Oh Lady Jing..... she's rude, crude and has had enough of everyone's dabian. I loved her immediately.

Of course, the spitting, swearing, streaking, and general screw it all attitude is a shock at first, but I have never met a character like her. Once her story gets going, it's really easy to see why she is the way she is. A very tough young woman who has emotionally been dealt a very bad hand in the kanhoo game of life.

Shanghai Immortal is a really strong debut novel and immediately sucks (no pun intended) you into the world of a half vampire/ half hulijing fox spirit bounding around decadent 1930s Shanghai, getting into many funny scrapes along the way. There is also a heart tugging family story that brings a more serious note, making for nicely balanced reading. I have read this in hardback and just finished listening to the audiobook version in tandem, as I really enjoyed listening to the correct pronunciations of the Chinese vocabulary that are peppered throughout as I struggled with that whilst reading. Although I am new to books so laden with Chinese words, puns, and folklore, I really enjoyed learning about this world through the eyes of the MC Lady Jing. I have already found myself saying "mafan" under my breath!

Overall, I couldn't put it down and really enjoyed being taken for this wild ride. This is an easy fun read, but there is an underlying complexity as the author fulfils her own desire to increase representation of dual heritage stories and the problems that can arise from that unique viewpoint. This is long overdue and very welcome. I think hers is a fantastic new voice in fiction and I can't wait to read more.

An interesting read set in Jazz age Shanghai. I liked the idea of the two Shanghais, one a reflection of the other.

Lady Jing - half nine-tailed fox, half vampire is the ward of Big Wang (King of Hell). She is ... childish - angry, petulant, impulsive. Luckily, she had a lot of very patient people around her. She is sent to escort Tony Lee, a human who is helping set up a bank in Hell. Later, she is sent to Mortal Shanghai, with Tony Lee as her guide.

This book had a richly developed backdrop, which I enjoyed. I found Lady Jing quite annoying (I assumed this book was meant to be YA, even though I'm not sure it was advertised as such). There is a lot going on in the background, politically and storywise, but Lady Jing is mostly unaware of it. The romance is sweet and understated, which worked really well.

Took a little while to get into it but really worth the read!

"We're quite similar, you and I. We both embody things that maybe people don't expect to go together, but which surprises them, hopefully in good ways."

Deities, demons, jazz age Shanghai. Lady Jing, half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirt, is ward to the King of Hell. Shanghai Immortal follows her journey as she becomes aware of a plot against the King and seeks the help of Mr Lee, a mortal visiting Hell.

The setting for this story is beautifully woven into the storytelling as the characters explore both Hell and mortal Shanghai. The writing is immersive and incredibly descriptive, you can tell the author took a lot of time crafting this.

Our main character Lady Jing is fun to read, and some of her dialogue genuinely made me laugh. It was interesting to see how her interactions with certain characters developed as the story went. I feel like we got to know a little bit about her vampire side but not a whole lot about her fox-spirit side so I did feel like I was left wanting more. Hopefully this is something that will be explore more in the series.

I did enjoy the plot, I just wished there was a bit more of it. Things didn't really start to get going until about 40%-50% of the way through so it did feel a little slow for me. I can appreciate how the beginning of the book is trying to immerse us in the world and introduce the characters but I did feel that the plot was getting lost at times.

Shanghai Immortal has a fascinating premise, wonderful setting and really endearing characters. I would definitely recommend this if you enjoy books which are quite character/setting focused. Can't wait to see where the series goes!

Fantastic, I love this book so much it was a rollercoaster of emotions and adventure. Lady Jing is one of my favourite protagonists she his sharp, witty and stubborn as hell; throughout the story you learn about why she is so prickly.

This was well written fantasy drama and I loved the dynamics of the celestial gods and Lady Jing.

This book takes you on a journey through self acceptance and friendship while surrounded by the jazz era of Shanghai.

Slow burn romance, jazz music and dragons.

Solid five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved the main character! Wonderfully flawed and unusual.

A chance to bath in a world that I certainly had not seen depicted before with an enjoyable heroine.

A touch over simplistic at times in style and writing, and a bit of a clang as real world atrocities are dropped in, but as a debut novel easily forgivable for a fun story with its heart very much in the right place.

Absolutely brilliant! High recommend for anyone really. Sweet, rip roaring, descriptive, colourful, touching, adventurous, romantic, what an amazing book! Loved it!

I had a good time reading this book

The Chinese pantheon of gods is an unusual place for a fantasy story.

This book is such a delight! Prepare to be transported to 1930s Shanghai—both the mortal and immortal version—where you’ll meet the most fun, lovable sasshole in all of literature. Lady Jing is a half-fox spirit, half-vampire and ward of the King of Hell. She hates restrictive clothing and has anger management issues (especially when hungry), but she’s too squeamish to feed directly off living mortals. So relatable! But yet so unique and original. One of my favorite reads of 2023.

I cannot express enough how much I enjoyed this book. I'm a YA fantasy fan but the author has made it clear this book is NOT YA. I guess crossover fiction would describe it? I don't want to offend her, but it does have a young vibe to it but any fantasy fan should take a chance. It's sophisticated, thrilling, funny, fun, unique and exquisitely executed. The writing flows, the story is so different to anything I've read. A hellish version of Shanghai with celestials behaving badly and the King of Hell showing his soft side. I absolutely adored the female MC, Lady Jing. She is rude and angry and deeply flawed because of a terrible trauma in her past (that is revealed late in the book). The enemy to friend to potential love storyline is perfect. Today I bought a paperback version of 'Shanghai Immortal' (that I'd just finished on kindle) and then ordered A Y Chao's next book without even knowing what it is. I am beyond thrilled to know it's a sequel, 'Paris Celestial'. Definitely a new favourite author!

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.

The mortal - mr. Lee is sent to immortal Shanghai to help with the banking system.

Jing’s biggest foe is her grandmother Lady Sue.

The worldbuilding is amazing, both mortal and immortal Shanghai feel very vivid. No one ever thinks of hell as being better than earth, but I think the writer has made a very beautiful hell.

The amount of cursing lady Jing does is fantastic and the amount of groveling mr. Lee does with flowery language is also amazing.

I love that lady Jing is a strong, feisty deity.

As lady Jing gets into a lot of trouble, Big Wang sends her to mortal Shanghai with mr. Lee. Adventure ensues. The book I first read as an ebook, then listened to the audio version read by Mei Mei Macleod. She is a fantastic narrator and I was happy to hear the correct pronounciations of the Chinese.

I will absolutely read anything else she writes and recommend this for fantasy / historical fiction lovers.

Alice Chao (the author) said it herself:

“This is the story about the myriad languages of love…A celebration of the quiet love language I grew up with - not the kind that declares I love you for all to hear, but the unspoken kind imbued into acts of caretaking and sacrifice. No less valid and no less powerful.”

I’m glad I’m a “dummy reader” that operates purely on vibes because I wasn’t looking for logic or plot holes throughout, so the revelations at the end actually surprised me and had me teary eyed.

As a first generation Asian migrant myself, I know all too well how our love language is often acts of service. In the way our elders peel and chop fruit before bringing a plate to your room, in the way they’ll remember a small comment that you liked a dish and make a pot of the food for your every visit, and in the way they always walk you out of the house and stand waving at you until you round the corner and you’re out of sight. I also know how easily this can be misconstrued because their expectations can be louder than their subtle acts of care.

4 stars because the FMC Lady Jing is insufferably immature and reckless for majority of the book (and also she constantly uses words like piss-fart which made me want to DNF so hard). I suppose for an immortal in this world 100 years is young, so I thought of her more as a late teenager or early adult which made her more palatable. It helps that you can see she’s coming into her own at the tail end of the story. I’ll definitely be reading the next book, but my fingers and toes are crossed that Lady Jing continues to mature quickly.

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Tropes:

- Historical Fantasy (1930s Shanghai)

- Chinese Folklore/Mythology/Hidden World

- Imbalanced Dynamics (Immortal x Mortal)

- Grumpy FMC x Sunshine MMC

- Underdog/Outsider MC

- Unreliable Narrator

- Amateur Sleuth

- No Spice