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sahmreadss's review against another edition
4.0
"what are you afraid of"
"the consequences ... of love in a city ruled by hate"
I absolutely adored this book. I loved it. And the quote just perfectly summarizes everything great about it.
Roma and Juliette ... ugh such a beautiful and heartbreaking love. Obviously, it's a retelling so we figure it's not gonna be all happy ever after but wow ... Chloe Gong did not spare us in the feelings department. She gave us an emotional masterpiece.
The best part of this love story - it didn't feel forced, they felt like genuine lovers separated by family and hate, it was amazing.
The thing I looked for after reading the first book was more focus on the most important characters and their relationship with each other. And it was exactly what I got. While the first book didn't explore interactions between many of the main characters, Our Violent End used a lot of opportunities to do so which was greatly done as well.
The one tiny downside was that the "twist" was very predictable. But it wasn't such a bad thing because this book is still on my list of top reads in 2022.
And this is definitely not the last Chloe Gong book I've read.
"the consequences ... of love in a city ruled by hate"
I absolutely adored this book. I loved it. And the quote just perfectly summarizes everything great about it.
Roma and Juliette ... ugh such a beautiful and heartbreaking love. Obviously, it's a retelling so we figure it's not gonna be all happy ever after but wow ... Chloe Gong did not spare us in the feelings department. She gave us an emotional masterpiece.
The best part of this love story - it didn't feel forced, they felt like genuine lovers separated by family and hate, it was amazing.
The thing I looked for after reading the first book was more focus on the most important characters and their relationship with each other. And it was exactly what I got. While the first book didn't explore interactions between many of the main characters, Our Violent End used a lot of opportunities to do so which was greatly done as well.
The one tiny downside was that the "twist" was very predictable. But it wasn't such a bad thing because this book is still on my list of top reads in 2022.
And this is definitely not the last Chloe Gong book I've read.
arden_24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
tagoreketabkhane31's review against another edition
5.0
RTC
CHLOE….CHLOE, YOU’RE DONE, YOUR’RE DONE (but also hurry up with more books fam)
CHLOE….CHLOE, YOU’RE DONE, YOUR’RE DONE (but also hurry up with more books fam)
nat_crofts's review against another edition
5.0
This series belongs in my collection of cornerstone books. It has shaped and changed me in ways I didn't know were possible. The rollercoaster of emotions was so fantastic, the characters were vibrant, authentic, and real, the elements of magic were so unique, and the action scenes were so well done. The plot twists and big reveals are to die for. The message about love in a place of violence and hatred was so beautiful and what sacrifices people will make to fight for love are phenomenal. (And when they said their vows again at the end, it took me out. Such a special moment in both parts of the book.) I love this book so much. The story will remain in my heart for a very long time.
debchan's review against another edition
1.0
there's a twitter reaction meme that's like i bet this shit hits so hard if you're stupid. i don't want to be mean and call anyone stupid, i just think you'd probably love this book if you loved the first one. i hated the first one and i hate this one.
chloe gong's skills did not develop between these books and that's fine, it was only a year apart. the plot was absurdly glacial and it didn't have the mystery or abject killings that book 1 had. somehow even with 5 monsters it got more boring. the prose sucked once more. we were hit with smorgasbord one more time as if we needed that. juliette says out loud "father i crave violence" which made me want to kms. the adults act like NPCs idk how they managed to keep control of their gangs this long lol. probably the only good thing is thatjuliette kills tyler which she should've done in book 1. she could've done it beforehand and acted like he was a threat to her inheritance. surely her gang would be like might is right and respect her more rather than her doing it so save roma's life.
the roles were flipped in this book, roma annoying me more than juliette. i thought roma's anger revenge bored me to death. why? we all know he can't kill juliette so what's the point in me reading this if i know exactly how it's gonna end. he wants to kill her; he can't do it. she wants to love him; she can't tell him. it's the same angst brought up over and over again and it go so repetitive. in most fandoms, readers will delight in writing character studies and analyzing their fav books' characters and generally dive deeper into a character study. not necessary here fam bc chloe gong lists out all her characters' flaws and strengths and hopes and dreams and they're laid bare so there's no mystery or intrigue about these people. they're just wind-up dolls set to do one thing only in the most mechanical fashion ever.
rosalind: she's got a series planned...i thought her being the spy was obvious in book 1. idk if gong meant for us to know in which case yay. or if it was supposed to be a plot twist in which case it was so clear in book 1 it barely counted as foreshadowing.
marshall and benedkit: i mean i liked the "protect him from a distance" angst. i hated marshall and juliette's friendship it's giving cringey like badass girl x gay best friend energy which is exactly what i got from Long Live Evil and which i cannot stand. where's the antagonism? perhaps the only good thing about ve schwab's ya books is that kell hates alucard so much - bring back hating ur loved one's loved ones. the friend of my friend is NOT also my friend.
google says the monster was genetically engineered which was not evident btw. so why's it marked as fantasy? where's the fantasy elements of it? is it not just plain fiction then? there's no magic here. and what even is the science between the insects and the convenient serum etc?it's so very neat that juliette could manage to do all that for marshall without anyone noticing. plus hiding him. plus dragging his very tall and large "dead" body to a doctor. sounds impossible but ok i'm just going with the flow here ig.
the ending, spoilers ahead
i was talking to my sister and i was like "yeah it's a romeo and juliet retelling" and she was convinced they'd actually both die at the end. but i was like "no way they're gonna run away from their gangs and fake their death." and what do you know they actually did it. how can you survive an explosion? it's deus ex machina. they let all their friends believe they're dead? if i cared more about this "found family" i'd probably be so sad and upset but i don't really care i'm just mildly intrigued if they'll ever find out esp in the sequel duology.
these violent delights have violent ends. yeah bc i read this and now i'm pissed. it's a terrible written series. bad cliches? fine. bad plot? whatever it happens. bad writing? it's gong's first series sure maybe i can give her a pass. bad characters? eh it's ya i don't expect much. but all of the above??? together? collectively? in a duology that people love?? did we read the same books?? i fear this is the new YA genre and i've graduated to angry old reader shaking my fist muttering "back in my day." but has ya fantasy ever been anything but this? were six of crows and the raven cycle just abnormalities? maybe i'm just mad that the sky is blue. in any case, if you loved this i'm glad you had a great time and never fear they're churning out these books a dime a dozen and they're all of the same standard quality and merit.
chloe gong's skills did not develop between these books and that's fine, it was only a year apart. the plot was absurdly glacial and it didn't have the mystery or abject killings that book 1 had. somehow even with 5 monsters it got more boring. the prose sucked once more. we were hit with smorgasbord one more time as if we needed that. juliette says out loud "father i crave violence" which made me want to kms. the adults act like NPCs idk how they managed to keep control of their gangs this long lol. probably the only good thing is that
the roles were flipped in this book, roma annoying me more than juliette. i thought roma's anger revenge bored me to death. why? we all know he can't kill juliette so what's the point in me reading this if i know exactly how it's gonna end. he wants to kill her; he can't do it. she wants to love him; she can't tell him. it's the same angst brought up over and over again and it go so repetitive. in most fandoms, readers will delight in writing character studies and analyzing their fav books' characters and generally dive deeper into a character study. not necessary here fam bc chloe gong lists out all her characters' flaws and strengths and hopes and dreams and they're laid bare so there's no mystery or intrigue about these people. they're just wind-up dolls set to do one thing only in the most mechanical fashion ever.
rosalind: she's got a series planned...
marshall and benedkit: i mean i liked the "protect him from a distance" angst. i hated marshall and juliette's friendship it's giving cringey like badass girl x gay best friend energy which is exactly what i got from Long Live Evil and which i cannot stand. where's the antagonism? perhaps the only good thing about ve schwab's ya books is that kell hates alucard so much - bring back hating ur loved one's loved ones. the friend of my friend is NOT also my friend.
google says the monster was genetically engineered which was not evident btw. so why's it marked as fantasy? where's the fantasy elements of it? is it not just plain fiction then? there's no magic here. and what even is the science between the insects and the convenient serum etc?
the ending, spoilers ahead
these violent delights have violent ends. yeah bc i read this and now i'm pissed. it's a terrible written series. bad cliches? fine. bad plot? whatever it happens. bad writing? it's gong's first series sure maybe i can give her a pass. bad characters? eh it's ya i don't expect much. but all of the above??? together? collectively? in a duology that people love?? did we read the same books?? i fear this is the new YA genre and i've graduated to angry old reader shaking my fist muttering "back in my day." but has ya fantasy ever been anything but this? were six of crows and the raven cycle just abnormalities? maybe i'm just mad that the sky is blue. in any case, if you loved this i'm glad you had a great time and never fear they're churning out these books a dime a dozen and they're all of the same standard quality and merit.
magsisreading's review against another edition
2.0
i thought i was going to like this more than tvd but i just didn't. i really hate the monster subplot, i feel like it does not add much to the story at all. i didn't really like it in tvd either but to see it happen again in this book was kind of annoying. i found myself just wanting the story to be over.
lucydodsworth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
travis_92's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0