Gong, Chloe

Listeners should prepare for the heavy lift of numerous characters and a slow-paced beginning but will ultimately be pleased with Yi’s strong pacing, spot-on sarcastic banter, and delivery of a tenacious heroine.

Share with adult fans of The Hunger Games who like their stories more graphic; a recommended purchase where tales of dystopian battles and political intrigue are popular.

Best-selling YA novelist Gong’s (Last Violent Call) adult epic-fantasy debut combines a plot of corrupt politics and rotting empires with the adrenaline rush of combat and intrigue and a romance that is literally for the ages, based on the tempestuous relationship in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Lovers of Sarah J. Maas’s epic romantasy novels and the kickass fighting queens in Jennifer Estep’s “Gargoyle Queen” series won’t be able to turn these pages fast enough.