Title: Foul Lady Fortune
Author: Chloe Gong
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 27 September 2022
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Series: Foul Lady Fortune #1
Source: Review copy via NetGalley
Description: Assassin. Immortal. Spy.
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, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong. Although Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanour 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.
Review: I didn’t realise until I started reading it that this book draws lightly on some Romeo & Juliet threads – having never read or seen the play except the lovely Cbeebies adaption, I expect there’s more references in here than I noticed, but even coming to it blank it was a really good story. Similarly, I didn’t know it was set in the same world as the author’s previous duology, and while it references events from those stories I never felt like I was missing something for having not read the books.
I enjoyed the slow evolution of Rosalind and Orion’s relationship from grumpy people forced to work together into friends who care about each other. I hate reading instalove and I really appreciated that the changes in how these two felt about each other develop gradually over several weeks. It felt very believable and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing it turn into something more romantic in book two.
I also liked the little peeks into Celia and Oliver’s relationship. I get the feeling that will be explored a lot more in the sequel, and again I’m excited to see that.
Over the course of the story, as they unfold the mystery, you can really see Rosalind shift from being very self-reliant and not trusting other people or letting anyone close, into gradually accepting help. She has good reasons for having closed herself off and although early in the story it’s against her will that she has to work together with Orion, and then put a little faith because of him into his other friends, by the end of the book she’s started to realise the benefits of having more people on her side.
This was a great mystery story and gave me a real insight into a historical setting which I didn’t know much about. I really liked the character development, and I’ll definitely be looking out for the sequel.
