In this week's selection of "TikTok Books That Are Actually Terrible" I present to you all:
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
I'm gonna try to approach this wIn this week's selection of "TikTok Books That Are Actually Terrible" I present to you all:
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
I'm gonna try to approach this with some care because I recognize that Roberts is a young author and this is her debut. A simple scroll through her social media account will make it clear to anyone that this is a project that she's dedicated a lot of time and energy into and I don't discredit her passion. But when it comes to craft, the unfortunate fact is that the writing quality will always reveal when you're very early in your author journey and that's just a matter of life experience. Roberts wrote what she knew and in this case, she knew about The Hunger Games, Red Queen, and other YA contemporaries that she mixed together with some popular tropes like enemies to lovers and power systems.
Our end result, Powerless, is the blandest approximation of all those ideas without any of the soul and creativity of its predecessors.
THE PREMISE
Meet Paedyn Gray, a MC name that sounds like it came from an internet fantasy name generator, who lives in a vaguely European fantasy world where there was a Plague that gave a majority of the population powers.
OH. A NOTE ON THE PLAGUE.
Because this is a YA book, Roberts decided to swap curse words for the word "plague" and it's as ridiculous as you can possibly imagine:
"I'm dead at the Plague."
That's a direct quote. It's would be okay if it was invoked a few times to demonstrate the levity of the situation but the use of "plagues" is such a juvenile thing that lessens the impact of any sentence its used in. Like Roberts like as well have gone ahead and used the word "fuck" because then I wouldn't be rolling my eyes every time a character used the word:
"Thank the Plague you didn't get caught, Pae."
"Plagues, Kitt's in a lovely mood today."
"Plagues, here we go."
WTF is this supposed to even mean? Mind you, the Plague killed hundreds of people so idk why this catastrophic disease is being used. In other YA fantasies, you might come across something like "Saints" like in Shadow and Bone, which is in reference to the world's religious beliefs, and in the Lunar Chronicles, people say "Stars" and that also fits because the setting is sci-fi. I think Roberts hoped to emulate that kind of jargon but again, the effect fell flat.
Moving on to the world actually, all the world-building is so juvenile, if you told me this was a thirteen-year-old's first attempt at a Wattpad book, I would 100% believe you. Within this world, each subset of powered people have specific names (as was in the case in Red Queen). A couple examples, "Flash" = super speed, "Brawny" = super strong, "Crawler" = idk something to do with crawling I guess, it's all very on the nose.
Then there's the Purging Trials, our Hunger Games variant. Except... Roberts doesn't seem to understand what made the Hunger Games have its original appeal. Suzanne Collins gripped an entire generation with the story of this brutal trial by combat of children as a way to render an oppressed country completely powerless. It wasn't about being hot while fighting against your enemies. It was about survival. Katniss Everdeen was not a willing hero, she was a child caught in a system designed to kill her. On the other hand, Paedyn, this random thief from the slums, is selected for the trials after helping save a prince (mind you, a guy who is super strong and destines to be the Kingdom Enforcer) from a bunch of thugs, which gave her the moniker of "The Silver Saint." ??? We understood the motivation and purpose of the games. Comparing it to the Purging Trials is a damned insult.
For one, I never understood the point of the trials. Our Big Bad guy is the king who instituted the trials as a way to have his strong "Elites" (people who have powers) compete against each other? For what? A show of power? But he also despises and wants to hunt down people who don't have powers? Like I don't understand how people without powers (like Padeyn) are even a threat to the king given that they have nothing but their human limitations against the Elites. The fact Paedyn isn't caught for being powerless is also such a plot hole because what do you mean none of the scholars/scientists in this kingdom ever bothered to look into the super "rare" ability to read people's minds? The fact she's able to bluff her way with her fake powers is also so dumb because we're supposed to believe that Paedyn's incredible perceptiveness makes her a convincing telepath; the moment someone asks her to tell her the exact number they're thinking in their head would make the entire facade crumble into pieces.
THE CHARACTERS
I don't remember any of them lol.
Like genuinely, the moment I finished the book, the already flimsy details faded into the void. But here's what I can say without going back to the book:
- Paedyn Gray: Not like other girls with gray-silver hair and a sad past as an orphaned thief. This is a little gripe on my part but the way Roberts wrote about poverty was wildly uncomfortable. For one, her neighborhood is called Loot Alley. Yes. You read that right. I imagined it as the Isle from Disney's Descendents where all the villain kids did their intro song in the movie. It's such a comical description and it gets worse with phrases like:
"As the streets come alive with the hustle and bustle of merchants haggling while beggars please with anyone who spares them a glance."
"I pass groups of fellow homeless huddling together for the night. I can see the faint shimmer of purple forcefields shielding some, while others don't even have an ability strong enough to allow them to sleep peacefully, which is the exact reason they call the slums their home."
"The poor don't discriminate. A shilling is a shilling, and they don't care if they jump someone worse off then them to get it."
I just...it rubs me the wrong way. I don't know if the quotes capture the exact source of my discomfort but while reading, I just had a serious feeling that Roberts has likely never been exposed to homelessness or experienced/understood what it means to live low-income, let alone before the poverty line. She writes like she got all her understanding of housing insecurity from reading a couple YA novels by upper-middle class white authors living in the suburbs.
- Prince Kai: Walks around shirtless while doing sword things. Has power of mimcry. That's all I know about him LMAO. I think he had some angst about being the big bad kingdom Enforcer and how he was born to be a fighter but this man was literally so bland my eyes were glazing over with pure disinterest every time he came on the page.
- Prince Kitt: Kai's brother. 2nd love interest who will probably become a Maven Calore dupe. Was he blonde? I think he was blonde, which would cement his status as the guy in the love triangle Padeyn would never end up with.
- Adena: ALRIGHT I HAVE SOME SHIT TO SAY ABOUT THIS CHARACTER SO LISTEN UP. Adena, from my understanding, is our only POC character with levity. Like she's someone that Paedyn actually interacts with for more than a sentence. In many ways, I consider Adena to be our Rue dupe, our Nehemia variant. Accordingly, she is the POC character who dies to further the white main character's arc. Honestly, by that point in the novel I was so out of it that Adena's death registered to me a couple of beats after the fact. But when I realized what happened, I was genuinely furious because it's such a lazy and frankly offensive thing to continue this trope. I thought we left the POC bestie dying trope somewhere in the 2010s but instead we have this shit happening in the great year of 2023. FOR WHAT PURPOSE? At least in The Hunger Games, we understood that Rue's death was this horrible thing to demonstrate the brutality of the games (and some can still argue it was an unfortunate use of the trope), but I don't get the point of Adena dying. It's not this ballsy move where you're killing your darlings if the plot point is only there for make the main character this tragic figure who has experienced loss.
CONCLUSION
The terrible world-building aside, the problematic plot points aside, this book was too long. Roberts claims she had an editor help her with Powerless but I suggest she find another one for the next books because there's so much fluff that could be cut from this novel to make it something less painful to read. I would recommend she look more into improving her craft, having more beta readers who give her hard but true examinations of her story, and going back to interrogate what kind of story she wants to tell in order to draw something that is uniquely her own instead of a lifeless brick of a book that comes off as essentially, a bunch of ideas in a trench coat with no solid storytelling.
Merged review:
In this week's selection of "TikTok Books That Are Actually Terrible" I present to you all:
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
I'm gonna try to approach this with some care because I recognize that Roberts is a young author and this is her debut. A simple scroll through her social media account will make it clear to anyone that this is a project that she's dedicated a lot of time and energy into and I don't discredit her passion. But when it comes to craft, the unfortunate fact is that the writing quality will always reveal when you're very early in your author journey and that's just a matter of life experience. Roberts wrote what she knew and in this case, she knew about The Hunger Games, Red Queen, and other YA contemporaries that she mixed together with some popular tropes like enemies to lovers and power systems.
Our end result, Powerless, is the blandest approximation of all those ideas without any of the soul and creativity of its predecessors.
THE PREMISE
Meet Paedyn Gray, a MC name that sounds like it came from an internet fantasy name generator, who lives in a vaguely European fantasy world where there was a Plague that gave a majority of the population powers.
OH. A NOTE ON THE PLAGUE.
Because this is a YA book, Roberts decided to swap curse words for the word "plague" and it's as ridiculous as you can possibly imagine:
"I'm dead at the Plague."
That's a direct quote. It's would be okay if it was invoked a few times to demonstrate the levity of the situation but the use of "plagues" is such a juvenile thing that lessens the impact of any sentence its used in. Like Roberts like as well have gone ahead and used the word "fuck" because then I wouldn't be rolling my eyes every time a character used the word:
"Thank the Plague you didn't get caught, Pae."
"Plagues, Kitt's in a lovely mood today."
"Plagues, here we go."
WTF is this supposed to even mean? Mind you, the Plague killed hundreds of people so idk why this catastrophic disease is being used. In other YA fantasies, you might come across something like "Saints" like in Shadow and Bone, which is in reference to the world's religious beliefs, and in the Lunar Chronicles, people say "Stars" and that also fits because the setting is sci-fi. I think Roberts hoped to emulate that kind of jargon but again, the effect fell flat.
Moving on to the world actually, all the world-building is so juvenile, if you told me this was a thirteen-year-old's first attempt at a Wattpad book, I would 100% believe you. Within this world, each subset of powered people have specific names (as was in the case in Red Queen). A couple examples, "Flash" = super speed, "Brawny" = super strong, "Crawler" = idk something to do with crawling I guess, it's all very on the nose.
Then there's the Purging Trials, our Hunger Games variant. Except... Roberts doesn't seem to understand what made the Hunger Games have its original appeal. Suzanne Collins gripped an entire generation with the story of this brutal trial by combat of children as a way to render an oppressed country completely powerless. It wasn't about being hot while fighting against your enemies. It was about survival. Katniss Everdeen was not a willing hero, she was a child caught in a system designed to kill her. On the other hand, Paedyn, this random thief from the slums, is selected for the trials after helping save a prince (mind you, a guy who is super strong and destines to be the Kingdom Enforcer) from a bunch of thugs, which gave her the moniker of "The Silver Saint." ??? We understood the motivation and purpose of the games. Comparing it to the Purging Trials is a damned insult.
For one, I never understood the point of the trials. Our Big Bad guy is the king who instituted the trials as a way to have his strong "Elites" (people who have powers) compete against each other? For what? A show of power? But he also despises and wants to hunt down people who don't have powers? Like I don't understand how people without powers (like Padeyn) are even a threat to the king given that they have nothing but their human limitations against the Elites. The fact Paedyn isn't caught for being powerless is also such a plot hole because what do you mean none of the scholars/scientists in this kingdom ever bothered to look into the super "rare" ability to read people's minds? The fact she's able to bluff her way with her fake powers is also so dumb because we're supposed to believe that Paedyn's incredible perceptiveness makes her a convincing telepath; the moment someone asks her to tell her the exact number they're thinking in their head would make the entire facade crumble into pieces.
THE CHARACTERS
I don't remember any of them lol.
Like genuinely, the moment I finished the book, the already flimsy details faded into the void. But here's what I can say without going back to the book:
- Paedyn Gray: Not like other girls with gray-silver hair and a sad past as an orphaned thief. This is a little gripe on my part but the way Roberts wrote about poverty was wildly uncomfortable. For one, her neighborhood is called Loot Alley. Yes. You read that right. I imagined it as the Isle from Disney's Descendents where all the villain kids did their intro song in the movie. It's such a comical description and it gets worse with phrases like:
"As the streets come alive with the hustle and bustle of merchants haggling while beggars please with anyone who spares them a glance."
"I pass groups of fellow homeless huddling together for the night. I can see the faint shimmer of purple forcefields shielding some, while others don't even have an ability strong enough to allow them to sleep peacefully, which is the exact reason they call the slums their home."
"The poor don't discriminate. A shilling is a shilling, and they don't care if they jump someone worse off then them to get it."
I just...it rubs me the wrong way. I don't know if the quotes capture the exact source of my discomfort but while reading, I just had a serious feeling that Roberts has likely never been exposed to homelessness or experienced/understood what it means to live low-income, let alone before the poverty line. She writes like she got all her understanding of housing insecurity from reading a couple YA novels by upper-middle class white authors living in the suburbs.
- Prince Kai: Walks around shirtless while doing sword things. Has power of mimcry. That's all I know about him LMAO. I think he had some angst about being the big bad kingdom Enforcer and how he was born to be a fighter but this man was literally so bland my eyes were glazing over with pure disinterest every time he came on the page.
- Prince Kitt: Kai's brother. 2nd love interest who will probably become a Maven Calore dupe. Was he blonde? I think he was blonde, which would cement his status as the guy in the love triangle Padeyn would never end up with.
- Adena: ALRIGHT I HAVE SOME SHIT TO SAY ABOUT THIS CHARACTER SO LISTEN UP. Adena, from my understanding, is our only POC character with levity. Like she's someone that Paedyn actually interacts with for more than a sentence. In many ways, I consider Adena to be our Rue dupe, our Nehemia variant. Accordingly, she is the POC character who dies to further the white main character's arc. Honestly, by that point in the novel I was so out of it that Adena's death registered to me a couple of beats after the fact. But when I realized what happened, I was genuinely furious because it's such a lazy and frankly offensive thing to continue this trope. I thought we left the POC bestie dying trope somewhere in the 2010s but instead we have this shit happening in the great year of 2023. FOR WHAT PURPOSE? At least in The Hunger Games, we understood that Rue's death was this horrible thing to demonstrate the brutality of the games (and some can still argue it was an unfortunate use of the trope), but I don't get the point of Adena dying. It's not this ballsy move where you're killing your darlings if the plot point is only there for make the main character this tragic figure who has experienced loss.
CONCLUSION
The terrible world-building aside, the problematic plot points aside, this book was too long. Roberts claims she had an editor help her with Powerless but I suggest she find another one for the next books because there's so much fluff that could be cut from this novel to make it something less painful to read. I would recommend she look more into improving her craft, having more beta readers who give her hard but true examinations of her story, and going back to interrogate what kind of story she wants to tell in order to draw something that is uniquely her own instead of a lifeless brick of a book that comes off as essentially, a bunch of ideas in a trench coat with no solid storytelling....more
The publishers did not approve my e-arc request and for good reason, I’m about to go off on in this review. Shout out to my book bestie for letting meThe publishers did not approve my e-arc request and for good reason, I’m about to go off on in this review. Shout out to my book bestie for letting me borrow their physical arc! I’m making it everyone’s problem now.
Before I begin, I wanna lay some ground rules: clearly, my rating indicates that I wasn’t a fan of the book but I’m also aware of the weird jealousy surrounding Chloe Gong’s success (much of which feels like thinly veiled racism and misogyny). I will never condone any of that vitriol in the spaces I occupy so all the bigoted haters can pack it up—I’m here to represent the justified haters (ie. the people who have critiques about craft/story/world-building, of which there are many).
GENERAL SUMMARY
Immortal Longings in signature Chloe Gong fashion, repurposes a Shakespearean play (in this case, Antony and Cleopatra) in a 90s noir setting. We follow three main protagonists (debatable, given I kept mixing up Anton and August every few scenes) in their journey through a Hunger Games battle royal that takes place annually in their kingdom of Talin, specifically within the capital twin cities San-Er. Lot of things happen, no emotional attachments are made, and in all, it’s a fairly lackluster foray into Adult Sci-Fi/Sci-Fantasy.
I’m gonna tell you why.
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
Chloe has mentioned in a couple of TikToks advertising Immortal Longings that the book is a “NA fantasy trilogy [...] 1990s Hong Kong stylized vibes” with the intended effect of being a “90s Asian noir city.” It’s an intriguing premise but it was only after I talked to a couple of other reader friends, some being natives of Hong Kong, that I was made aware of the historical context Gong was likely taking inspiration from: Kowloon Walled City.
Now I don’t think you need to read a full thesis on the subject, but I made a point of going back for some surface-level research after I finished this book. It is fascinating. The cliff notes: Kowloon Walled City was originally built as a military fort during the period of British colonialism around the later 1800s, and continued to grow into a densely populated vertical city of sorts (50,000 residents at one point) as Hong Kong experienced Japanese occupation and then the Chinese Civil War.
From my (limited) understanding, Kowloon was a fairly underserved area with “no tax, no regulation of businesses, no health, or planning systems, no police presence [...] criminal activity flourished” (Atlas Obscura), especially under gang control and opium production. Locals came to call is “Hak Nam” which translates to mean “City of Darkness” but at the same time, Kowloon was a major producer of plastics, textiles, food, etc. A lot of the people who lived there had respect for each other and the lawlessness did not necessarily always translate to violence. In fact, the city was a major influence on themes like cyberspace, autonomous governments, and the idea of humanity persevering in the most unexpected places.
Why am I giving you this history lesson?
BECAUSE THIS BOOK DID NONE OF THESE IDEAS JUSTICE.
THE WORLD BUILDING
I was honestly vibing with the descriptions of the book until about 20%:
The needle-thin alleys between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion.
But then I hit a point where I started to feel weird with how Gong described poverty:
”He lets them suffer in their filth and misery instead, even those who once lived under his very roof”
“Though his cheeks have a babyish roundness to them, his limbs are stick-thin with the mark of hunger.”
“He could have chosen life instead…a miserable, dirty life, hungry and cramped, persistently in fear of debt collectors”
It was so strange, like Gong understands the aesthetics of poverty, but can only talk about it from a clinical perspective. I hate to be that person, but authors’ experiences color their writing, and it checks out that a rich girl with a private school education doesn’t understand the reality of what a city slum is like. There is a lot of hardship and hopelessness that comes from being born poor, there is a lot of pain and danger, but the very one-note portrayal was at certain times, surface-level, at other times uncomfortable and tone-deaf. I read Powerless a couple of months ago, and Gong’s description of poverty was strikingly similar to what I found in that book (which funny enough, is yet another Hunger Games knockoff…but we’ll get to that later).
With all this, it is almost comical that in the midst of vast social inequity, Gong decides to make all three main characters rich people LMAO. We have Calla (ex-princess); Anton (ex-aristocrat); and August (heir to the fucking throne). It also wild to me that Calla is supposed to be our revolutionary in this book because she has plans to kill King Kasa—you might think, well at least she is gonna end the oppressive monarchy! WRONG. Calla’s only goal in this entire book is to kill the figurehead King Kasa…so…she can install the “benevolent” king August intends to be.
Yup. You read that right, folks. Calla’s plan to end systemic poverty is getting a nicer king. Don’t make me tap the sign: Oppressive Structures Of Governance Can Not Be Changed From The Inside, thank you come again. Even the fucking French understood that much.
By the way, the guy Calla is trying to institute into power signed off on a rural province being torched to the ground:
“Instructions from the palace.” August’s voice is dull, emotionless. It has to be, because the guards are still listening. “We must punish insurrectionists against the throne, and when this village is razed, we will use the barren land to build a security base and oversee business regarding the wall.”
THIS IS YOUR KING?? Fuck August’s whole “I’m the clever golden prince shtick.” It’s giving complicit in systemic oppression because it doesn’t effect you at the end of the day.
(Side note: I still don’t get why they have to battle with swords and knives when it’s the 90s? I get that the traditional weapons look cool but you’re telling me no one had the idea to get a gun? If a sniper entered the games, it would be over in a week LMAO)
Maybe Gong’s intent is to demonstrate how delusional Calla is in her savior complex, but Calla also spent FIVE YEARS in hiding and you’re telling me the best idea she could cook up in that half-decade is “kill king to save kingdom”? Clearly, the monarchy wasn’t working in the first place, how stupid do you have to be to believe exchanging one figurehead for another would allow for meaningful change??? The book tries to be self-aware by pointing out these flaws but the ideas are so simplistic I don’t see anything to have a major epiphany over lmao:
“Because I’m not doing this to rule,” she says quietly. “I just want to stop King Kasa.” [...] “This is Kasa’s rot,” Calla continues steadily. “And when he’s gone, no child will go hungry again.” [...] “Calla Tuoleimei is too clever to be fooled into such elementary thinking, too sensible to believe a kingdom could change so wholly by merely swapping one mortal man for another. Though…perhaps she is simply weary enough to be fooled.”
FIVE YEARS. Five. Years. And that’s her grand plan. Because she is tired.
Try living like us Calla! (I point this out because despite being forced to be in hiding with the poors, Miss Ex-Princess has her own apartment, enough money to take care of a cat, buy food whenever she wants, and never seems to be without basic comforts the rest of the city residents don’t have lmao).
Gah. I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet lmao. I’ll finish off with the city section by saying that this San-Er is supposed to be a fusion of Kowloon and Ancient Rome, but neither city ever felt distinguishable from the other. There was no personality—no unique factors that made the setting stand out as something different from any other generic dystopian city. The clash of ancient battle styles against 90s cybercafes and pager tech just never felt cohesive. There was definitely more opportunity to include 90s references and even the wealth of material from the muse that is Kowloon, but Gong stuck to pretty details without any substance.
BODY JUMPING
I’m probably dumb but this concept left me with more questions than answers. I’ll buy that everyone has qi and there is a gene that lets certain people’s souls jump from one body to another. We’re told that every citizen had a specific ID number to identify themselves and their assets and that eye colors are the only trait that remains consistent between bodies (which is why there is a range of colors like violet/pink/red irises).
But in such a densely populated area like San-Er, how are there not repeat eye colors (I mention this because Calla will frequently mention that in the ENTIRE capital, only two people will have black eyes or whatever “She knows only two people in this city with black eyes”)? I actually looked up when contacts were made because in a 90s-esque world, this feels like something that could be easily covered up, even with sunglasses lmao. What happens when someone memorizes someone else’s ID number? How is crime regulated if a person can hop into a body, steal something, and then hop into another body?
The consent in this world is dicey, to say the least. There is a sex scene in this book and well…let me just let y’all take a read:
”This is someone else’s body, but in San-Er, that detail is as normal as jumping. When it comes to this sort of use, bodies are only accessories, discardable and utilized based on need.”
Now let’s consider that the individuals involved in the act are both in bodies that do not belong to them, one who actually stole the body from a CHILD. I can suspend belief, and I can understand that this is how their society works, but the optics of it are so off-putting. Especially when you start to think real hard about the power dynamics of being someone who can jump vs. someone who can’t—when you are a part of the latter group, your body is wholly yours, the “vessel” you have full ownership over. It feels like a violation then, to be invaded and forced to yield to the whims of someone who can force their power over you.
LMAO CAN Y’ALL IMAGINE?? First, you’re poor and left to suffer, in Gong’s words, “filth and misery,” and then on top of that, some asshole with a magical qi gene can override the control of your body to do whatever they want. In the event that asshole gets stabbed, RIP to you because they can jump into another body and you’re left with a fatal wound. AND YOU CAN’T EVEN GO TO THE DOCTOR lmao because:
”All the hospitals in San-Er are like this. Overworked and overpacked, underpaid and understaffed. The people who run shifts are either short-tempered or entirely apathetic.”
Then there are little exceptions that have no prior explanation:
”Where other bodies are only impenetrable when they’re already invaded, the Weisannas are born as if they are doubled, though they have but one set of qi. While they can occupy others with ease, others cannot occupy them back.”
WHY THOUGH? What is the precedent that allows for this anomaly?? We’re told the deities of the world gave the kingdom of Talin the ability to jump with their qi but then how are these exceptions able to exist? Are their more? Why that specific family line?? Stop describing the poor people for a quick second and EXPLAIN MISS GONG.
All this just goes back to my world-building point where Gong has interesting ideas here with the body jumping, but she never commits to any clear throughline or theme that would make it all come together.
CHARACTERS RUN THROUGH
Calla: ex-princess; wants to “save” San-Er by…killing (1) figurehead. trained for battle since young age (lowkey giving Lightlark vibes); sword fighter even tho it is the 90s (allegedly) and there are computers and guns
August: guy who wants to be next figurehead; annoying dipshit if we’re being honest; blonde
Anton: ex-aristocrat; exiled…for some reason; loves jumping, bad at consent; wants to save childhood friend/lover because of attachment issues?
Yilas: side character with no influence
Chami: another side character with no influence
Galipei: offbrand benmars but more of an enabler
Leida: blue glitter (view spoiler)[and betrayal vibes, I guess. tbh the reveal left me so underwhelmed I didn’t even register it (hide spoiler)]
Otta: if you’ve read SJM books, she’s literally the Sandriel variant
HUNGER GAMES COMP (derogatory)
Without fail, every Hunger Games comp just queues a new story up for utter failure. So many of the new author girlies are fixated on the false idea that the Hunger Games was popularized because people thought Katniss looked hot with a bow and arrow. When The Legend Suzanne Collins set out to pioneer YA dystopian fiction, I promise you that it was not to romanticize killing people as a #girlboss move.
The Hunger Games is a story of desperate survival; killing not by will but necessity, and dealing with the psychological fallout that came with making those decisions in the heat of the moment. When I first read Mockingjay at like thirteen, I was like confused and miffed that Katniss ended the trilogy spiraling from her actions. But it is only now that I can appreciate how fucking Real Collins was in conveying the absolute devastation of being a symbol of resistance and revolution, especially at the tender age of sixteen.
Gong has frequently comped Immortal Longings to being about Cato and Clove and while that makes for a compelling premise, her version of the games is SO STUPID. The Hunger Games is a forced yearly tradition meant to destroy morale within the districts: they send the most vulnerable in their communities, children, into a bloodbath because they have no power to refuse the government. San-Er has games because…King Kasa’s father decided it would be entertaining.
“Kasa’s father had started them in his previous reign, and what began as a yearly one-on-one battle to the death eventually grew to a multicontestant affair, expanding past the coliseum and using all of San-Er as a playing field [...] Now, the games are a thrill that anyone can participate in, a solution to a kingdom simmering with complaints. Don’t worry if your babies drop dead because they have hollowed into starved husks, King Kasa declares, Put your name in the lottery, slaughter only eighty-seven of your fellow citizens and be awarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams..”
I think a better comp for Immortal Longings would be Squid Games because the show also touches on the desperation to do heinous things for the sake of money. But what Squid Games manages to do that Immortal Longings fails at, is the ability to humanize people and their motivations for playing. In Squid Games we could sympathize with players from immigrant background, players who were refugees, players who were in crippling debt, players who grew up in generational poverty. Even the villains had important arcs that we could follow.
Gong decides instead to make the games a backdrop for of violence. I understand there is appeal in the monetary prize, but Gong never even gives us some kind of weight of how much it could change a person’s life; in Squid Games we see the giant piggy bank that is a constant visual reminder of why the dangers are worth it. The players in Squid Game don’t set out to kill, but as everything progresses, they realize that only one person will walk away with the reward so the violence steadily progresses out of necessity.
The structure of the games in Immortal Longings starts with a Dacun, which is like the Hunger Games cornucopia bloodbath, then several weeks of senseless killing until it gets down to the final two players in what is called the Juedou. Players are given free rein to kill and body jump; they all get little wristbands (which I have mentally been picturing as white apple watches) that ping whenever there are other players nearby, but there are no other rules. They aren’t in a controlled environment, all of San-Er is their playing field and so people become casualties. WHICH EYE DON’T UNDERSTAND.
You’re telling me, people who are not able to body jump are just gonna sign off on being casualties in a fight they didn’t sign up for because everyone loves the entertainment that much? I’m calling bullshit, but here is Gong’s delightful explanation:
“The games make jumping legal for the players, after all–they must answer for it by providing some sort of care. Collateral casualties who are gravely injured must be taken to the hospital free of cost; collateral casualties whose bodies are destroyed must be paid handsomely, and if their qi is killed alongside it, then their family members get money.”
Did we not discuss earlier that the healthcare system is shit??
There’s never any true tension or stakes with these games. You don’t even need to kill anyone. With the wristband, there’s a chip that can be taken out to deactivate someone’s game status. What is stopping Calla from destroying wristbands if she’s so committed to helping the citizens of San-Er? Or is that not morally gray enough LMAOOO. As I said earlier, what’s worked with the game trope in other iterations across fiction is when it is used to highlight why everyone else is involving themselves as a last resort/or because they crave power. In Immortal Longings, Calla enters because it means she’ll be able to have an audience with King Kasa and kill him.
LMAO my review is too long, I'll post the rest in the comments I guess ...more
okay I’m like 11/12 hours into the audiobook and my patience is so t h i n right now. with the white boi savior I was like “hmM thats uncomfortable,” okay I’m like 11/12 hours into the audiobook and my patience is so t h i n right now. with the white boi savior I was like “hmM thats uncomfortable,” but predictable. and then the constant parent bashing, okay fine an important experience to share. but then the parallel of the Oh So Accepting White Parents vs. the Narrow Minded and Conservative Brown Parents is GRATING ON MY NERVES. the main character is so shallow in how she considers her background and it’s something that never changes or gets much depth. much like her fake-but-not-fake boyfriend. there’s no understanding from both sides, just this caricature of strict af Bangladeshi parents that make her feel caged. I’m too tired to do a nuanced review right now but if this is someone’s first introduction into a Muslim Bangladeshi-American character, they’re going to walk away with the Netflix understanding (i.e. poor, helpless Muslim brown girl needs big strong white boy to free her from the shackles of her orientalist lifestyle).
I don’t think enough people talk about how corny Ace is. straight up, he’s the most unbelievable fictional man I’ve read in a L O N G time. not dreamy in the slightest, just weirdly obsessive and perfect?? at least we could all acknowledge that Edward Cullen was a bit of a freak, but no, Alastair Clyde (totally believable name btw) is just a bad boy with a heart of gold. I hate him the most....more
**spoiler alert** OKAY. I just finished and I gotta get these thoughts out in the world so here we go. But also before starting, I know that writing /**spoiler alert** OKAY. I just finished and I gotta get these thoughts out in the world so here we go. But also before starting, I know that writing /anything/ is damn hard, so major props to SJMass for crafting this series, and the other ones, and really creating worlds that you can’t help but get invested in! All spoilers, sorry.
[The Good] 1. The Whole Valkyrie Arc: *chef’s kiss* I was 110% here for the whole “sister-in-arms” kind of love between the Nesta, Gywn, and Emerie because Nesta has spent so much of her post-war life estranged from the picture-perfect life that Feyre and Elain have and it was refreshing to see her form bonds with her own found family. I think the whole staircase progression was also a clever way to show her growth and THE BLOOD RITE. SHUT UP, THAT WAS INCREDIBLE.
2. The Blood Rite: the Hunger Games vibes were /immaculate/ to the tee (climbing up trees and tying themselves against the trunk while sleeping at night, hello Katniss and Rue). I’m so glad that the fourth part centered around that because I was disappointed when they initially decided against participating. It was so fitting that the three of them took it on, and that whole forged bracelets detail bringing them together was *tears*
3. The House of Wind: bro when Nesta said that a sentient house was her only friend, damn the heartstrings were pulled! I was absolutely here for the book exchanges and the little interactive bantering, and some of the conversations at dinner were fun to read (ie. Nesta got busted from an attempt at the stairs and Az asked if Cassian pushed her down lmao)
[The Bad] I was trying to think of what else stuck out for the good but I’m drawing a blank lmao
1. Feysand really peaked in ACOMAF for me. I can’t explain it, they’re just a little irritating and almost *too* perfect. Their side plot about the birth was okay but I (like a lot of you here) wasn’t a huge fan when Nesta gave back so much of her power to save Feyre. Also the High King/High Queen detail should never come to fruition because they're already oh so powerful I'm over ittt
2. Speaking of ACOMAF, did anyone get major deja vu with the parallels between that book and this one: both protagonists are in a difficult place at the start, but they have uncontrollable powers, that they train on with the love interest, there’s also the same trope of the *ancient powerful objects*, and a distant threat from a neighboring kingdom that turns out to not be that climactic as it was built up. I felt like I was reading Nesta’s version of ACOMAF tbh
3. Static Cassian: I wish we got more of his backstory. He’s literally gone through so much and makes a few comments about bad monsters that he’d put away, but his character felt like the supporting/grounding figure for Nesta’s healing. This wouldn’t be bad, but given that it’s supposed to be a dual POV, I would have liked to have seen his flaws an shortcomings, and inner struggles. Most of the time he was either training Nesta, ogling at her body in the House, or just giving the reader’s the Inner Circle’s perspective on Nesta’s progress. I feel like he could have had so much more depth. Like in the novella he literally went to the ravaged camp where he avenged his mother!! Nesta went to some dark places and we got her inner struggle but Cassian was also just *good and brave and honest* and kind of untouchable in his perfection lmao.
[The Eh] 1. World-Building: Don’t hate me but I’m kind of sick of the Night Court. We already know so much about it and I wouldn’t have minded if we got to see some of the other realms, particularly the Autumn Court and Winter Court (the smidge of storyline that we got on all the other High Lords was so interesting in ACOWAR and I’m kind of tired of how perfect the Night Court is). I honestly think Nesta should have rebelled against the initial intervention, maybe attempted to see another realm, and then realize that she wanted to be back in the Velaris. There was so much potential for adventure methinks.
2. The Band of Exiles and Eris: I think that Lucien’s character and the dynamics of the Autumn Court are so interesting, we got a potential Day Court Heir and then Eris being morally grey is so fun to read. I kind of wish that Nesta held on to some of her morally grey character because it’s always more fun to read about characters who maybe are selfish and struggling with goodness against their self-interest. This is a long-winded way of me saying that Vassa, Jurian, and Lucien need more storyline and I want to read from Eris’ POV to understand why he does what he does. Think about the dynamics between all the brothers and then Eris and his dad like?? It'd be so good I know it. Also I like Autumn and seeing a realm around that would be so cool.
3. Villans: I feel like each series makes the main villains more and more like a caricature of The Big Bad. Like I didn’t even get how Queen Briallyn was a threat because the fight between her and Nesta had been so one-sided and over in just a few paragraphs lmao. Even the lake dude, Koseha(?) what are his motivations beyond the shallow “I want to be freed to do bad.” Idk the stakes felt low, and maybe that’s a choice because this was about Nesta’s healing and romance.
Alrighty, that’s what I got right now, haven’t read the Az chapter but I think Elriel wouldn’t be that interesting to read in the next book and I like some of the theories on this sub about Elain going to the Spring Court because it’s time we E X P A N D outside of Velaris!...more
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