Greetings! Welcome to Books That Burn. I'm Robin, welcome to another book essay about something that was too big of a thought to fit into a normal review, specifically: Why Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong is not like The Hunger Games. Please feel free to send us suggestions for future essays. Before I get started, I'd like to thank our Patron who gets a monthly shoutout, Case Aiken. The support of our Patrons makes this podcast (and blog) possible, and we're grateful to all of you.
When perusing other reviews of Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong, I've seen many comparisons to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This comparison is both slightly true and mostly unhelpful as a generalization, as what they have in common are either superficial genre features or not unique to The Hunger Games. I understand why the comparison occurs to people so I'd like to take it seriously. Nicole and I have covered The Hunger Games on our podcast, and I recently reviewed Immortal Longings. I'll also make some reference to an earlier book with many of the same elements as later appeared in The Hunger Games: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. You can find both parts of our podcast discussion on that book here (Part 1, Part 2), as well as my written review of Battle Royale. While I think it does make sense to compare and contrast them, these books are not interchangeable.
Please refer to the link for the full essay.
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Stand-Alone 24: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Highlight 23: Sassinak by Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey
Stand-Alone 23: Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Stand-Alone 22: Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Highlight 22: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Highlight 21: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Stand-Alone 21: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Highlight 20: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Stand-Alone 20: “The Atrocities” by Jeremy C. Shipp
Highlight 19: Scavenge The Stars by Tara Sim
Stand-Alone 19: The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Highlight 18: Jade City - Fonda Lee
Stand-Alone 18: Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Highlight 17: Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Stand-Alone 17: Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas
Highlight 16: River of Teeth - Sarah Gailey
Highlight 15: Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb
Highlight 14: Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao
Interview 8: Seanan McGuire, Part 1 of 2
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