Review: Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

Review by Bridget Keller

The novel, Immortal Longings, written by Chloe Gong is the first in the soon to be trilogy, Flesh and False Gods. This is the young author’s first official adult fantasy novel! 

The book has a very Hunger-Games-esque type of vibe adding a slow-burn romance and a dash of spice.

The story takes place in the kingdom of Talin, where many of its inhabitants are able to jump bodies. Although it is illegal throughout the land, many do happen to jump bodies. With their qui (soul) so easily able to move vessels, citizens are each given an identity number that they have to input in order to do anything. If someone happens to jump too many times, they become stuck in a sort of purgatory state that slowly destroys their qui. In this kingdom, the twin cities, San-Ir, host a game for its civilians to take part in each year. Hundreds sign up, yet only eighty-eight people are selected. The games are a fight to the death, the victor winning a large sum of money, giving them hope of leaving their impoverished city. Of the selected players, there is Calla, the exiled princess who murdered her parents in cold blood just a few years prior. Signing up for the games under an alias, Calla plans to become victor in order to assassinate the king, destroying the current monarchy that has ignored the desperate state that the kingdom is in. Whilst growing up in the kingdom, Calla learned to fight which has created an advantage that many of the other players don’t have. Once the games begin, Calla manages to eliminate many of her fellow players, placing her in first place and giving her hope at being named victor. But, Anton Makusa, is closely behind her in the kill list, causing Calla some worry. Anton has his own reasons for signing up for the games, the primary one being he needs to pay off hospital bills that have been accruing since his oldest friend was placed in a purgatory state after she tried to jump bodies too many times. Calla and Anton form a truce to both successfully keep an eye on their main competitor and make it to the final round. As the story develops, a romance begins to blossom between the two, but it is destined to fail since there can only be one victor. While the games are occurring, the kingdom has its own mystery that it tries to solve throughout the book. Some of the players in the game have been attacked and the prince, August, is trying to find out just why and who has been doing these killings.

Since this book has a slow-paced introduction, I would not recommend trying to read while in a reading slump. But for those of you who love a heavily plot based story, this is just that kind of book.