Emperor and the Endless Palace

What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?

My feelings on this book are so incredibly mixed! On one hand, I adore the idea of it: a lifetimes-spanning love story (definitely not a genre romance though) with the narrative going back and forth between historical periods. On the other hand, I kind of disliked the execution, and in many ways I’m still struggling to put a finger on the specific flaws that hindered my enjoyment. I think they exist somewhere on the intersection of structure and characterization. The way the timelines intersected within the larger narrative was often confusing and I failed to grasp the logic between the switches from one to another. The characters didn’t really feel like versions or reflections of the same souls through the ages, more like completely separate people. All the storylines felt like they lacked space—maybe each of them would’ve done better as a whole separate book. 

At the same time, there were definitely a lot of moments that really stuck with me, especially in the historical storylines (the modern one, truth be told, I could practically do without). I liked the folklore-inspired bits and all the reminiscences about fate and power. But it was also a constant back-and-forth between the pages that kept me engrossed and the ones that were tedious to get through. Such a weird effect. It’s like I’ve read two or three books awkwardly smashed together. Even the prose wasn’t consistent: it flowed so well in some parts, then turned incredibly clunky for a while. Perhaps this just wasn’t a book for me, even though it sounded like it should be from the blurb!

There's not enough ass eating in fantasy. Justinian Huang is here to fix that. 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

No, the question is not whether fox spirits exist. The question is: If one comes for you, can you resist it?

The Emperor and the Endless Palace was a drug and sex fueled Cloud Atlas like story woven from Chinese fables, mythology, and historical fiction. Following three timelines from individual point-of-views, Dong Xian 4 BCE, He Shican 1740, and River Present day, the reader is taken on a reincarnation journey as three souls are forever intertwined.

“To put it as simply as possible, our souls are caught in an endless loop. No matter how many lifetimes we endure, we will not be released from an ancient curse. And once upon a lifetime, I made a promise to you that I would break it.”

As the reader travels in and out of each time period, commonalities are revealed and a picture of tangled love and a magical force working to interfere becomes apparent. What is not always so apparent is which reincarnated soul belongs to whom and who are the souls that truly belong together. There's some initial good vs. evil going on but I liked how as the story went on, it does murky up some of that conventional thinking and shows the battles of temptations and freedom of will playing their part.

Dong Xian, this whole time you thought that you were playing the game, only to realize you are the game.

Each timeline, whether it was Dong trying to strategize for power and influence in the Emperor's Palace against the Emperor's grandmother and cousin, He Shican trying to find where he fits in life and escaping his father's disappointment and unrequited from a doctor who took care of him, or River exploring his sexuality and living out for the first time, provided inner workings and deeper layers into these souls. I thought Dong Xian's timeline was the most thought out and worked the best, He Shican's was the most fantastical and River's looped and jumped around a bit too much creating a “does this all make sense?”.

And I don’t know how else to describe a bittersweet feeling inside me— in this moment that I meet him, I realize I might be lonely for the rest of my life. His name is Joey.

I would consider this at least straddling the erotic line, sex, and drugs, are constantly playing their part. I don't think I could say I felt the, modern conventional, love between the souls but the endlessly drawn to feeling came through. The writing created an easy pace, if not the story always being clear, and I flew through this. If looking for a reincarnation story that plays with temptations and freedom of will, the setting and influence of Chinese fantasy and historical fiction make this an interesting one to pickup.