Shanghai Immortal by A. Y Chao

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 1st of June 2023 

This richly told adult fantasy debut teems with Chinese deities and demons cavorting in jazz age Shanghai.

Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King’s ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper – with varying levels of success.

So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all.

With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai. But when her hijinks put the mortal in danger, she must decide which is more important: avenging her loss of face, or letting go of her half-empty approach to life for a chance to experience tenderness – and maybe even love.

What I Have to Say 

I loved the vibrant setting and the Chinese concept of the afterlife, but the character was so, so annoying. The character was meant to be approaching adulthood at 100 years of age, but half the time she acted like a five year old. It was a relief during the times when she actually decided to be responsible for stuff because we got a break from the brattiness. 

Despite that though, I really enjoyed the book. The setting was just really interesting and I was invested in seeing how everything worked. I loved the idea of the roosters coming into hell because it was popular to burn paper roosters for the dead so that hell was just infested with wild roosters. That really spoke to me. 

I enjoyed the stuff in the mortal world as well. It was nice to see Jing away from the pettiness of the court so that she could just relax and be herself. It didn't get rid of all of the brattiness, but it did help a lot. 

Read for Chinese culture and traditions and a really interesting world. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review.