I got this book early from everywhere (Libro.fm and NetGalley). I was so hype for this book and so appreciative of all the formats I had access to. I used them all while reading and loved every second of the novel and the overall experience.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
“What if I told you, he begins, that the feeling we call love…is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”
A reincarnation love story that spans lifetimes, this ambitious tale of connection and destiny and a true feeling follows three iterations of two men who are reborn over and over with a pull between them that cannot be denied. In the year 4 BCE, a young courtier is directed to seduce an emperor, and the two find that, despite the machinations that brought them together, they share something greater. In 1740, an innkeeper in a rural province helps a mysterious visitor, inadvertently releasing a supernatural power. In present day Los Angeles, a college student discovering his identity meets a beautiful stranger that he is inexplicably drawn to. Spanning centuries and settings (palaces, the wilderness, underground raves), these lovers find and re-find each other, always looking for a different ending and to finally be fully together.
What a refreshing romantasy! This new subgenre has really been pigeonholed into a certain type of story by the publishing/marketing industry, and I loved this breath of something new/different from that higher industry level. As for me, no matter what the marketing for it was, I simply loved it. It totally lived up to the hype I had built for it. The writing was great, in general. More specifically, the three individual stories were interwoven in a way that allowed them to swell and drop in unison, creating a grand scale show of the lasting-ness of this romance, while remaining completely unique and separate in their own character developments and plots. I’m very impressed with the way Huang was able to do both, simultaneously, without sacrificing one aspect in favor of the other.
I have to mention the sex. 🙂 It’s a correctly-marketed romantasy, so…there was, predictably, a lot of it. It was great. Such a variety and jumping right in from the start! It was transactional, with deep emotional connection, casual, under the influence (a variety of them, across the stories), with a goal/aim, brash, manipulated, shy/hesitant, transcendent, and the kind that is deeply satisfying because it comes after longing for it through almost the whole book. Oh, and lest I forget, there was some terrifying sex – I have read a lot, but I have never before read a razor blade blow job! Eeek! Anyhoo, hats off to Huang for this aspect as well.
And finally, I *must* highlight the overall vibes. This is like, take angst and bittersweet torment and make it romantic and literary with a splash of the divine. The anguish was just….so good. And ever present in the best way. And the ending!! I don’t know what I was anticipating, necessarily, but this was not it…it was so much more! It subverted *all* tropes and exceeded my expectations; drawing out that sweet agony (for eternity, maybe?!), but still somehow so satisfying! Perfect for the vibes of this story (these stories).
Oh, and the audiobook narration was a full cast (three narrators for the three stories interwoven) and each was chosen perfectly. Loved that.
This was just such a mystical reading experience. The reincarnations were so different from each other, which made for a compelling and fast set of narratives. And they were all otherworldly and sublime in their own ways. I kinda loved them all and was left both fulfilled and yearning for more. So, basically, I can’t speak enough about how much I loved Huang’s debut and I recommend it so hard!
A few pull-quotes:
“As my mother once told me, there are few knots that strategic wine cannot unravel.”
“Memories are already so immaterial that it only takes a nudge for them to dissipate away, like waking dreams.”
“I had fallen asleep upon his prized heritage robe. And so he could leave without stirring me awake, the Emperor had cut off his sleeve.” (Idk what it is about this line, but it gave me *feelings.* I cannot get over it. This is *romance.*)
“To Remember is a dubious gift, and a staggering burden.”
“An ambitious courtier in an ancient palace. A humble innkeeper in the woods. An artist obsessed with a singular muse. A beautiful mystery to the very end.”
Just One More Pa(i)ge 