Longings
✏️ Author: Chloe Gong
📖 Genre: Fantasy
⭐ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📝First book in an unfinished trilogy

BOOK BLURB

Every year, thousands in the kingdom of Talin will flock to its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace hosts a set of games. For those confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies, competitors across San-Er fight to the death to win unimaginable riches.

Princess Calla Tuoleimi lurks in hiding. Five years ago, a massacre killed her parents and left the palace of Er empty…and she was the one who did it. Before King Kasa’s forces in San can catch her, she plans to finish the job and bring down the monarchy. Her reclusive uncle always greets the victor of the games, so if she wins, she gets her opportunity at last to kill him.

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.

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.

REVIEW

While I really enjoyed this book, it’s certainly not the best in class as far as dystopian battle royale stories.

I loved the world building, which addressed many social, legal, and political implications of body jumping (though it strangely overlooked the morality of doing so) and explored the impact of the games, with the rational for the contest landing somewhere between Squid Game and The Hunger Games. However, the world building is primarily exposition and TONS of info dumping (and all in third person present tense). Normally this might turn me off, but I was strangely invested in this world and the characters.

Immortal Longings distinguishes itself from books with a similar theme by showing us the world through the eyes of the privileged rather than the people who suffer under the rule of the powerful. However, the choice to cast royalty and aristocrats as the protagonists deteriorates an already clumsy commentary on class struggle despite the overall theme that there’s no such thing as a good king. The messaging overall was pretty shallow.

The easiest character to sympathize with was Anton, whose motivations were clear from the beginning. I also loved his personality! Still, with the fact that he’s so hung up on his first love, the whole “romance” arc between Calla and him didn’t work at all for me. There was no chemistry (seriously, what obsession? I’m lost on that claim lol) and they felt more like friends than lovers.

It’s a little disappointing in the battle royale aspect, which felt relegated to the background in favor of info dumping and the “kill the king” scheme. However, I loved the ending and am looking forward to reading the next book. I also loved the cat named Mao Mao 🥰

Despite all the flaws, and as my ratings are subject to my own personal rubric, I am leaving this as four stars because I really did enjoy it.