Foul Lady Fortune

By: Chloe Gong

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends comes the “equal parts intoxicating and dazzling” (Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves) first book in a captivating new duology following an ill-matched pair of spies posing as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai.

It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption for her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.

©2022 Chloe Gong. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Incredible performance to match whip-smart and fun story

I had fun a fun time reading this! Cannot recommend more for anyone who likes historical fiction.

Wow!!! What a fantastic incredible story!

Wow, I really loved this! This was fast-paced, tense, and the characters were so easy to root for! I also really enjoyed the narration.

I haven't read Chloe's other novels, so this is the first book that I've read in her "These Violent Delights" universe. I had no intention or real interest in reading the first two novels, but honestly after reading Foul Lady Fortune, I'm definitely intrigued.

Foul Lady Fortune is full of mystery, spies, and history. I was not familiar with China's civil war in this time period, so I was kind of confused when I first stared the novel. But I was really intrigued by what I was reading and I even did a little research! This book, characters and setting is so rich in history and culture. I really enjoyed that aspect, I always love to learn more about the history of other cultures that are not my own.

I really loved Rosalind and Orion as characters and they had great chemistry together. The spies, the intrigue and missions were so fun to follow along- I was on the edge of my seat every time! The audiobook was fantastic (I do enjoy Emily's narration) and I switched between the audio and physical book because I just couldn't put this one down. I will eagerly await the sequel, that cliffehanger was 😱 I will also note that I really enjoyed the casual LGBTQ representation from our main characters.

This is also one of those books that I go back and forth as labeling as YA, as the characters themselves are actually young adults (Orion being 20s, and Rosalind technically being 23) and not teenagers, but I would say that this is written with a distinct YA flavor maybe. I don't know if I could put my finger on it. I do kind of wish that the characters were older, because it feels like a lot of the stuff they are involved in would make more realistic sense for them to be in their mid 20s, which is how a lot of them act anyway. I'm not sure if this is more of the author's choice, or historically accurate for spies and assassins to be so young.. I just feel like 17-20 is a little young to even be skilled enough to be such a covert, respected agent. lol. But that's more of a suspense of disbelief I suppose. Like I said, I will definitely be hanging around for the rest of this series!

Amazing continuation!!

please tell chloe gong I'd commit to much healthier lifestyle choices for her and her books

i'm not ready to say goodbye.

How am I ever supposed to get ever this series ending? The storytelling was incredible and the narration made it such an amazing audiobooks series to listen to.

Absolute Excellence

Absolutely loved it! The narrator did an excellent job of distinguishing voices, and I never wanted to stop listening!

narrator needs to learn French

I thought this about the These Violent Delights books too, but if you use French phrases in your text, you should get a narrator who can pronounce French words. (Or at least, who can practice with the Google Translate text to speech tool until they get it close enough.) Similarly, she also mispronounced a few tones in the Mandarin phrases, though luckily not as badly as she butchered the French.

Great Historical Fiction

I think this is the best book of the collection so far! I love listening to the audiobook because the narrator can work through the different languages that Gong uses in her book so effortlessly. I love the additional use of Russian, Chinese, and French used throughout the entire series, to me, its part of what makes these books so unique. I will tell anyone who wants to read this series, you have to give it your full attention. If you don't follow the plot and concentrate on the story, you will get lost quickly. This book (just like its predecessors) isn't really something you can run in the background and not pay much attention to and pick up again later. That being said, if you like romance, historical fiction, spy/thriller with a mix of science fiction then this is definitely the book for you.

SciFI? Fantasy? Fictional History?

A bunson burner, a syringe and green or red liquid in glass bottles that do or don't break as needed are all the proof one needs that eugenics beyond anything Rudolf Hess could have dreamed of = scifi in 1931. Wounds healing in seconds = pure fantasy. Plastic chairs and automatic traffic lights in 1931 Shanghai - anachronisms. Other than that, a good story. Oh, and the opening paragraphs in an aikido-like manner takes advantage of our modern sensitivity in passing over neutral pronouns as a enlightened way to deal with gender, only to be just a trick to hoodwink us regarding the victim's actual identity. I felt let down. Still a good story and I would read the sequel. I am somewhat familiar with the region's history and the 3 major non-English languages, so that was a plus. Still, Chinese names and terms were a bit hard to keep track of when listening,

Did not finish

I got so bored with this book. I just didn't bother finishing. I'm sorry but no.

Lots of Twists and Turns

A pretty fun read. Loved the characters and their individual storylines. I likes Rosalind but sometimes her slip ups when it came to language could be annoying. The story would sometimes slow down, but it it would pick up.