Gorgeous photo by @thisgirlhasn0name
Hey fairy friends!
Welcome to our fifth and final day of the Shanghai Immortal readalong! Grab a snack (or a few!) and let’s dive in and see how
Today we’re reading from Chapter 26 to the end of the book.
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao, from chapter 26 to the end of the book. Please only read on if you’ve finished Shanghai Immortal!
-!SPOILERS!-
I am absolutely thriving right now seeing Jing wind up her enemies. This is way too funny!
Ah, so she DOES think Jing has the pearl. My, oh my, is she wrong.
Jing’s grandmother is really something. I loathe her with a passion. Jing leaps into the water, she’s gotten over her fear. I’m so proud!
YAAAAAAS. We were all hoping Lord Black would show up again wouldn’t we? And here he is!
He has something for her… I think we can trust him, but this does seem a bit shifty. A bit too right place at the right time kinda thing? We’ll see!
I honestly feel like the best part of this conversation is Jing learning Lord Ma never shuts up about how proud he is of Jing, to the point where he’s gotten into fights over it. She’s much more cared for in immortal Shanghai than she believed.
The Longnu pearl is actually Jing’s and not only that, but it will provide her with dragon sight. This is incredibly cool. Also explains why Niang Niang was so sure she had it!
Ok, best part of this conversation has changed. It’s now Lord Black calling Jing a silly melon. New insult unlocked.
After a wild goose chase transporting herself here and there, she finally finds Tony Lee and Big Wang. Ironically they’re in the Hulijing court she just left.
Jing says she has claim over the mortal, Niang Niang says she can’t have done that without him willingly offering his yang qi, and her already having fed on it… but we have our suspicions don’t we, fairies? ?
We were right. Tony Lee gave Jing HIS blood to drink. I’m about to sob.
Something clicks within Jing after that and her celestial command finally works and DAMN she is powerful!
Jing has her. There’s nothing Niang Niang can do. Big Wang’s arrived and he’s not happy either! The whole gang has arrived, with the Jade Emperor tagged by Lady Gi and Ah Lang AND the jiangshi that witnessed Lady Soo and five other handmaidens trying to break into Big Wang’s treasury. The jig is up!
This gets even better. Big Wang formally adopted Jing under Lady Rey’s request.
They’ve really put Niang Niang in her place, haven’t they?
We learn what happened to Jing’s mother, Lady Ay gives Jing a diamond her mother bought for her, to remember her. It seems Jing got a lot wrong about her childhood and her upbringing, she was loved by so many all along. We ALSO learn, Lady Ay did give Tony a fake talisman, she had intel he would be visiting and real talisman’s used to hurt Jing, because of the silver, so she replaced it with one that would cause Jing no harm. Lord Black told Lady Ay that Tony had the power to bring rainbows back into her life.
We leave Jing as she sits in the sampan, with Tony, and the cross the veil back into Yin Shanghai, much stronger than when they left!
Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected?
Are you happy with how it ended?
What would you rate the book?
Any theories for book two?
I hope you enjoyed this readalong, fairies! As always thank you so much for joining us, and we’ll see you very soon for the next FairyLoot readalong!
Love,
Shannon
Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected? No it didn’t I love that it turned out well for Jing!
Are you happy with how it ended? yes very much so, it was so cute that everyone loved her adn cared for her all along, even the people she didn’t expect like Big Wang.
What would you rate the book? I enjoyed this book so 4/5 stars for me
Any theories for book two? Hmm not sure about this one, maybe we’ll learn more about the dragon pearl and Jing’s mother/past
1) & 2) I did expect the pearl to be revealed at long last, but I was not expecting such an uplifting ending! Given my recent reads, it was much needed. And absolutely the best part was learning how loved Jing truly is and has been. Lord Ma getting into fights for his little girl? Adorable.
3) Very solid debut. 4.25/5 stars for me!
4) Well, I expect Niang Niang won’t go down easily and will try to steal the pearl now that she’s sure Jing has it. I also expect Jing to finally manifest her fox tails, something I thought we’d get in this book. More Celestial voice. More Gigi and Lang. Possibly finding her bio-dad (because we all know she has 3 adoptive dads). We’d have to learn how different Tony is. I also imagine we’ll see more from the dragons. (Also, how dare Niang Niang shun Lord Black? Like we didn’t have enough reasons to hate the woman. ?)
1) Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected? Are you happy with how it ended?
No I didn’t expect that ending but I expected some sort of “happy ending” even though it is just temporary. I really liked the redemption of some characters … her mother, horsey and so on. Plus I really enjoyed Lord black showing up and being that time consuming xD and Jing being in a hurry but being more than polite!! A good character arch!
2) What would you rate the book?
4/5
I feel like I’d appreciate the book and story more if I knew more about the deities and so on. And I’d definitely would enjoy more books like that. It was a hell of a ride!!
3)Any theories for book two?
Well, we have a couple of topics we still need to cover: her fox form, her vampire father and her new rule in the hulijing court, and the rage of her grandmother … and: the upcoming love between her and Lee <3
Its been a great time! Thank you !! It was great to read the other comments as well <3 great choice and hopefully the 2nd and 3rd novel will be published by fairyloot as well (hopefully without a waiting queue of 23 hours … xD)
1. Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected?
I didn’t really have any expectations haha. I was just enjoying the ride.
2. Are you happy with how it ended?
Yes – although I’m extra glad this Fairyloot edition had that bonus epilogue. I think the feeling would have been more abrupt without it.
3. What would you rate the book?
4 stars
4. Any theories for book two?
I think the sequel will explore Lady Jing’s vampire heritage (who her father is, why that side of the family was granted the pearl) and HOPEFULLY reveal how many tails Jing’s fox form has.
Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected?
I knew Jing would reunite with Tony but was interesting to learn a little more about the possible power the pearls contain. I am curious to know more of the bank project and if Niang Niang will once again try to go after Jing.
Are you happy with how it ended?
I think everything resolved well. No major cliffhangers were kind of nice so it won’t feel so bad waiting for the sequel.
What would you rate the book?
I’d rate it a solid 3.5. The biggest complaint was the overuse of piss-fart and ta-tas, like it gold old quick for me. I was hoping a bit more backstory about Immortal Shanghai and more of Lady Kings vampire side but hopeful that the sequels will dive more into this.
Any theories for book two?
Niang Niang will probably try some shenanigans. A new villain may appear and if the bank is up, new problems from that. Really hoping we learn more about Jing’s parents and history. I am thinking Tony may develop some type of power after the Jade but who knows.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this book! Overall I had such a fun time reading it. I liked that it dipped it’s toes into more serious and tragic topics, but at the end of the day was still just a fun wild ride.
I’m giving it a 4.5/5 stars.
I’m hoping we get to learn more about Jing’s vampire heritage. Maybe she drags Mr. Lee off to Transylvania for some more life threatening adventures? Who knows? I’m looking forward to it though!! And I’m interested to learn if there’s any lingering supernatural side-effects to Mr. Lee having used up the jade pendant.
1. Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected?
I didn’t really have an expectation for how the book ended expect for Mr. Lee surviving, which he did
2. Are you happy with how it ended?
I don’t know. I have an overall “meh” feeling for this book, since I’m not the biggest fan of Lady Jing as a character (too immature and childish for me) and feel like the whole book just went around in circles without a good defined plot line. I’m just left with to many questions that could’ve easily been addressed during the story but weren’t, which left me with an underwhelming overall feeling
3. What would you rate the book?
3.5 stars
4. Any theories for book two?
Probably will have something to do with Jing having her dragon pearl
Solid 4 stars from me. Really enjoyed it and reading such a lush edition was really nice – this is such a classy looking book with the dust-jacket off really hitting the art deco vibes of the time.
What has made Tony ‘maybe better than new ‘ or whatever Wang said… This will be in book two. I think she’ll use her command voice against him to protect him and they’ll argue about it… Not sure of the plot, but I agree that it’ll involve her father too – finding him or he’ll find her and have issues he needs help with.
Glad I joined the readalong 🙂
1) For the most part, yes. [Not in specifics, but in general, yes.]
2) Again, for the most part, yes. I was hoping to get a glimpse of her fox form, but manifesting her Celestial voice is an acceptable compromise!
3) As an Adult book, probably around a 3.5? But mostly because it read more YA than Adult for me. So, had it been a YA book, it would probably be a 4 just because it would have been more up to what I expected from it?
4) I think her fox form is going to be impressive, if not that rarest form that was hinted at earlier [because, in a YA book, it would practically be guaranteed, and this feels very YA], I think there’s going to be an interesting twist on the “end state” of Tony and Jing, and I think there will be some sort of [probably happy] “end state” for Gigi and Ah Lang. Aside from that, more about Jing’s dad, more about the dragon pearl [and dragons!], and whatever problems Jing’s grandmother is going to cause next. [And I’m calling her that because she would HATE to be associated/reminded of her association with Jing, so that’s how I’ll refer to her from now and.]
I adored this book! The end was so wholesome and thats all I wanted! Jing has so many people in her corner, they have been there for so long as well! I am so happy with the wrap up and intrigued to see where the story goes next.
Did Shanghai Immortal end the way you expected?
I’m not sure what I expected to be fair!
Are you happy with how it ended?
Somewhat, it was nice to get a happy ending but I feel like there are still some loose ends. What happened to the bank that Mr Lee is supposed to be helping to set up? It felt like it was mentioned and then almost forgotten about.
What would you rate the book?
This is a 2 star book for me, I didn’t enjoy it very much. It definitely felt like more of a YA than adult fantasy, and I couldn’t get past the amount of times piss-fart was used! Jing just felt a bit too immature for me to grow to like her. I did really enjoy the world building and comparison of immortal/mortal Shanghai, and loved the bonus story at the end.
Any theories for book two?
Finding out where the bank opening plot went! And probably exploring Jings vampire heritage. I’m not sure I’ll be picking up the sequel to this one.
I very much enjoyed the ending. The very last bit with Lady Ay seemed a bit rushed and Jing seemed to accept everything a little too fast. But I loved all the support that Jing got in the showdown with Niang Niang. I love that so many people have been there for her. I just wonder why she had to be put through the humiliation that she did growing up. I still don’t quite understand why Big Wang would command her to apologize to Lady Soo and all that drivel.
I would rate this book a solid 3.75. It was great. Funny. Entertaining. Touching. Maybe I’m not used to shorter books because the story felt a little rushed to me in the end. And the world was so rich, and I wanted to explore it more. Also I had to get used to the first person POV. So all in all, I really liked this book and I especially can see younger-me loving it too.
I would love to see Jing blossom into the nine-tailed fox she is in the second book 🙂
Thanks for hosting these readalongs!
In a way it didn’t end like I was expecting but not in a bad way. The ending seems like is a standalone but I think I saw that there’s going to be a sequel so I was expecting like an unresolved ending. I am happy with the ending, I like how everything work out. Solid 4 stars from me. Really enjoyed it and reading this edition was really nice. My theories for book 2 is maybe going to be more about why Mr Lee went to Hell or like a story for Gigi.
I loved the happy ending and I liked the story. It’s a solid 3 stars for me
I loved the rich references to Chinese mythology but I would have probably appreciated the story more if I had actually had any basic knowledge of these myths and legends.
I enjoyed Lady Jing’s sassy attitude but she still seemed a bit too immature most of the time.