The Kingdom of Talin hosts a game in its twin capital cities, San-Er, every year where competitors fight to the death and the final victor is rewarded with unimaginable riches. Inspired by the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, San-Er is densely populated with “needle-thin alleys” and “muddy puddles stuffed with discarded trash bags”. Most residents live in poverty but will gladly bear it in exchange for proximity to economic success, to the throne, and to the riches they dare to dream about…
Desperate for a chance to change the trajectory of one’s life, people of San-Er can enter the games for a chance to get to the coliseum for their final battle, and ultimately to be named victor, by getting rid of the competition, gladiator-style. In this alternate world of the 90s, the competitors are given wristbands to track their movements, an important accessory since some are born with the genetic ability to “jump” and transfer their qi (soul) into another person’s body.
This year there are eighty-eight participants, with one being none other than Calla Tuolemi, ex-princess and murderer of her parents, the King and Queen of Er. But unlike others, Calla is not interested in fortune. She only wants one thing—to kill her uncle, the King of San and the Talin Kingdom. And with the training she’s received most of her life it’s clear she is more than equipped, even as someone who does not jump bodies. All royals are born with the gene to transfer their qi, and while it is illegal to do so, most who can, do. But, Calla, a princess with royal yellow eyes, does not. In fact, she quickly rises to the top of the scoreboard without ever jumping, not even once. It probably doesn’t hurt that she has the help of her cousin and crowned prince, August Shenzhi, who also wants to see King Kasa dethroned to stop the atrocities of his reign. But August quickly realizes that he is not the only one helping Calla.
Anton Masuka is an aristocrat who is no longer reveling in his privileges, but exiled and committed to saving his childhood love, Otta, who has been in a coma for the past five years. He is also August’s ex-best friend. And as he grows deeper in debt, Anton decides to enter the games to win the prize money so that he can continue to fund Otta’s care. When Anton and Calla meet as competitors, they soon realize the advantage of forming an alliance. Calla, deft with her sword and hand-to-hand combat, and Anton, one of the best, if not the best, jumper in all of San-Er; they become the pair to beat. As the two go from competitors to partners, they learn that either is not what they seem. And despite the lack of trust between the two, their attraction leads to feelings that lead to more.
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Immortal Longings
Set against the dark and gritty “city of darkness,” I was immediately transported to the streets of San. It is clear that Gong knows how to set a scene. It was also clear that while this city was inspired by Kowloon, it was also meant to evoke Antony and Cleopatra. The Shenzi monarchy, the Talin kingdom, and the games were all direct inspirations, and even the fight scenes with various weapons of swords, daggers and axes were reminiscent of Ancient Rome. But what felt clear in its intention, a melding of two cities, was confusing in experience. When I grew accustomed to one world, I was immediately pulled into another without warning. There would be sword-fighting in one scene and then a cyber cafe with computers in the next. It was a jarring experience in the beginning as I was constantly flipping through pages and pages of information about the world just to catch my bearings. It was a lot to take in. And probably the main reason why Calla and Anton’s romance caught me off guard.
Distracted, or rather, disoriented by the long history lessons of San-Er, I couldn’t fully immerse myself into the story or their romance. I was too busy trying to navigate the world because instead of showing me, the author was telling me. And like a good reader, I was listening and paying attention. So, while I knew a romance was coming, I simply did not expect the escalation of their feelings and sudden declarations of love in what seemed like a very small window of time. Infatuation? Yes, but love? I had my doubts. It just didn’t seem that believable. Especially with Otta, Anton’s childhood love who’s in a coma, still being in the picture. The man was entering a fight-to-the-death game for her and now suddenly he’s in love with someone else without showing any hints of any internal struggles about his sudden change of feelings. I viewed his capricious behavior not as a consequence of his passionate, border-line obsessive love for Calla, but as a character flaw and a remnant of Gong’s young adult writing. If this was another one of Gong’s YA books it might’ve been easier to swallow, but sadly it was not. And while I commend Gong’s attempt at exploring and mirroring the obsessive nature of love that is so reminiscent of Antony and Cleopatra through another lens, her execution was ultimately unsuccessful.
It seemed Gong’s prose was mostly dedicated to the vast amounts of information regarding the history and world-building of San-Er instead of an authentic connection between Calla and Anton, which isn’t a surprise since this is the first book in a series. A lot of groundwork needs to be done in the first book and I was there with her for the journey. But I wasn’t expecting it to be all done via the inner monologues of the characters. And because I was inundated with so much info-dumping, I couldn’t emotionally relate to any of her “morally gray” characters, who just came off trite and flat. I’ve heard Gong is a master of slow-burn romance, but without the build-up, the “slow-burn” in this book applied only to the plot. As I spent two-thirds of the book trying to learn this new world, I realized that I was also trying to care about this world as well. While Gong touches on poverty as a main motivator for the participants, the stakes never felt that high nor the participants that desperate. These were games to the death, but a player could also just deactivate the wristband to disqualify another player from the games. The foundation and motivation ultimately lacked urgency, and only made the slow-burn feel even slower. Until I got to the last hundred pages.
Those last hundred pages were a turning point for me. With twist after twist and the stakes (finally) high, all the plot pieces that were laboriously laid out in the pages before it started to take shape and fall into place. The twist at the end was well done and really, the ending is what saved this book for me. It has definitely piqued my interest for the next installment, if only because I really want to see if and how Gong addresses the plot holes in this first book. There is a lot left to be explored, and I’ve taken notes.
I’ll be waiting.
Immortal Longings is published by Saga Press.
Helen Kim Rhee is a book reviewer from California. Her two greatest loves in life (besides the little humans she made) are food and books. You can find her talking about mostly books on Instagram and TikTok.
