I did not read Gongs' previous duology before reading Foul Lady Fortune nor do I have any intention of doing so as I don't like Romeo and Juliet as a story in any form - in spite of that I found that you don't have to have read the duology to read this book as the duology is briefly recapped. Not reading the duology also meant that I had no expectations going into Foul Lady Fortune, except for what others had said about the books. Granted according to a few reviews it felt like a full-on sequel but I think I agree with Gong in that Foul Lady Fortune is its own series.

The two main protagonists are Rosalind Lang, an immortal assassin, and Orion Hong, a spy. The two are connected together by a joint mission and have to fake marry. So if that is a romance trope you like then you'll like this, kinda like SPY X FAMILY, there's also the "Who did this to you?!", "I'll love you from far away" and in my opinion, the guy falls first. I liked their romance - it was a slow burn and I liked the interactions they had with each other. They just work together. The secondary group of main characters are Oliver Hong, also a spy and Orions' brother, and Celia, also a spy and Rosalind's sister... and they're also together and then there's Phoebe Hong, the sister, and Silas, the friend who I think are in a will-they-wont-they situation? The Pet Names! Please someone call me sweetheart.

The characters are wonderfully diverse (I think there's a tweet confirming but this is what I could find). "Rosalind is demisexual, Orion is bisexual, Celia is a trans woman, Alisa is aromantic and asexual, Phoebe is bisexual", and it's accepted by all the characters which was lovely to see as it didn't become something that defined who that character is, just a part of them. 

Onto the plot: Foul Lady Fortune per Gong is a "speculative historical thriller inspired by Shakespeare’s As You Like It". I liked it I thought it was well-paced, and I enjoyed the multiple third-person POVs.  I liked that the main antagonist wasn't predictable, personally, I had two or three people pegged from the beginning and so I liked that it play out like a spy thriller where you kinda don't know who's really behind what. There are also code names, fake identities, and double and triple agents. Trying not to give too much away right now but Gong pulled me in quickly. 

There really wasn't much to dislike, I think my only issue was that they kept saying out loud to themselves that they were good spies or an agent and that could not be me, risking my cover to give myself a pep talk ???

I recommend this, I really want to read the next book because what was the epilogue - Chole Gong really did that! I will also be keeping my pre-order of this book via Waterstones and the copy I ordered from Fairyloot.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton, as I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book 167 of 2022