And of course, let’s not forget that I wanted to know if the plot against Big Wang would be stopped and the villains punished! 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. As I mentioned, the worldbuilding is complex, full of Chinese folklore and magical creatures, which was definitely my favourite part! I want my own Pixiu so I can call them cutie. The gods, demons, swords, and creatures are amazing. The fact that Lady Jing, the main character, is half-vampire and half-deity adds insight to the story. She feels misunderstood and that she doesn’t belong in her own world which makes her relatable. u>Her inner voice is such a fun part of this book. She’s irreverent, hilarious, and completely badass. She’s 99 years old, however for an eternal life that’s not much. She’s immature, passionate, and impulsive. The author portraits her “teen years” perfectly. She’s also broken and a bit lost in her life, as many of us are too. However, if you are expecting a serious, fully developed adult character, this is not your book. But if you like unserious characters and you relate with her personality and mood, Lady Jing will be the perfect choice to make you laugh. This was a really fun read and I devoured it over a few days. I love a sarcastic main character and Lady Jing made me laugh throughout the entire book. Oftentimes it seems authors include sarcastic, arrogant characters without giving them any other personality and thankfully A.Y. Chao avoids that trap. Lady Jing is sarcastic but grows as a character in the book without losing her charm. I also quite liked her side characters with Horsey being my favourite.

Shanghai Immortal starts off with our main character, Lady Jing explaining what’s she’s doing waiting for a delivery at 3am in the morning. The story is told in first person so we find out straight away just how much of a sasshole she can be, but she does this mostly by describing who she is and how she came to live with the King of Hell, ‘Big Wang’ as she calls him. Determined to get revenge on the hulijing immortals who constantly belittle her, Jing tries to foil their plan to steal a dragon pearl from her guardian, the King of Hell. Alongside this, she is charged with protecting a mortal man. However, she soon finds herself distracted by the handsome Tony Lee as they travel across immortal then mortal Shanghai. Jing's inability to believe herself worthy of love and friendship is explored throughout the book and some of the revelations about her childhood abuse and trauma are devastating. I love that she's shown gradually realising her self-worth thanks to Tony Lee's outsider perspective.Where this book really shines though, is the worldbuilding. We get to experience two really interesting settings- immortal Shanghai aka hell that is ruled by Lord Wang and abundant with mythology and real Shanghai in the 1930s. Mortal Shangai feels like a clash of cultures from both the West and East and was so fun to explore. I opened this book because the main character is a half vampire half-hulijing fox-spirit expecting wild shenanigans and I ended up staying because it was actually a very heartwarming story. Not that Lady Jing doesn't deliver, she's all the sass promised by the blurb, but this book is so much more!! Where this book lost points for me was the constant bathroom humour and spitting. I don't think I came across the word "piss-fart" ever in a book, and the amount of times it's used gets annoying. There are other ways to make a character crude without being gross. I'm hoping with Lady Jing's development in the book, that hopefully this will die down in the next two in the series. Adventures ensue, with plenty of earthy observations by Jing, as she painfully comes to terms with aspects of her birth and early years. Perhaps symbolic, she fights hard against wearing the qipao, the gorgeous silk gown of the period--skin-tight, it looks spectacular on the right body, at the cost of moving. Or even breathing freely. And Jing, trained in martial arts, needs to be able to move. Shanghai Immortal is the must-read debut of 2023, both intensely fun and heart wrenching. A wild ride through a Shanghai you've never seen before." - Tasha Suri

The worldbuilding was so beautiful and immersive. Every detail was there, and yet, the book didn't get wordy nor did it have lengthy descriptions. Big Wang, Lord Ma, Lord Nioh, and Old Zao are all fabulous side-characters, with their own personality and quirks. They made me love them more and more as the story progressed. The slow burn romance between Jing and Mr Tony Lee, a human from Mortal Shanghai who was a balm to her fiery nature. He is the epitome of hope and was also brave in partaking certain responsibilities. Our narrator is Lady Jing, ward of Big Wang, the King of Hell--who rules the mythic world that overlies thirties Shanghai. I've now seen enough series and films (including film clips from the actual period) set in thirties Shanghai, to salute the research that went into evoking an amazing period in China's very long history. Thirties Shanghai was a meeting and amalgam of different cultures, each gleefully borrowing from the others to try them on, resulting in an exhilarating period that, unfortunately was all too soon overshadowed by world war. Lady Jing is half-vampire and half-hulijing (a fox spirit), sold by her mother to Big Wang, the King of Hell. For ninety years, Jing is raised as the King's ward in Hell, living amongst the hulijing courtiers, who regularly torment her. Now, Jing runs errands for Big Wang.Set in the jazz age of 1920s in mortal and immortal Shanghai. We follow Lady Jing who is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit. Her boss big Wang. So we have Lady Jing, an immortal of soon to be hundred years and considered as a child not so long ago (the aging and adulting of immortals are different I guess). This richly told adult fantasy debut teems with Chinese deities and demons cavorting in jazz age Shanghai. The synopsis states: "Set in 1930s Shanghai, Shanghai Immortal follows Lady Jing–half-fox spirit, half-vampire, all sasshole—as she is tasked with escorting a gentle mortal through the depths of Hell, an irritating distraction from her quest to discover why her hulijing elders are scheming to steal the king’s priceless dragon pearl."

I won't say any more than that. I galloped through the book, delighting in Jing and her adventures, and her slow, wary approach to growing up and into her powers. Along the way we get a thorough grounding in Chinese myth; what I loved most, I think, was Mr. Lee's reason for coming to Big Wang in the first place. That resonated with so many of the Chinese stories I've been inhaling over these past few years. Likewise, I loved the scattering of Chinese vocabulary through the story, exulting in the fact that I recognized all these words. Shanghai Immortal is a gritty, glittering tale of gods and monsters in a reimagining of 1930s China. The fearsome half-vampire half-deity Lady Jing swaps anger management lessons for a crash course in the mortal realm and you can't help but root for her and the chaos she leaves in her wake. Full of fury, passion, and beauty, this is a debut that will grip you in its fangs and make you bleed-all the while wanting more." - Saara El-Arifi I was given early access through NetGalley and the Author, Thank you so much for the Advance Reader's CopySo, hell, the mortal world… and we also get to know the celestial lands! Home to the likes of Chang-e and dragon lords. This is just a little part of the large amount of world-building Chao has put into Shanghai Immortal, and everything fits together just so perfectly. I won’t delve into this element, but I absolutely loved how roosters were used in the overall world. A wildly inventive and moving romp that goes through the mortal and immortal realms of China, with an endearing and tumultuous main character." - Aliette de Bodard