SFF

Immortal Longings

by Chloe Gong
Gallery/Saga. (Flesh & False Gods, Bk. 1). Jul. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781668000229. $28.99. FANTASY
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Three participants in the capital’s annual gladiatorial games have more on their minds than just emerging at the top of this year’s pile of corpses. Calla, a discarded princess, believes the only way to save her country is to eliminate the monarchy—starting with the usurper who took her throne. Exiled noble Anton just wants revenge on everyone from the king on down—and he wants Calla. Meanwhile, Crown Prince August rigs the games to ensure his father’s death and make Calla the scapegoat. As they battle it out, Calla and Anton go from enemies to lovers and back again in an endless cycle of sex and betrayal, while the city crumbles and the crown prince waits impatiently in the wings.
VERDICT 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.
Reviewed by Marlene Harris , Jun 01, 2023
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