Have you ever had the pleasure of discovering a book that you believed was perfect, but when you read it, it turned out to be even more fantastic than you could have imagined? You wish you could rewind time and relive the pleasure of reading it for the first time. If you can relate to this feeling, then I'm afraid this book might not be the one for you.
I was ecstatic when Netgalley granted me access to this book. Years ago, I was captivated by Suzanne Weyn's 'Reincarnation,' a story that still holds a special place in my heart. Its message has lingered with me, resonating deeply. Naturally, I had high hopes for 'The Emperor and the Endless Palace,' given its shared theme with 'Reincarnation.' However, my anticipation was met with disappointment. Despite the promise of delving deeper into the star-crossed lovers' past and present, the story failed to deliver. The book, despite its enticing description, was ultimately a letdown, an empty shell of what it could have been.
I feel that what went wrong with the story is the author's fixation with sexualizing every special moment. Of the three timelines the book is split into, my favorite period was 1740. I would skip everything else to read about that specific timeline. However, when I was enjoying it the most, the timeline would switch to either present LA or 4BCE, and in those, the sexual atmosphere would take away all the meaning from the plot.
Everything about the story revolves around sex, even the main characters' feelings; if there were any chance for a special moment, it would build just to end in sex. And let's be honest, this is not the romantic type of sexual encounter; this is the brutal and vulgar type where every word exchange is tasteless. On top of that, there is a scene where I believe the main characters were practically kids, and while nothing was explicitly said, the scene did leave me with a foul taste because kids should never, under any circumstances be sexualized!
Overall, I started this book with the wrong expectations and wanted to give up many times, but since it was an ARC, I felt obligated to finish it. I probably won't read anything else from this author.

The blurb for The Emperor and the Endless Palace had me intrigued, and I was so excited to delve into a queer historical fantasy with (hopefully) interesting world building and reimagining of folklore. This is not that book.

What it is, is an erotic tale of three interconnected settings with hypersexual characters with no real understandable chemistry and descriptions of sexual escapades that are definitely a….stylistic choice. (“…pounded his pink plum” within the first 30 pages, I mean REALLY.)

Towards the end I didn’t even care about the relationships being built because they were so vague and unappealing. If you are looking for erotica for erotica’s sake…I mean, even then this probably isn’t for you because a lot of the “spicy” scenes are unemotional, almost clinical in their descriptions. I agree with another reviewer on GoodReads that this feels like fanfiction of a much better book. There is so much wasted potential here it’s almost upsetting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for access to this eARC in exchange for a honest review.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel—it’s so important to shine a light on Chinese queer history/folklore as it’s largely unknown in the West and actively suppressed in China itself. And it’s also important to me to uplift queer BIPOC authors writing queer stories about their own culture/heritage.

And…wow. I was completely won over by this interpretation of the romance between Emperor Ai of Han and Dong Xian as pawns in a political game. The novel expertly weaves three timelines together, ending each chapter on a cliffhanger that made me fly through the pages. I was also totally drawn in by the tension and mysteries in the plot, especially trying to guess who had reincarnated into who in each timeline. The twists and turns were deeply satisfying and left me eager to see where the story would go in a sequel.

I know publishing wants that romantasy money, but I believe calling this novel a romantasy does it a disservice. It’s not a danmei romance, nor is it intended to be one. I would call this a queer, speculative literary novel that examines the boundary between love and obsession. It’s so hard to speak in detail about the main relationship without going into spoilers, so all I’ll say is: This novel is romantic, but don’t expect it to be a genre romance novel. It’s about messy queer Chinese men navigating their relationships with each other, and it’s an homage to queer Chinese history and queer Chinese stories.

I will say that I found the flowery/euphemistic writing during the sex scenes to be jarring rather than poetic, some of the dialogue during the present-day timeline felt a little wooden rather than conversational, and I didn’t really appreciate the use of the word “triggered” as a joke in one instance. But other than that, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for fantasy novels inspired by China’s queer traditions.

thank you to netgalley and harlequin books for the eARC!

y’all- this book was such a good read. 4.5 stars! it’s hard to describe what makes particular writing styles captivating, but this prose had whatever the magic ingredient was that kept me engrossed- the pages just flew by. this is a fantasy love story (but maybe not a romance) with fated lovers across lifetimes, and I enjoyed each of the three time settings we got- each had some intrigue, stakes, and interesting interpersonal dynamics.

it’s a deeply queer story with moments of eroticism, but not in the titillating BL way particularly. the eroticism felt like it more fit into the atmosphere of the story, it contributed to the love but also the power dynamics and some of the magic and misfortune of the story- this is not a HEA romance or pure smut. at the same time, this book is a meaningful expression of queerness, but one in which homophobia is not a constant presence (though it does feature occasionally).

at first, I was frustrated by the consistently changing pov’s (as we switched between the lifetimes). however, as we got further in, and I started to try to figure out how the storylines interrelated, I didn’t mind, and was drawn in by each of the timelines. I found the ending pretty satisfying and thought it matched with the vibe of the story, but I could have done with a little more exploration of how the stories connected (purposefully vague here to avoid spoiling- the book wasn’t confusing but I thought it could have been delved into more) and some idea of what the future would look like (even if through mysterious vignettes).

don’t go in this looking for classic romantasy- I don’t think the same guarantees apply. it also reads more like a queer story written for/by queer people, rather than oriented towards straight people, so keep that in mind. however, I highly recommend it as a character-focused, heartbreaking exploration of queer love and reincarnation, with historical and modern settings.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang was an unexpectedly wonderful spicy romantasy debut. This queer romance novel was everything I was hoping it would be.
I adored everything about this story.
The characters, the world, the writing it was just so captivating. I couldn’t put my Kindle away.
In this exceptionally smart and sweeping romance… Justinian Huang’s writing is crisp and incredible, the characters are fully engaging, and the story is delightful.

Thank You NetGalley and MIRA for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This was an awesome read! The story line and plot keep you interested and I loved following the MCs along the timelines . This book holds your attention and has you wanting more. The chapters are short it’s an easy read I can't wait to see what else the author has in store with this series

This was great! Both the romance and the story line/plot were fantastic. I loved following the 2 characters through their different lives. This book constantly held my attention and had me wanting me. I can't wait to see what else Huang has in store for us!

Unfortunately this was a really quick DNF for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for this review. However this book needs major editing before it is published.
The sentence structures are wild and all over the place
We info sprinkle and speak about people we have never met.
The entire thing is confusing, foxes can’t be men so he finds comfort in men however he meets his fox who is a man?
The thing that did it for me was the use of italics instead of quotations for dialogue. That is wildly confusing and should be fixed. It comes off as inner dialogue and not spoken word between characters.
This could have been a great book but as a critical reader I can’t look past major plot holes right off the bat and really rough grammar and editing.

Give me a story about soulmates who are fated to find each other in different timelines, and I know I'm going to be obsessed with it. And this was no different, I absolutely loved it.

It was very different from what I expected, and it took a long time before I was able to make sense of the story and connect all three timelines together. But the pay off was sooo good and so entirely worth it. Because of that, I think this will be really fun for me to reread as well.

I absolutely adore stories that show how queer people have always been here and always will be, and I found this story to be very touching because of that. We went so far back in time, and it was incredible to find out the earliest timeline is actually based on real people from history.

DNF @25%

I really wanted to love this book. It had such an intriguing premise and setting, but it wasn't for me. The writing style just was not to my liking. It wasn't bad, but it especially didn't match the vibe of ancient Chinese fantasy - you know?

The biggest thing, however, is the pacing. This book has incredibly short chapters, which I normally love, but in this case, works against the book. With 3 timelines and 3 POVs, the short chapters completely draw me out of the story. I cannot form any attachments to the characters or the settings when I'm being flip flopped back and forth between periods.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people out there who will love this book! I, unfortunately, am not one of them :(

I absolutely loved this book! I love a multi-timeline because it takes a lot of planning to get all the pieces in order! I also enjoyed how across timelines, characters kept playing similar roles as those previous. I did do some Googling of Chinese history to get a reference for who a character was, which was brilliant. This story had twists and turns, and I was here for all of it. I could not put this down and definitely recommend reading this reincarnation book!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc! All opinions are my own!
I am honestly not even sure how to repeat this because I thoroughly enjoyed this book but the ending feels like the ending of the first in a series. However, I am pretty sure this is a standalone, so I am unsure of how to rate it. If this is a standalone, then I think the ending needs some additional work. It felt very unconcluded and almost like there was a missing chapter. If this is a series or if the story will continue, I will be very satisfied as I really enjoyed the story. The story felt very unfinished, and the ending felt very abrupt for a standalone especially one with such a detailed and intricate plot. For me, if this book is a standalone, then it reads about two stars, but if this is going to be continued, then I would rate it around four stars.
I absolutely love the premise and a lot of the main themes of the story. The way the reincarnation was done in the story by having each perspective be a different timeline was phenomenal. It's a little confusing to begin with but once you start to recognize the characters it becomes a lot easier to understand. I think the twist for the story was also done remarkably well. I completely didn't expect the twist, but once I knew it I could see the groundwork the author had led in previous chapters.
Also, I didn't mind the themes of sex and sexuality throughout the story. This is definitely an adult and mature book and it's clear that these things were not done to be romantic or spicy but to enhance the story and be a part of the narrative. While some word choices might have jumped out (pink plum) overall, it wasn't very overwhelming, and I could understand the direction the author was trying to take. Furthermore I also absolutely love the characters and the cycle these characters were trapped in. Not only are they complex and real but there is no true good or bad. These characters continuously make bad choices and are trapped in the cycle of rebirth and cruelty to each other. They feel this overwhelming love and obsession with each other that translates really well on the page for the reader.
Overall I really liked the story and hope to see you there more of this world or an addition to the ending.

This is an exuberantly weird book that is simultaneously confusing, hilarious, and heartfelt. It follows three men in three different times: He Shican in 1740s China; Dong Xian in 4 BCE China; and River in present day California.He Shican is an innkeeper who is approached by a 9-tailed fox; Dong Xian is an ambitious member of the court at the Imperial Court who uses his sexuality to ply information from the men around him; and River is a med student who recently came out and is spending time sowing his wild oats. It's not much of a spoiler to say that the three men are connected in some metaphysical way, as are their lovers.

The book is a real experience, especially Dong Xian's portions. He might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but the way he embraces his sexual escapades combined with his willingness to be manipulated by wilier members of the court makes his third of the book something that has to be experienced.

Would I have loved a less ambiguous ending? Sure! As it stands, though, the book gave me enough hints for me to construct my own satisfying head canon for what happened and what happens next. If you're looking to read something truly different, this knocks it out of the park.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and most importantly the author for this amazing debut read. I truly do not know where to start. I loved this story. The fantasy, the imagery, the characters, and most important the forsaken love shared across the time lines. I loved how the author gave life to three different lives and was capable of drawing them back into each other with each chapter. I loved the romance and feelings that each character encountered. I will be keeping my eye out to see what comes next from this author.

Thank you to Frenzy Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So I have some very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the concept was rather intriguing. The story spans three timelines and two men are reincarnated over and over again and keep meeting in different lifetimes as a sort of fated, yet cursed, soulmates. There was plenty of court politics, intrigue, betrayal, magic, mystery and more, and the plot held my attention throughout. The author connected the timelines in an interesting manner and the story unfolded in such a way that it left me guessing on several points until the end.

On the other hand, with three timelines, the story was constantly hopping all over the place and didn’t stay long enough with any set of characters to allow me to get invested in any of them. There were three drastically different settings, and while I can’t decide which I liked the best, I can say it wasn’t the modern day setting. That timeline felt the least developed and contained the resolution of the entire book, which wasn’t the most satisfying either. There were several interesting side characters who were clearly reincarnations as well, but the story didn’t pay them much attention at all and just left them as loose ends.

I feel like the blurb didn’t set the right expectations for this book, it certainly isn’t romantasy in my book – I wouldn’t even call it romance as the relationships were insta-lovey, infatuations or just plain toxic. There was also way more sexual content than I was expecting – and it got old very quickly. The writing was definitely weaker in these parts as it started to feel extremely repetitive and I found myself skimming through most of it. This book should also come with quite a lot of content warnings, as this was kind of on the edge of what I’m ok with reading.

Overall, while the concept had potential, this book just didn’t work for me. I’m still kind of annoyed that the biggest question throughout the story didn’t get a proper resolution – it had a rather open ending which is something I don’t like, and made this feel more like the first book in a series than a standalone.

DNF'd

E-ARC provided by Netgalley

I was very excited to read this book when I applied for the arc. When I got approved I literally was jumping with excitement. I started reading and quickly discovered that this was something that was going to trigger me and was definitely not for me. To me this book feels more like an erotica than a romantasy. I was really excited for the LGBT+ lovers fated across the centuries plot but couldn't get past the first 1/3 of the book before I DNF'd because I couldn't get past the spice.

I'm sure this would be a great book for some but it just wasn't for me personally.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

This was a very surprising story. Told in three POV's (the same POV's?? they're the same souls who keep being reincarnated) this was an incredible read that blended different timelines into one. I was excited and anxious to read each new part. I enjoyed trying to connect their past lives with their present lives before the story itself told us who was who. (I still ended up being wrong though). I was so intrigued by each chapter and wept a little over its very sad end. I had so much hope for River and Joey in their present life but apparently it wasn't meant to be. I also felt really bad for Calvin in this story who sounded like a really good person who genuinely loved River.

I know this isn't the final version of the book and that the actual final draft is much longer so I'm excited to read the physical book (which I've already bought a copy of) and meet the author (I'm going to do this at an event soon). I'm going to have so much fun reading over the story again and I can't wait!!

In 3 separate timelines we are told of the lives and sexual exploits of three men. One is the story of an innkeeper seeking mythical creatures in 1740. One the story of a court clerk and his Emperor and the intrigues of politics in 4 BCE during the Han Dynasty. One in modern day Los Angeles between a newly out young man about to start med school, and a trophy boyfriend of a billionaire. The way that the chapters move between these 3 time periods and perspectives is very engaging and keeps the reader guessing as to how they tie together and what is going to happen next in each one.
LGBTQIA Asian Romantasy was so exciting to me because while it is such a hot genre, I have been dying to see some diversity in it. This was not what I was looking for. First it is missing a critical piece of Romance, so it falls more in line with relationship fiction/erotica. The sex scenes are graphic and frequent, and yes I would say they were beyond mainstream acceptability if the couple were M/F. The fantasy elements are also fairly inconsistent, with it mostly being drug fueled in the modern story, while the story in 1740 includes shape shifting, alchemy, and love spells. It was engaging enough to keep me reading to the end hoping for that happily ever after.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review. Off the bat I can tell I will not enjoy this book, the style of writing is not typical in most books of this genre, and almost seems clinical and detached. We have explicit sex scenes within the first few chapters, and they are also described in a detached manner. Just overall not for me.

[arc review]
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace releases March 26, 2024

<i>“How do you know when you are in love? I learned early on that for people like me, there are no grand gestures, no bold declarations painted across the sky. There are only little hidden moments, intense yet fleeting as shooting stars, that quickly burn away into night.”</I>

Well, this was not what I was expecting.
Huang’s debut spans many millennia through reincarnated characters that are destined to be together, though I found that the plot heavily relied on erotic scenes, so much so that there were 3 different instances just within the first 3% before the reader has the chance to understand what the premise actually is.

With an endless love trope, you would hope to have this overwhelming yearning between the characters in all lifetimes, but there was a huge lack emotional and romantic depth — it was literally just feral fucking until it was too late in the story to be convincing or meaningful.

From a structural standpoint, this story would have made more sense if the present day pov was told from Joey instead of River, so that it would have been parallel to the pov’s of He Shican in 1740, and Dong Xian in 4 BCE.

Some would say that less is more, but in this instance, I think this would have benefitted from a couple hundred more pages to further develop characteristics and fantasy elements.

Even with the love triangle, classifying this as a romance would be reaching.

cw: mention of suicide, drug use, SA, grooming