#august shenzhi

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Wait guys what if Anton immediately dyes Augusts hair back to its natural color I feel like that would be even funnier somehow

#chloe gong #flesh and false gods #fafg #immortal longings #il #anton makusa #august shenzhi #vilest things #vt

[alexdobedumb]

i just finished Inmortal longings and i need someone to scream to

#inmortal longings #vilest things #flesh and false gods #chloe gong #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #august shenzhi

[serotoninforthesoul]

leida: if you rule the cities you will only be worse for society and bring destruction once you can’t handle the people’s needs

august: nuh uh

#immortal longings #chloe gong #august shenzhi

[teartra]

Sorry Calla and Anton, I’m too invested in August and Galipei’s drama

#immortal longings #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #august shenzhi #galipei weisanna #chloe gong

[romajuliettemai]

Just recalled that the only character Chloe confirmed to make it out alive from the Flesh & False Gods Trilogy is Mao Mao and now I'm in equal distress and relief.

Relief for Mao Mao but distress for everyone else help

#chloe gong #immortal longings #flesh and false gods #flesh and false gods trilogy #flesh and false gods 2 #flesh and false gods 1 #flesh and false gods 3 #fafg #f&afg #fafg 1 #fafg 2 #fafg 3 #f&fg 1 #f&fg 2 #f&fg 3 #mao mao #mao mao supremacy #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #august shenzhi #galipei weisanna

[linopolitan]

immortal longings characters + their roman counterparts

i've not been on this blog in like literal ages but i just finished reading this book and i figured making these connections might allow for some foresight into the rest of the trilogy but god forbid i put some of my findings on goddamn twitter of all places so here it is

(spoilers under the cut for obvious reasons)

calla tuoleimi (cleopatra, ptolemy) and anton makusa (antony, marcus) are obvious; i think this is the cut and dry point stated for anyone even trying to look into this book

august avia and otta avia = octavian (later, augustus) and his sister, octavia, also mark antony's wife; while tuoleimi is an obvious bastardization of ptolemy, i'm not sure if shenzhi stands for something (or maybe i'm just dumb who knows)

king kasa = caesar/kaiser, bc like yeah

galipei weisanna = marcus vipsanius agrippa (this might be a stretch but its the closest approximation i can find both through their roles in the play and their names)

leida miliu = marcus aemilius lepidus, one of the triumvirates alongside antony and octavian

pampi magnes = sextus pompeius magnus pius, one of the rebels working against the triumvirate

eno = gnaeus domitius ahenobarbus (i could not find anything on this guy other than him being aligned with antony at some point and this pissing off octavian)

chami + yilas = charmion and iras, two of cleo's servants and advisors

pls let me know if i'm missing something or there's something you want to add on bc my brain is going haywire after that ending kek

#immortal longings #chloe gong #flesh and false gods #anton makusa #calla tuoleimi #august shenzhi

[hazellevessque]

I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ALL MEAN THIS IS THE MOST REPUTATION CODED THING I HAVE EVER READ

#“Baby let the games begin…are you ready for it?” ANSIJAJSJAJSJ #immortal longings #il #flesh and false gods #fafg #f&fg #calla tuoleimi #august shenzhi #anton makusa #chloe gong

[jessread-s]

✩🩸🌙 Special Edition Collection:

Obsessed is an understatement. Keep scrolling to read my full review of “Immortal Longings” and see why I had to get my hands on EVERY special edition of Chloe’s adult debut!

Gong makes a name for herself as an adult fantasy writer with her explosive debut “Immortal Longings.”

As with her other works, Gong draws inspiration for her novel from Shakespeare—specifically from his play “Antony and Cleopatra” in this instance. Her fictional world encompassing the the kingdom of Talin’s capital twin cities, San-Er, closely resembles Kowloon Walled City— an ungoverned and lawless territory that was once the most crowded place on Earth. Though the walled city was demolished in real life, Gong keeps its memory alive in her writing through her intricate world-building and descriptive prose. 

Gong completely leans into the fantasy genre with “Immortal Longings,” which I thoroughly enjoyed. She establishes that those who have a strong qui are able to jump between bodies. This ability is crucial to the people of San-Er’s survival, as the twin cities have high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse. Additionally, jumping is beneficial to those competing in the King’s Games—a series of games hosted by the monarch of Talon where 88 citizens fight to the death to win unimaginable riches. The reader is able to alternate between the perspectives of two of the king’s players: Princess Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa. 

Princess Calla is a fierce cat lady who rocks bangs and leather jackets. She killed her own parents (the former rulers of Er) to bring down the monarchy, is no stranger around a sword, and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. After years of hiding, she enters the games in secret, dead set on finishing the job she started by killing King Kasa—the ruler of San. Her chance meeting with Anton, however, throws a wrench in her plans. 

Anton is a master jumper who was exiled from his life as an aristocrat. If he wins, he hopes to use the winnings to pay off the debt he owes to the hospital for keeping his childhood love alive while she is in a coma. While she is the one to give Anton’s life direction, Calla is the one to give it purpose. 

On their own, Calla and Anton were merely surviving, but together, in their unexpected alliance, they find a way to live. The spark that develops between them reaches a fever pitch leading up to Gong’s first steamy scene, which is as violent as it is delightful.

Aside from Calla and Anton’s points-of-view, Gong supplies the reader with chapters written from August, Pampi, and Yilas’ viewpoints. Through them, we learn of every betrayal, deception, and ruse. Despite this and knowing in advance that “Antony and Cleopatra” is a Shakespearean tragedy, nothing could have prepared me for the whiplash I experienced at the end of “Immortal Longings.” I’m afraid my heart won’t stop pounding until I get book two of the “Flesh and False Gods” series in my hands. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

@chloegong

#immortal longings #flesh and false gods #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #anton x calla #august shenzhi #otta avia #chloe gong #enemies to lovers #forbidden romance #forbidden love #multiple povs #morally grey characters #shakespeare retelling #adult fantasy #fantasy romance #romantasy #adult romance #adult lit #adult literature #adult books #book review #booklr #book blog #book blogger #book rec #bookish #bibliophile

[madthebad]

prince august shenzhi save me.

prince august shenzhi.

save me prince august shenzhi.

#this book makes me want to chew on glass!!!!!!!! #but august is baby <3 #immortal longings #august shenzhi #prince august shenzhi #calla tuoleimi #princess calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #chloe gong

[chloegong]

hello tumblr I have come to bring you the VILEST THINGS COVER REVEALS AHHHHHHHHH

in case you missed it, there's an excerpt here and yeah I picked it myself for maximum toxic situationship angst

"chloe what about august what about galipei—" they suffer too don't worry we have to leave some suffering for inside the book ok!!! you can preorder a copy now, all links are live for this sequel to show up at ur door on Sept 10th :D

Official Description:

Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She serves now as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.

Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.

Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive, and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a years-long coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy… even if their empire might be better off burning.

#vilest things #immortal longings #chloe gong #cover reveal #woohoo! #do we have any questions thus far #i am here and around

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

IL 2 is going to be so unhinged. Like ah yes there’s my ex. Who I killed. There are metal buttons on his jacket hm I wonder if that evil dictator twink picked out those buttons so they would match his boyfriend’s eyes. Oh fuck oh right my ex might want to kill me. Would be fair tbh.

#roma montagov style betting on whether they’re going to try to kill each other or start making out #chloe gong #flesh and false gods #fafg #immortal longings #il #flesh and false gods 2 #fafg2 #immortal longings 2 #il2 #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #august shenzhi #anton x calla

[alexdobedumb]

Live reading blog (is that how you call it?) of Inmortal Longings

Chapters one to eight

chloe gong describing cities >>>

August is blonde???

3 pages in and i’m confused

the whole body hopping schist is so interesting

ok i like how she built this thing with the eye color

Wait so he’s just throwing things as if it’s normal?

ok so they exhiled him from his body

really liking the social commentary

yay sapphics!

so she’s responsible for the Er massacre???

Wait i thought King Kasa had betrayed Calla or smt but she just wanted to destroy the monarchy ( iconic of her btw)but i thought there was personal spice here

Can you tell i’ve never read Marc Anthony and Cleopatra?

I don’t really get why it’s a show, especially if the regular citizens are the ones watching. But maybe they’ll explain that later idk

Anton and August were best friends???

There are so many aspects about the body hopping, i feel like i have to write things down

ok so we also have the Sicans, i still dont know what the Crescent Society is

Ohhh they’re about to meet

Not Anton flirting with Calla while they’re trying to murder each other

So Pampi’s gonna be trouble

Can 15 yo compete???

Why did i never think about how the body hopping might conflate with trans identities until she mentioned it?

ok why is my gender identity so similar to Calla and how did she put that into words???

Does this make Calla genderqueer? i’m saying yes

The Crescent Society liking Calla is definately plot relevant right?

Don’t tell me Eno is dying

Why is Anton still throwing things?

I like Felo

He clocked her already?

wdym you can’t go in an out of san-er? that’s messed up

August’s whole “when i am king” optimism is so strange and i have toughts

what the fuck it’s wrong with King Kasa?

If i sound stupid i apologize, this book is known to ruin people’s reading cromprehension

#inmortal longings #chloe gong #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #august shenzhi

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Science-Fiction, Fantasy,

Rating: 4 out of 5

Content Warning: Violence, Murder, Death, Sexual content, Child death

Summary:

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.

*Opinions*

So this is one of the books that I got through my Adult-Book-only Fairyloot subscription, and I will admit that I was a little skeptical. I had heard some middling reviews about Chole Gong’s Young Adult Romeo and Juliette retelling, so I wasn’t sure how I would get on with this novel inspired by Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. I am happy to inform you that I really enjoyed my time with this novel, though it took some time to collect my feelings on this story and the characters that Gong introduces us to. While I will admit that the scaffolding of the plot was not original, I enjoyed the setting and characters enough that I kept turning the pages to see how this set-up we had seen before would play out. 

The plot of this novel is rather simple at its core and something that has been used before. Two competitors enter a tournament to the death for different reasons, but both have no option but to win. There is an individual behind the scenes pulling the strings, other disruptive forces at work, and an uneasy alliance between the two competitors might turn into something more. After the success of The Hunger Games, and Battle Royal before that, competition to the death is a very common plot in novels and a few of the lower-rated reviews complained about this scaffolding for the story. However, while Gong does make a number of comments about capitalism, the 1%, and social ills, there is a very different tone than The Hunger Games. Everyone enters the games willingly, even paying an entry fee, instead of being forced to fight to the death. They can also leave the games of their own accord at any time without fighting or killing. The society in San-Er has a lot of problems, which Princess Calla Tuoleimi and Prince August Shenzhi want to change in their own ways, but it is managed in a different way than that of The Hunger Games, so I don’t think it’s a fair comparison.   

I have seen a number of reviews complaining about the lack of solid world-building and that things are just said are happening in San-Er without any explanation. While I think some of that is due to not picking up subtle hints that Gong left throughout the story, some of it is that this is the first novel in a trilogy. Now, I will admit that at the back of the Fairyloot edition, there was a printed conversation with Gong, in which she stated that this first novel was very self-contained, but the world would expand in the rest of the series. While I am a strong believer that the story should stand on its own without reading author interviews or blog posts, I didn’t have any issue with the world-building. This novel was about the games and that is what it is focused on, with the rules or lack of them clearly defined. The rules of qi were also explained and then challenged without the context of this novel in a way that made sense to me. Perhaps I was just too enamored with the setting to be bothered by things that were grating to other people. I am also a reader who appreciates character work over plot so that probably contributes to it. 

Speaking of the setting, Gong did a very good job of making the city of San-Er a living breathing character in this novel. You can easily visualize the neon lights, the mass of humanity that is constantly on top of each other, and the smells and sounds that are constant throughout the novel. Gong also makes the reader feel the absence of these things when there are scenes in the Palace of Union or outside of the wall. While at times all the chaos in the city made it hard to track the action that was happening, which added to the chaotic nature of the action sequences in this novel. Still, the setting was a large reason why I enjoyed this novel as much as I did, I really got immersed into the world that Gong created and the constant struggle that the characters and citizens were facing. 

There are three main characters in this novel, Princess Calla Tuolemi, Prince August Shenzhi, and Anton Makusa. Now I don’t know if any of them can be called likable, but I find Calla the most sympathetic of the bunch. What drives her in the games is a naive notion that King Kasa is the reason for all the horrors and tragedy within the city and if she could just remove him from his reign, things would improve for the citizens of Talin. Now Calla is such a practical character that this thought that removing Kasa would start the country toward the path of healing or trusting August who wants the same thing was a little odd to me. However, her thought process usually makes sense, even if she makes decisions that aren’t the smartest. Given the ending of the novel, I am interested in seeing how her character is going to be in the sequel. 

Anton Makusa grows on you as the story progresses, but he doesn’t change, he just becomes obsessed with something new and does whatever possible to keep it. I think what keeps him from being completely unlikable is the fact that he is aware that he can be insufferable at times. I also enjoyed when he is around Calla and the balance they strike between competitors and whatever else is blooming between them. I will admit that the use of “I love you” in this novel was far too quick, especially given the circumstances, but I also have not read the source material so perhaps that is the reason. 

Prince August is the least likable, but the most interesting. Much like Anton, your opinion of him shifts throughout the novel, but he does not get enough screen time to really draw any conclusions about his character. Instead, you get the way that numerous people react to August, especially those who are closest to him. While Calla has naivety and Anton has confidence that is warranted, it is hard to get a read on August. Given the events at the end of the novel, it is unclear if we are going to get a better idea about him as the trilogy continues, but I am excited to get answers if they are provided. 

Overall, I enjoyed this novel a lot more than I expected and it is a 4-star read. However, if someone asked me why I liked the novel I would have a hard time pinpointing something other than the setting. While this is a full arc of a story, telling what happened during the games, the plot and the characters aren’t sitting in my feelings. That being said, I keep thinking about this novel and will pick up the sequel when it comes out.

#Immortal Longings #flesh and false gods series #book review #booklr #4 out of 5 stars #chloe gong

[teartra]

Immortal Longings Spoilers

Since Anton’s sisters were taken and we don’t know much about Calla’s past identity. There’s this fear inside me because it might be possible that Anton and Calla were… related

And it’s sorta true now

#anton if you want to take anyone’s body… DON’T TAKE HER COUSIN #they’re not blood related but PLS #anton makusa #calla tuoleimi #august shenzhi #immortal longings #immortal longings spoilers #chloe gong

[romajuliettemai]

Something about August Shenzhi is just so lovable.

Yes, he's corrupt.

Yes, he'd be a bad monarch.

Yes, he's an emotional brick (but secretly obsessed with Galipei.)

Yes, he's ruthless, powerhungry, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants (unless it includes harming Galipei, I'm sure.)

Yes, he's not a saint, nor a good guy, in any form or fashion.

Yet I still love him for some reason, and loved reading his povs during IL <3

#chloe gong #il #flesh and false gods #fafg #f&fg #august shenzhi #calla tuoleimi #anton makusa #galipei weisanna #immortal longings

[hazellevessque]

Trying to read Immortal Longings but HOW am I supposed to focus when the CROWN PRINCE’S name is AUGUST

#The CROWN PRINCE?? AUGUST?? i cannot #Anyone but someone named august #immortal longings #flesh and false gods #fafg #il #chloe gong #young royals #august horn #august horn of årnäs #august shenzhi