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shaipanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I didn’t love the premise as the descriptions were pretty gross and I don’t love reading about pandemics in the middle of 2 lol but overall I enjoyed this
It was super fast paced especially once you got a quarter or halfway through and I got more invested than I expected to
I’m immediately going to start These Violent Ends but idk if I’m going to read the next ones that come out (and definitely not going to buy them like I did with the duology) as I’m not obsessed and also I don’t love some of the stuff Chloe Gong has done (especially when it came to blurbing and supporting problematic books and then not making any kind of statement or anything about it to apologize in any way
Graphic: Gore, Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Vomit, Racism, Transphobia, and Blood
Minor: Deadnaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Racial slurs
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Drug use, and Kidnapping
celine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use
gamora_zen1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gore, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, and War
sarah984's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
First off I will say, I loved the concept of a 1920s Shanghai Romeo and Juliet retelling. The descriptions of the city and events surrounding the characters are great, and you can tell that the author is passionate about this history. The monster story does the job and some of the horror writing is great.
The story and characters were another thing, unfortunately. The book takes way too long, with characters meandering around monologuing while nothing much happens for large amounts of time. Juliette is an interesting enough character (a little too stock YA heroine for me but she's fine) but Roma is like a block of wood. This is a shame because in the play you can call Romeo a lot of things but "boring" isn't really one of them. The enemies to lovers romance is so bland and uninteresting. The word "thudding" is used so often that I want to erase it from the author’s brain.
Things finally come to a head at the end and the final confrontation is exciting (though there are definitely some stupid things that happen because they sound cool, like firing a 1920s pistol underwater) but the author takes a big risk and then immediately backtracks it, which bugged me.
It was fine, if you like YA enemies to lovers and/or historical you'll probably enjoy it, but I don't really care too much if I read the second one or not.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Vomit, and Transphobia
v1rgo's review against another edition
2.75
juliette: marshall's meditating
roma: he's dead
i mean this was a smooth brained moment i don't know what to say. it was very funny. i can't really take this super seriously bc it was outrageously horny. kind of made me gag at some points but i don't want to slutshame nineteen year olds. (but on a side note i didn't get all of the pining. it's like u guys were 15 when this happened yk like u were babies. like juliette's whole oh he's as handsome as he used to be.. thing doesn't make sense. "he looks older?" sure! but like.. ?? u had a thing w this dude four years ago. ) the writing was pretty and fun you know how it is but some things did make me go hm. like juliette allegedly having "a damp feeling on her neck". like i don't really want to know what that means. or just. the fact that they were about to fuck on some bed that was probably caked with like thousands of people's children. aside from the nauseating level of hormones they didn't really feel like teenagers. marshall does slay though. kind of a knockoff of the whole wesper dynamic but i'll take it. i hope kathleen likes girls. someone should like girls in this bc SOMEONE lied to me and said the mcs were bi. i dunno just a fun little read unsure what to say. or even how to rate because it's exam week and i wasn't paying attention. i guess on a larger level i was sorta wondering what the differences in personalities were between roma and juliette and also on a more superficial level it does kinda make me cringe when _ inspired tellings like insist on using the same names. also i just didn't super think any characters were acc like well.. not flat but.
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Transphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Alcohol
nicamooch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
it dragged a LOT at times and some lines feel also though they could have benefited from sitting on them a while and reworking
i’m still excited for OVE anyway
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Transphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Torture
aseel_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
secondly, I was WELL AWARE of the mixed reviews. I think the hype and blurb made it sound one thing and it was something else, so a lot of people were disappointed.
I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed this. I love a retelling, loved figuring out who was who. I enjoyed the setting and time period. big fan of gangs, always. the fantasy/monster element was fun and different. I liked that the characters took their time before working together, it made sense with their history. living for the anti-colonial rhetoric we get. just happy to be here
Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Transphobia, and Violence
thebankofbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Drug use, and Transphobia