Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyager and Sue Lynn Tan for providing me with this review copy. All opinions are honest and my own.

3.5/5

This is exactly as billed - romantasy set in a well developed and beautifully crafted world full of sights, sounds, colors, and sparkle. My preferred recipe for romantasy: politics, gods, banter, and yearning. I’m in awe of Sue Lyn Tan’s writing prowess for this genre, but feel like there’s unrealized potential here. I’m not even mad about the stacked tropes. In fact, I uncharacteristically like the tropes because they are integrated and I’ve read my fair share of disappointing tropey romances.

The main characters, Liyen and Zhangwei, are admittedly not the most interesting or dynamic characters, but man do their interactions bring the story to life. And I’ve come to realize that it’s not necessarily individual characterizations that make a romance / romantic fantasy, but rather the enzymatic reaction between the characters that create depth and dimension to the story. That’s something I’ve had to unlearn from reading literary fiction. So I will say, while the characters DID feel flat at times, their existence near each other combusted the microcosm. Yes, sparks, fireworks, the whole shebang.

God the pacing. I’m sorry but that’s ultimately what took away from the experience. I’m ready to overlook the underdeveloped characters because they work quite well as a pair, but I cannot forgive the pacing - underdeveloped plot, if you will. Things pop up out of nowhere, plot points resolve spontaneously, threads are abandoned. Just generally weird pacing.

I wish the plot was given the same attention as the character chemistry. That’s all I’ll say. But also, I’m picky with my romantasy, so for those that love the genre, I’d still recommend you give this a whirl.

The premise of the book is beautiful and intriguing, but the execution, not so much. The romance is sweet, but it is sometimes dampened by the main character's manipulations and childishness. I understand that she went through loss and is still grieving her grandfather's death, but her growth was not explored and explained well. As much as I am a fan of xianxia, which this book definitely is, there was much too long of "telling" and not enough of "showing". The plot twist was well-done but it would've benefitted from tighter plotting. It made the romance feel somewhat cheap too.

I adored my return to the celestial kingdom. This was such a beautiful story, it was so immersive and I was transported. I loved the writing and the imagery, and although I know this is a standalone, I could read more about these characters. I think readers will fall in love with Immortal.

This is definitely more romance based than fantasy
HOWEVER I absolutely loved it and devoured it! The romance is delicious, the tension, the love/hate relationship is perfect! I need more!

I originally requested this since I enjoyed Sue Lynn Tan's Daughter of the Moon Goddess. However, my taste/preferences have since changed and I do not think I would enjoy this book based on the premise and tropes mentioned by other reviewers.

DNF

While this standalone takes place in the world of The Daughter of the Moon Goddess duology, it does not need to be read after. HOWEVER, I recommend reading the duology first if you care about how the world building is. Sue Lynn Tan is a skilled enemies-to-lovers, strong intelligent female main characters, and gifted in crafting Chinese Mythology to fit her story how she needs it. I love everything she has made, but I think Immortal is higher than The Daughter of the Moon Goddess Duology which is saying a lot because it was my #2 of best series.
Liyen is one of my favorite characters. Her determination and fight makes me want to fight with her. Zhangwei is a perfect counterpart to her too.
I will say, the beginning is slow, but once you get in--prepare for the ride of a lifetime!

Fans of Daughter of the Moon Goddess will be over the moon with Sue Lynn Tan's newest novel set in the same universe we have come to long. The stakes are high, the angst is palpable and the romance?
The romance will leave you breathless.
This is a book that is deserving of the romantasy title.
The story was fantastic. The action scenes were well played out, with plenty of plot twists and heart-stopping scenes. But the romance truly stole the show. It was even more intense than the one in DotMG. It was wild, it was passionate, it was ethereal.
Just like in her previous dulology, Tan granted us a headstrong, mature, and utterly badass female lead. She was resilient, cunning, and absolutely phenomenal.
The male lead was swoony, a walking green flag, and devastatingly sexy. His devotion to the main character was so refreshing to read and it made me utterly obsessed with him. If there's one thing that left me craving for more (hence the 4 stars) it was more information regarding his background and past experiences.

Overall this was a fantastic read that I will definitely come back to in the future for a reread!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Loved the fantasy world, romance, forbidden magic, and never ending action.

The fantady world created is full of secrets and so much danger. I read well into the wee hours of the morning immursed in this world.

Highly recommend. Give yourself plenty of uninterrupted reading time. You're not going to want to put it down.

This is a book that gets better the more you read. Part three really turned this around. I was not feeling the beginning. But part three made it all come together and I appreciate the beginning now . I thought it would have more to do with the celestial kingdom duology as it was advertised but it does not. The writing is still Sue Lyn’s beautiful writing. Loved it.

Sue Lynn Tan does it again!! I loved her duology, and i loved this just as much. I wish I could’ve read it faster but school always gets in the way. But I’m so glad to have finished it. I loved Liyen, and the God of War was absolutely perfect. I thought this book had a lot of details, and I absolutely loved it when something was revealed because I never expected it. I loved everything about this book. I can’t wait to read her new book that comes out in September.

Immortal is the first book that I have read by Sue Lynn Tan and I was drawn to it by the gorgeous cover art as well as the intriguing description. According to the author, the setting takes place in the same world as Daughter of the Moon Goddess, but can be read as a standalone and contains different characters. Our female main character is Liyen, a mortal princess and heir to the throne of the country Tianxia which is in the Mortal Realm. She was poisoned and sickly but was healed by receiving a Divine Pearl Lotus. This restores her health and makes her even stronger, being strengthened by the lotus’s powers. This FMC is admirable as she is very ambitious and remains unyielding despite being strongly disliked by those in power within the kingdom she is thrust into, the Immortal Realm. To secure her crown she has to enter this Immortal Realm and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals, which is something she is not thrilled about. Liyen’s personality is great and I loved her wit and willingness to sacrifice herself for the ones she loves. Our MMC, Zhangwei, is known as the God of War. He comes off as a misunderstood character and is seen as cold and heartless, not caring for mortals but only for strength and death. We come to find that he’s actually quite likable. This book contains as much politics as it does romance, which some readers may not like. Usually I’m not one to like a ton of politics within my reads but I felt that the romance did balance things. The book also started a bit slow, in my opinion. However, that didn’t deter me from reading as my interest was held despite the pacing. There is a lot of concentration on Liyen’s character development. The world building was great and the small details were outstanding. I also really enjoyed the cast of side characters. The plot twists were also wonderful and caught me off guard even when I thought I knew what was coming! I really enjoyed this read and look forward into reading Sue Lynn Tan’s other books. If you’re into romantasy this book is a great choice!

Thank you to Harper Voyager and Avon and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Immortal was my first Sue Lynn Tan book, and it did not disappoint!
The world-building is breathtaking,
the prose beautifully lyrical,
and the slow-burn romance between the MCs is full of tension and depth.

While the pacing starts off a bit slow,
the emotional payoff and stunning conclusion make it well worth the journey.

A must-read for fans of romantic fantasy—I'll definitely be picking up more from Tan!

I knew I would adore this book because I loved The Celestial Kingdom books. I was not disappointed.

This book was captivating since the first page. It is filled with world-building, complex characters, twists and turns, political intrigue, and heart-warming romance.


The FMC, Liyen, is a princess in Tianxia. So loved by her grandfather, he risks it all to give her the gift of the Divine Pearl Lotus to cure her. Upon his death, she is thrust into power and has to make tough decisions to do what is best for her people. Zhangwei, aka the God of War, is the MMC. He is introduced to us as hateful, vicious, and hateful towards mortals. Both characters are complex and go through tremendous character development through the story. Just when you think you have this enemies to lovers tale figured out, Sue Lynn Tan throws in a plot twist that no one could see coming. I can usually predict most plot twists, but I didn’t see any of these coming.

Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Collins for this ARC!

3.5 stars. Tandem read with audio and the narrator was fantastic as usual.

Putting this in the front so it can be seen but I am happy to say (for once) that **you DO NOT have to read Daughter of the Moon Goddess or its sequel to read this**. It infuriates me when authors will do spinoffs or standalones in the same world and claim you can read one without the other but yet, the previous books are spoiled in the first 10 minutes of a the new book. This one is wholly independent, the very few mentions of anything to do with DotMG is akin to basic history or geography like “that kingdom lies to the east.” or “the emperor (unnamed) is a dick.” I do think that it does take place around the same time as DotMG but regardless, this book is spent isolated in parts of the world that, from my memory, do not cross over with DotMG. Absolute kudos to Sue Lynn Tan for that, other authors/publishers, take notes.

Now that is out of the way I can give my usual thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All reviews are my own and for the audio read portion (since obviously I tandem read) I did spend my own money to purchase that.

Onto the review, I’ll just say it. If you read one Sue Lynn Tan book, you have read them all. They are all wholly the same from the beautiful, lush prose that is very deceptive of the environment to the basic and bland characters and plot. Immortal more or less was the same as DotMG in that regard though I will say, I liked the love story better in this one. The plot (when it wasn’t just a bunch of meandering side quests and going from A to B) was also slightly more interesting. Dunno, if it justifies over 400 pages worth but the twists were unexpected and the story wrapped up nicely though in typical Sue Lynn Tan fashion.

I think overall I was just expecting MORE from this novel. Maybe thats on me for having higher expectations going into this but I really thought that it would be a gripping romantic tale with more secrets and forced proximity in one placeish. We got that for like 25% of the novel and then it was the pinging around the map adventure until it ended.

Will I reread this? Probably not though I will look at my stunning Fairyloot copy from time to time. Will I recommend? Maybe. If you are used to watching any kind of historical c-drama then read this is very akin to consuming that.

Overall, I think I am kind of done reading any more Sue Lynn Tan novels set in the Celestial Kingdom world. So far its been a lot of the same and I am eager to see her beautiful prose and lush descriptions with something new.

4.25 stars!

Such a lyrical and magical book! The prose was just beautiful and I really enjoyed getting to know Liyen and Zhangwei! Sue Lynn Tan really excels at world building.

I loved this book. While the plot twists are a little more expected than in Daughter of the Moon Goddess, there were still some surprises I didn't see coming. Sue Lynn Tan has become my favorite fantasy writer. She has a particular talent for character development and injecting dry humor into her writing in a way that further immerses me in the world she's created. I would recommend this to readers who liked her previous books, or even new readers who have an interest in fantasy/Chinese mythology as the book can be enjoyed as a standalone.

I read 4 chapters and finally had to DNF. I guess that's what I get for reading a book simply because it's beautiful. The main character is insufferable, and her dialog with the God of War is so juvenile. Actually, everything about her is juvenile. Her inner dialog is very bratty. Her very few actions (up until chatting 4) seem almost perfunctory, like the author would have rather her not do anything. Honestly, if she had just been unconscious the whole time and it was just told from her friends point of view, I think I would have liked it a lot more.

Maybe it is necessary to read the other books in this series first to enjoy it, but it's supposed to be a stand-alone, so I didn't.

As always, thank you, Netgalley, for this ARC. Sorry it just wasn't for me.

If Sue Lynn Tan writes it, you better believe I'm going to come running and Immortal absolutely did not disappoint! This book delivered everything I crave in a romantic fantasy and then some. When I say I want romantic fantasy, this is exactly what I mean!

There was yearning, tension, and oh, the romance! Immortal brought all the court intrigue and emotional tension, betrayal and plot twists that gave me serious Ashes of Love and Ten Miles of Peach Blossom vibes. I was living for every single moment.

While set in the same world as the Celestial Kingdom series, which I also adored, this novel is a complete standalone. That makes it a super easy read, even if you haven't read the other books.

I couldn’t put this book down. I practically devoured it! And can we take a moment to talk about the God of War, aka Lord Zhangwei? Or should I just start calling him the God of Rizz now? Because damn, his dialogue was chef's kiss level fine. I have all his lines highlighted and swooned over them like my life depended on it. The romance and banter hit the spot perfectly, it was everything I needed and more.

I’m so weak for the yearning and forbidden love trope, and Sue Lynn Tan delivered it flawlessly in this book. The dynamics between the characters was intense, emotional, and beautifully written. No spoilers here but let me just say that the romance absolutely HIT.

A huge thank you to @ Harper Voyager @HarperCollins for gifting me a finished copy of Immortal. I’m totally in awe of how stunning it is, the cover is just as beautiful as the story inside.

Put Immortal on your bookshelf ASAP! Or better yet go make yourself acquainted with Lord Zhangwei *swoon*

This was a miss for me. I've read Sue Lynn Tan's other works (the celestial kingdom series) amd loved them. The writing felt flat and the story was missing something.

I have loved Sue Lynn Tan since Daughter of the Moon Goddess and this one was no exception! Her writing has the most beautiful poetic quality to it, that truly embraces the settings for her stories. This one captured my heart from the first page reading about a young ruler and her desire for her people to see freedom. There were so many twists and I found myself emotionally destroyed at parts- but trust the magic. Sue Lynn Tan is a master at weaving the heart back together again.