My thoughts in bullet points

- Not even 20 pages in & I’m reading abt him fingering some guy’s asshole??? What happened to “hello”??
- Most of the dialogue being in italics and not quotes bothers me sm
- Why don’t we stick with one POV throughout the lifetimes?
- I honestly didn’t care abt any of the romance it was rushed & I don’t like insta-love
- I do love me some reincarnation stories
- These characters have no personalities other than Calvin
- This book does NOT pass the bechdal test. There are literally two named female characters and they literally live thousands of years apart
- It was creative how “Winston” found a way to get to “Joey” in every lifetime
- Idk the end didn’t feel like a real ending, which I guess was the point, but still…

4/5 ⭐️

Though I had to push through some uncertainty at the start, The Emperor and the Endless Palace proved to be a lushly written and deeply captivating novel. In his debut release, Justinian Huang artfully braids together 3 different timelines to create a tale of deep connections, stinging betrayal, and the pitfalls of chasing a love that spans lifetimes.

To start, I must both curse and commend the flowery writing style Huang uses in most of the timelines; It causes the fantasy to feel rich and immersive, but could have the adverse effect of forcing awkward euphemisms, particularly during more erotic scenes. The 3 timeline structure was similarly conflicting, because I found them difficult to follow around one another, while also relishing the way they allowed new details to unfold as a reader. If you enjoy the artistry of writing as much as its substance, this novel performs quite the balancing act to juggle both.

Although this was initially presented to me as a romance novel, readers expecting the familiar hallmarks of the genre should probably look elsewhere. Instead, I would describe this book as a dark and erotic reimagining of fantasy & folklore, integrated with a modern setting. Personally, I feel this description encapsulates the novel’s style of storytelling, and would've better set my expectations for the narrative.

Despite my critiques, this is an incredibly striking novel. The story is engaging, was very hard to put down, and managed to surprise me each time new information was revealed. I couldn’t stop thinking about it between sessions of reading, and I have yet to stop now that I’m done!

DNF at 20%. I would first like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the arc I received of this one! After reading many reviews I think my opinion is slightly different than others as to why this one wasn’t for me. Although I didn’t find the smut overdone or “disgusting” as others have said (which I just find to be extremely ignorant), I did agree that this book wasn’t what I was expecting. I made it 20% in to this story and honestly didn’t know what was going on. The story is told from 3 different perspectives in different time frames but I found the flipping back and forth to be confusing. I didn’t find myself super attached to any one character and therefore couldn’t make myself see it through to the end. I think the right person will really enjoy this one but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me!

Thank goodness Justinian Huang released sincere apologies about how much s3x was in this novel. Was it too much? I'll never tell.

Justinian Huang’s lush, erotic fantasy debut uses real-life queer Chinese history to anchor a generation-spanning tale of love, loss, and reincarnation. The story follows six men in three timelines across a period of over-two thousand years, yet still manages to be an approachable, compulsive read. In 4 BCE we are introduced to a palace clerk named Dong Xian and his true-to-life romance with the Emperor Ai of Han; in 1740 we encounter He Shican, an exiled inn owner and Jiulang, a fox-spirit in need, and finally in 2023, we meet River and Joey, two Chinese-American men in modern LA who cross paths at a raucous gay club. Huang slowly unpacks the connections between timelines while simultaneous unspooling three tender, sensual romances.

I’m such a sucker for amnesia romance, and Huang does not disappoint, particularly when it comes to River and Joey. It was fascinating to watch their romance follow similar patterns across the different timeliness, with the narrative posing questions about the relationship between fate and free will. I do wish the two primary side characters, Calvin (River’s Grindr hookup who ends up along for the ride) and Garden (River’s sister) had been explored in greater detail and given more nuanced beyond their assigned roles of Unrequited Lover and Protective Sibling, especially given how much I enjoyed the small amounts of page time in which Garden featured. Having so much of the focus on the incarnations of the two protagonists certainly allows their romance to grow across the generations, but causes the side characters to fade into the background and thus from my memory.

The romance is don’t-let-your-coworkers-catch-you-reading-at-work level spicy matched with Category A ridiculous sexual fruit innuendo but pay attention to several significant TWs for sexual assault and sexual violence. Definitely fits more into the erotica bucket than in romantasy, but fun and emotionally inspiring nonetheless.

This book may not be for everyone, but it is a book for me! I don't really view romance novels as idyllic tales to strive for and I am also very familiar with Chinese and Korean historical, fantasy, romance dramas so and LGBTQ+ erotic revenge epic spanning three lifetimes is something I didn't want to miss and I'm glad that I didn't!

I’m sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book at all. The characters felt very dull and had no dimension. I don’t feel like I knew or understood the characters. I didn’t feel the love between to the two love interests, it felt purely physical. I wanted to love this because I am a huge fan of romantasy especially with Asian elements. The concept of this book is really intriguing and has a lot of potential. I hope this author continues to grow as a writer.

**This review contains light spoilers.** I learned after reading that this is meant to be the first in a trilogy and I'm of two minds about that. On the one hand, the ending is rather unresolved. On the other hand, I don't want the central couple to be together, so I was hoping that would be the end of it. This is a complicated fantasy novel with a reincarnated couple (and antagonist) at the core and a toxic set of relationships that carry through the centuries. One timeline is in ancient China, 4 BCE, another is 1740 and the last is present day. It's the gayest book I've read in a while, which is saying something. The modern POV is often very funny and is full of the kind of hedonistic partying that characterizes youthful gay joy and the thrill of coming into one's own. The historical POVs are tortured but often beautiful. I had a great time reading this until around the half-way point, when the amount of toxicity, manipulation and sexual assault/non-con really started to stack up. There are many scenes and relationships (central and secondary) in which one character is either forced or implicitly forced to engage in sex acts. For example, a eunuch initiating sex on command and the MC going along with it because the dowager empress holds power over him. In another time, the antagonist has been drugging one MC into docility out of a twisted sort of love/possession. The language used, especially to describe sex acts, changes depending on the timeline and is often pretty cringey. There were moments when I wondered if the author was mocking romance novels, but I don't think that's the case. All that said, the audio narration was excellent. Harper Audio hired three great narrators to handle the different timelines and it works really well. I initially tried to read this as an ebook but switched to audio when Harper and Libro.fm made it available for reviewers.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace is different from the publisher's description and I would not call it a romance. It's an erotic gay multi-timeline fantasy novel with twisty relationships and lots of political scheming. And fox spirits. If that sounds like your thing, give it a go!

Thank you Harlequin for providing me with this copy to review. All opinions are my own.
🌸 What I thought I was reading 🌸
I love that surpasses time and space. Something so beautiful and fragile that it leaves your breathless. Stolen kisses in the dark, heatbreakingly beautiful, prose that make you weep with longing.

🌸What I got 🌸
erotica, very very spicy. Dubious content, power and control the forefront of the relationship. Text that makes you giggle— describing body parts as plums? Many triggers left feeling a little lost and needing a hug.
this book was unique because it’s something I don’t usually pick up, which is an erotic fantasy ( I didn’t realize this at the time as it wasn’t tag as erotica, another reason why I am not rating this ) and I hesitate to call it a romance because the relationship within the novel is extremely complex. Personally it falls along the lines of toxic and abusive, so I wouldn’t really consider this the runoff the mill kind of romance (or romance at all, more like obsession and control) maybe my dark romance book lovers would enjoy this?
Also, there is a love triangle subplot, which is not my favourite.
The premise was interesting as I tend to gravitate towards reincarnation works in the past, and I always love me some well written queer literature! especially if it’s happy unfortunately this one wasnt.
I’m not rating this because this story is not for me, but it is definitely for someone else, I will bring up with the publisher that the erotic tag needs to be attached to since the cover makes you think this is going to be a happy time—it’s not.
I enjoyed learning about the fox spirits, and because of this I may try to look for other literature that discusses this myth.
Sure there was a few critiques, for example, I found that the modern timeline was a bit disjointed from the past timelines, and I definitely preferred those timelines more. Some of the language used in the erotic scenes took me out of the story but this was mostly personal.
I think if you are interested in queer literature set in an asian setting, with some discussion of myth you may enjoy this but be wary of the trigger warnings below.
And this book is dark there is assault. There is rape and other non-consensual sexual acts. There is drug abuse. There is power dynamics being abused. there is death.
This one is out March 26th!

“I hope you like chasing a disappearing man. Because no matter how many times you manage to catch him, a disappearing man is all he’ll ever be to you.”

“The Emperor and the Endless Palace,” by Justinian Huang

Through three timelines, an Emperor and his courtier, an innkeeper and a visitor, and a student and an artist, these two seem to be drawn back to each other.

I liked this book, and I liked the concept of the book. A few things I didn’t like though was it is so slow, and the timeline shifts gave me a little whiplash. But even with those I did like the book a lot. I liked the Chinese lore and the flaws I found with the characters were often because of their culture which was something to think about. The soulmate through time is definitely a trope I need more of in my life. 4 out of 5 stars, I really enjoyed it.

-Fox Spirit
-Magic
-Reincarnation
-Slave X Master
-Gay

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

This one is a no for me.

I had such high expectations for this book, and to say I was let down is an understatement. That being said, I did sadly DNF this book at the 20% mark. I wasn't able to connect to it at all, and I wasn't invested in the story. I found all the alluding and unique phrasing during the "spice" extremely annoying and personally, if you can't call it what it is, don't put it in the story. There just wasn't anything about this book that made me want to keep reading. I'm sad that I didn't like this like I thought I would.

I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: DNF'd

4 BCE - an ambitious courtier has a secret mission; 1740 - a lonely innkeeper seeks a rare medicine to help a mysterious visitor; present-day LA - a college student has a familiar feeling when meeting a stranger.

Rumors, magic, scheming,... Huang plunges one into the alluring world driven by equally engaging POVs and infused with the nine-tailed fox tale that helps flavor the story. These are flawed men, whose soul collides through lifetimes, trying to reach the ultimate destination. The characters' life are inextricably tied to the turns of fate and in a journey of finding themselves, their unsaid feelings are fed by ambition and devotion.

There is plenty of court drama that will please lovers of Chinese historical dramas 宮廷劇 (like myself) and elements of Chinese culture/history such as medicine, artifact, Han dynasty and ancient texts (iconic Chinese poems) offer a plot with great capacity to fascinate. The author doesn't hold back at giving jarring moments by boldly tackling on the concept of 'cut sleeve' 斷袖. The slow pacing (until 50%) will demand readers' patience and undivided attention to figure out the character's connection, which I thought it is the immersive aspect of this book. The amount of sex scenes that seems to build up the romance can feel 'distracting' for some and the ending is well-done, even if some questions remain (I would recommend buddy read this book).

With captivating prose that easily transports readers, THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE is a queer love story about people trying to find their way back to each other. This book is a genre-bending debut about true love that invites one to have a fun reading experience.

Following 3 timelines across millennia, an emperor & his courtier, a lonely innkeeper & his mysterious visitor, and a college student & a beautiful artist, ENDLESS explores the meaning of soulmates and the time-transcendent nature of all-consuming love.

ENDLESS is an entertaining read with a slower start. Due to the alternating timelines, the first half is mostly world/character-building, while the last half picks up speed and moves quickly. I wasn't sure where the story was going, but I was on the edge of my seat towards the end.

The twists completely surprised me, and I had a lot of fun reading ENDLESS. While the blurb made it sound serious, there are plenty of LOL moments. At times, I feel the emotions between the various MMCs are sacrificed for drug & sex scenes. For those looking for a fun time with unexpected twists, ENDLESS will surely deliver!

The Emperor and the Endless Palace is an extremely steamy fantasy romance story. I really enjoyed the multiple timelines and romance between the characters. I recommend it if you like multiple timelines, romance, folklore, and stars crossed lovers.

This book was a VERY spicy fantasy read. I struggle to label it as a romance, due to the moral ambiguity and complex relationship dynamic. I do think readers that enjoy "love stories" just as a much as the conventional HEA romance story will like this book - but the traditional romance readers might not. I am of the first camp, so this book was intriguing to me. You don't always love the characters or the decisions they make, but their dramatics keep you coming back for more!

I very rarely like time-centric plot points (such as time travel, groundhog day, and reincarnation) but this book incorporated it in a way that kept me engaged despite my usual disdain for it. I will be recommending this to a specific kind of reader, rather than a wide "romantasy" audience.

I am currently DNFing at page 41. I unfortunately am just not connecting with any of the characters as much as my heart and mind would love to because I am struggling with forming a connection it's really hard to lock into the story that is being created. There is a lot of spice scenes just from what I read, but it's not really flushed out so despite their being a lot from what I read it was giving at most 2 peppers on my personal scale which just means it's bordering lights off type of spice. I think for me to have really been enraptured by the story would be spending more time with the characters before we swap over to a different period of time. I felt like I wasn't learning much about them or having the proper time to form the connection like I would have liked before the jump.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this novel.

Before I review this book, I think it is important to know that this was not the book I thought it was. I was expecting an epic fantasy with romance elements. What I got was erotic fantasy. Had I known that's what this book was, I probably would have skipped it. That being said, there were some things that I enjoyed. I liked the different timelines and the idea of these souls existing throughout time. I also love that the romance in this novel is male male. I really liked the idea of this book. Unfortunately the execution wasn't quite there for me. I don't mind sex scenes in books, but they happened a lot in this one. The way some things were described made me so uncomfortable, and the author used the same descriptions over and over. I found myself trying to skim to the end of the sex scenes because they were just really difficult to read. While I liked the three timelines, I also found myself getting a little confused about what was happening when. I had a hard time following the plot and knowing what was going on.

I ended up being pretty disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this book, but unfortunately it just didn't work for me.

A lush & beautifully written folkloric fantasy! I enjoyed the twist on "I'd find you in any universe".

I’m really conflicted with this one. I did DNF this early on, but the writing was excellent.

Despite this being marketed as a romantasy, as so many books are these days, I was not expected a spicy scene so soon in the first chapter.

The thing I want most at the beginning of any book is a character I can connect with on some level. I did not get that feeling here, and so I decided to put this down after a few chapters.

I was also not expecting dual timelines between 17th century China and modern day Los Angeles. It felt like such an abrupt change to go back and forth between these times/eras.

Again, I really liked the writing style but the opening did not catch me.

Huang delivers a sensual love affair that spans across lifetimes, "The Emperor and the Endless Palace" inflames as much as it entertains.

The story opens into three timelines: The emperor and a clerk in the ancient Endless Palace in China, the innkeeper and the fox spirit in a small rural town in 1700's China, and a newly out med student and mysterious artist in modern day L.A. The historical timelines set the bulk of the story up as the modern day timeline converges into the conclusion. I both loved and wanted to be done this book.

The novel is highly unique with its narration fitting the eras they were set in. I simply cannot stand when there is modern prose being used in a historical fantasy, it takes me right out of the story. I found Huang writes a compelling fantastic storyline where I was really engrossed in the action and political intrigue. I was never quite sure where the story was going to end up by the end of each timeline section but didn't find myself wanting to rush back to any particular storyline either.

With its intriguing premise, I was quite tired of the spice. The repetitive and ornate language used within the sex scenes had me skimming and off-put. I never want to hear a penis being referred to as "my influence" ever again. There is no shortage on the market of synonyms to describe genitals and pleasure, this is where I took off the most ratings. Where it also lost me were the loose ends of side characters that were clearly reincarnated throughout the protagonists lifetime, what happened to them? Are we setting up for a sequel? The conclusion felt highly lackluster for the B-plot that was plowing ahead full steam. Infuriating as a reader to be left in the lurch in favour of a uninspiring conclusion.

That being said, I had fun with this read and look forward to seeing more from this author. 3.9/5 Stars.