RATING: 4.5 rounded to 5 stars

Thank you to Sue Lynn Tan, Netgalley, and Harper Voyager for an opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a reader who has yet to read the Celestial Kingdom duology but was promised that this book could be read without prior knowledge of her previous series, I'm pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience that "Immortal" took me through.

The story follows Liyen, a mortal who recently acquires the throne of Tianxia following the unexpected death of her grandfather. Before her grandfather's death, he entrusted with her the safekeeping of the Divine Pearl Lotus - a rare flower that heals her from a physical ailment. As she deals with her new political power, she must also contend with her growing feelings for Zhangwei, the God of War, and her role in the increased strains between the mortal and immortal realms.

I love the balance between world-building, romance, political intrigue, and plot. Time is taken to explore the fantasy world and power system that the author created. Liyen and Zhangwei's romance is a well-crafted romance, having both the space to build their individual character progression as well as their development from reluctant allies to lovers. The main plot never seemed to stagger, delivering emotional impact on a particular revelation during the second half of the story.

My only critique lies in the pacing. While I don't mind setup in the beginning of a narrative, I noticed the slow pacing around the first 30% of the novel may deter readers from pushing forward. I also wouldn't have minded a few chapters with Zhangwei's POV since the aforementioned revelation could have delivered a stronger emotional impact if we had a bit of insight in Zhangwei's thoughts.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend picking up this book if you enjoy Asian inspired fantasies, forbidden romances, and a romantasy plot that isn't reliant on spicy content.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for my honest review.

If you loved Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess, then you will love Immortal. This story is a standalone story that is set in the same world as Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Immortal is a beautiful fantasy of love, betrayal, and adventure.

This story begins very quickly with throwing you into the action as the protagonist, Liyen ascends the throne. The book was very well paced and never felt slow. While there are several very action-packed moments, Tan knows how to write a beautiful, slow burn romance. There were some points in the story that I was trying to piece information together, but that is because your knowledge is limited as the protagonist is also learning new information. I felt that the author did a pretty good job with explaining certain questions that I had while reading the story. Without giving any spoilers, if you have read Tan’s other series, there are elements that will feel very familiar. Overall, Immortal was a captivating story that kept me hooked.

Well either I dont like it or this book is just plain as the bread. I am bored in the middle so I DNF.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager

Immortal is a standalone fantasy romance told in first person that centers on our protagonist, Liyen, the heir to the throne of Tianxia. The story follows Liyen as she fights to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals, who once protected Tianxia from a dangerous enemy. Along the way, Liyen encounters the God of War and, as their bond and attraction grows, Liyen finds that Tianxia’s freedom might not be the only thing worth fighting for. Many thanks to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for this ARC!

The book was a bit of a slow start and I wasn’t very invested in the characters or the story until around the 10-15% mark. The story is medium/fast-paced, which I enjoyed, but it didn’t necessarily “hook” me as other novels have.

Although the storyline felt a bit choppy in some parts, I thoroughly enjoyed the chemistry and banter between Liyen and the God of War. I thought the character development was strong and appreciated Liyen’s strength and stubbornness. I loved watching her grow and was touched by her heart and sense of morality as the story progressed.

While there was some foreshadowing to potential twists early in the plot, I did not see them coming! They helped bring the story full circle and it was helpful to better understand the previous interactions between some characters now that I had a better understanding of their past.

While we do revisit the world Tan so beautifully curated in the Celestial Kingdom duology, I felt that I was able to better envision the aspects of this world based on the world-building and vivid imagery in the Celestial Kingdom duology (highly recommended reading if you enjoy this novel). I was elated to come back to that world in this novel!

Immortal invokes aspects of mortality, just leadership, family, and friendship to explore the central theme of what it means to be human. I found myself underlining several insightful passages and felt that the story came together well in the end.

Tan has the ability to imbed a comfort and coziness within her stories, even amidst the conflict and politics in her plot lines. As someone who does not enjoy “cozy” books, it is slightly unusual that this is what makes me keep coming back to Tan’s novels and makes her one of my favorite authors. I will continue to read anything Sue Lynn Tan puts on paper because it always feels like coming home.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5⭐️
Starting out 2025 strong with a fantastic read by Sue Lynn Tan! This was my first time reading a book by this author, but I’ve had some of her other books on my TBR for a while. After reading this book, I’ll definitely be moving them up my list!

This was such a well-written story about destiny, ambition, self-discovery, vengeance, compassion, friendship, family, and love. I really enjoyed it! The world-building was beautiful and rich . The prose was lovely, lyrical, and even profound at times. I had so many highlighted lines throughout! The story itself was fairly fast-paced and action-packed while also being very moving and romantic. It had a great balance of plot, romance, action, politics, character development, and fantasy elements. It was full of unexpected twists and turns, reveals, and betrayals! I always applaud books when they have twists that I didn’t see coming and this one had several!

I really liked our MCs! Liyen was headstrong and deeply loyal to her people. I did get a little frustrated with her stubbornness and with how she treated Zhangwei at times. I liked her compassion and resilience though. I appreciated how much she seemed to grow throughout the book! Zhangwei was such a great MMC. He was fiercely protective, a strong warrior type, as The God of War; however, he also had kind of a gentleness, kindness, and playfulness to him as well. I loved how devoted he was to both his Queen and to Liyen. I enjoyed their banter and chemistry!

One of my favorite things is when a story shows that there are two sides to every story…that the world is not as clear or simple as just good or bad. In this story, we the author does not shy away from exploring complexities. We see that those viewed as villains have reasons for the way they are, that both sides have valid reasons for anger and vengeance, that there can be goodness in their enemy’s people and their soldiers even with opposing causes, that magic can come with a cost, that sometimes difficult choices must be made for the greater good and that does not necessarily make someone a bad person for making the choices they made. (Mild spoilers:) It would’ve been so easy for the author to have Liyen choose love or immortality over her people, it would’ve been easy for Liyen to hate those who lied to her and betrayed her trust, it would’ve been easy to turn her back on her enemy’s people and leave them to their fate, it would’ve been easy to simply paint the villain as just a “bad guy” and leave it at that without exploring the experiences and core beliefs that made him that way, but this author did not shy away from exploring the deeper complexities of all these situations and relationships and I really appreciated that. I was very impressed with how well she was able to add that level of depth in this standalone novel.

SPOILERS:
My only complaints were that I wished less of the storytelling had been done through dialogue at times. I also wished that more had been done with her previous memories and that we had a better sense of resolution with Liyen as far as knowing whether or not she would regain her immortal lifespan and if negotiations were successful in allowing her to be able to return to the immortal realm.

* Immortal is a standalone set in the same world as her Celestial Kingdom books. You don’t have to read the other books to read this one though and it does not spoil anything from that series.

Thank you to Sue Lynn Tan, NetGalley, and HarperVoyagerUS for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The story telling an imagery for this book was awesome! I loved the setting and work building that took place and couldn’t put the book down once I got going with it. Highly recommend for someone looking for a new fantasy adventure with Asian ties and inspiration

This book is lacking in strong character development. Which makes it hard to really enjoy the book. Now I want to make sure that I note there is a reason that there is no initial character development but having to wait till about 80% way through the book to find out why the author intentionally did this still doesn’t make up for making me wait so long.
Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for letting me read an advance copy of this title.

The author writes beautifully with her prose, but one thing I struggled with was that I never really connected with any of the characters. The side characters especially were pretty one dimensional, and I did not feel much attachment towards the FMC and MMC. I did enjoy the romance aspect that grew between the two at first since I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers, but once they achieved lovers status, that also kind of fell flat and became redundant. I just feel like something was missing to make the stakes feel higher. Even the main villain of the story did not seem all that threatening to me, and while there was betrayal and parts that were meant to be unexpected, they did not come as much of a surprise. This book had great potential, but to me it was sadly just an okay read.

Sue Lynn Tan has written a beautiful, immersive, lush romantic fantasy standalone set in the same world we were inrtduced to in Daughter of the Moon Goddess. I was so captivated by the extrodinaraly enchanting tale of forbidden magic and love our main character, Liyen comes face to face with as she begins to ascend to the throne and confronts the immortals who threaten her kingdom and her very life.
This was an absolutely breathtaking story and I was hooked and captivated as I propelled myself through each chapter, feeling the characters take life right off the page. I'm so excited for this book's final publication date when I can get my hands on a finished copy and add it to my physical collection!

I almost can’t believe how good this book was, but then I remember that it’s written by Sue Lynn Tan. I ate up every single word, stayed heavily invested throughout the whole story, and cannot wait for the next divine pearl lotus she gifts us 🩷
Daughter of the Moon Goddess was my re-entry into reading as an adult so I automatically harbor an extra layer of love for that series, but Tan ensured she is an auto-buy author for me with Immortal.

Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. When she is poisoned, her grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia. Her grandfather dies. She ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. Then she is summoned to the Immortal Realm where she meets the God of War.

I was immediately captured by the beautiful writing. Thirty percent in I was a little surprised by how quickly the characters fell for each other. I was expecting more buildup. By that time I also expected to know more about the Immortals and the rules for everything. I was still waiting for answers though. A twist happens but it didn't change anything for me.

Immortal is heavy on the romance which would be great if I cared more about them as a couple. For me I wanted more details about everything else.

My oxygen levels are at an all time high after all the gasping I did.

A spoiler free summary of my thoughts:
Part One
* Oh hey there, God of War
* Giggling, Kicking my feet
* Blushing
* 🫦
* WHAT THE FUUUU
Part Two
* training montage
* UNDERWATER KISS
* uh oh
* SWIM BITCH
* The tree is talking
* suspicious
* hide the giant body behind a little bush
* NO 😭
Part Three
* I hate it here
* Gasp
* Oh fancy seeing you here
* The puddle is talking
* WHAT
* Fancy seeing you here part deux
* Uh there’s probably a better time for this
* This guy SUUUUCKS
* Do you have a plan?? Nope 🙂
* Uh oh
* SUE LYNN TAN DONT YOU EFFIN DARE
* 🥹

Immortal is a standalone romantic fantasy that is set in the same world as her Daughter of the Moon Goddess duology. Our main character, Liyen is a mortal set to take over ruling Tianxia. She is determined to accomplish what her grandfather couldn’t: get her people free from the immortal Queen Caihong. Determined to find the Shield of Rivers and Mountains and return it to Tianxia, Liyen finds herself paired with the Queens most fearsome soldier, Zhangwei, the God of War. While she should hate him, she can’t help but feel a pull toward him. Between quiet moments in the library and soft glimpses in the gardens, she thinks there might be more to him than legends say. Or maybe he’s exactly who she feared him to be.

I loved this book. THE GOD OF WAR 😮‍💨🤌 Liyen. Mythology. World building. The biases of history. YOU GET A PLOT TWIST, YOU GET A PLOT TWIST. Rivals to lovers to enemies?? A man who has a big sword 😏 & an even bigger library. Imperfect HEAs. This book contained arcs, twists, and development that could have filled a trilogy. I need to reread immediately because there are so many details I will be looking at differently now that I know what I know 👀

I will update with any criticism I might think of later but I am currently riding an excitement high and don’t have anything negative to say. Thank you Harper Voyager for the ARC I LOVE YOU MUAH

I read a lot of fantasy and can often predict plot twists from a mile away, but Sue Lynn Tan managed to surprise me with Immortal. Some key moments caught me completely off guard, which is a rare and delightful experience for me. The rich world-building that I loved in Daughter of the Moon Goddess is also beautifully present here. While Immortal is a standalone story, it feels like a seamless extension of the world introduced in the Celestial Kingdom duology.
Sue Lynn Tan’s writing is simply exquisite. Her whimsical prose is what draws me in most, and the complexity of her characters adds so much depth. No one feels one-dimensional. Zhangwei and Liyen’s romance is truly swoon-worthy, delivering classic enemies-to-lovers vibes that feels genuine. While the romance is central to the story, what stood out to me most was Liyen’s love and unwavering dedication to her people—even when her court didn’t grant her the respect she deserved.
Just like Daughter of the Moon Goddess, this book hooks you from the very first page with action-packed scenes and keeps you engaged through a fast-paced, page-turning journey. I received my advanced copy on Friday and had finished it by Sunday,I simply couldn’t put it down! Sue Lynn Tan has officially become an auto-buy author for me. And can we talk about that stunning cover? I’m hoping to add a signed copy to my bookshelf.
My sincerest thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and HarperAudio for the ACR and ACL for this masterpiece in exchange for my honest review.
#Immortal #NetGalley
@HarperVoyagerUS and @SueLynnTan

Immortal was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. And it did not disappoint! One thread which I loved was the dichotomy of the gods and the mortals. We see the ruthlessness, this casual cruelty, but also out of touch with the mortal problems. At the same time, there's something they find so intriguing about the fleeting moments of humanity. There's these levels of relative risk for both of them. At the same time, Immortal has sparks flying! We love not only the swoons, but the banter! It's like little barbed wires of chemistry and the lines of pretend and real blurring.

Immortal is a sweeping and beautiful romantasy taking place is the same world established in Sue Lynn Tan’s previous series, The Celestial Kingdom. I haven’t read any of her other work so this world was new to me. Thankfully Immortal is a standalone and Tan is a wonderful world builder. The book centers on Liyen, her personal struggles, and her relationship with Zhangwei. This is very much a slow burn romance and completely closed door, but the relationship is lovingly written. I shifted between the audio and print versions and found them both lovely. Natalie Naudus is an amazing narrator so if you prefer audio you’ll be very happy with her. While I was entertained the entire time and found Tan’s writing engaging, I wasn’t blown away by Immortal. Some moments felt a bit stiff, I didn’t warm much to Liyen as the MC, and the ultimate climax of the story felt a little rushed. But I do think if you are a fan of fantasy then you’ll really enjoy this and it would be very worth your time.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This ‘romantic’ fantasy is just two cookie cutter characters falling into annoyance/lust with each other immediately and all of the world-building and every scene is set dressing for some miscommunication, misunderstanding or internal monologue about a dead grandfather, being sick and feeling better now, or The God of War is hot. This reads like a YA, as it is absolutely formulaic of a typical YA fantasy novel. I just don’t think this author is for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Sue Lynn Tan is an epic storyteller. She weaves such intricate details into her character development, scenery, and world building. There are so many layers to her story and watching everything slowly be revealed as all the different storylines come together is perfection. I am so grateful this book was a standalone because I don't think I would have the patience to wait for the next one...

Liyen and Zhangwei (God of War), mortal and Immortal. Watching these two, starting as enemies, and building to something more was special. Their relationship was multilayered, complicated, but also lovely to watch unfold.

The book is heavy on politics/war, but the people behind the bloodshed and their backstories give different points of view reminding there are always two sides to every story.

Sacrifice, intrigue, love, betrayal, mystery, twists and turns...this book has it all! This is one to add to my audiobook list, too. Can hardly wait to see what this author creates next!!

5 stars

Immortal is the story of the unlikely love story between Liyen and Zhangwei the God of War.

Sidenote: I kept picturing Mo Yuan as Zhangwei as I read #iykyk.

This was a great read! I enjoyed that it was a standalone and I also liked the different twists that the author took us through. As always the world building was lush and fun, and while I was not completelyyy on board with the romance, i still rooted for the love birds to have their HEA.

I have not yet read a bad book from Sue Lynn Tan :)
Huge thanks to Avon/Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was absolutely beautiful. Her descriptions, the story line, the characters and their flaws, I absolutely loved it. I am definitely a fan of Sue Lynn Tan's writing. I just cannot believe how vivid her descriptions are.

Thank you so much for a copy!!

This book was so good. I loved every page. The imagery is beautiful. I purchased t h is book after reading this arc and put it on my top reads of the year