Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

25 reviews

sofieean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Death, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent and Toxic relationship

ghostsversion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay this was far better. Not by a lot but still. Honestly it’s probably the fact that we already knew the characters so there was no reason to waste time on unnecessary descriptions. Straight to the chase. Even when

we find out that Marshall’s father is the Nationalist General or that Rosalind is the traitor

it feels more gradual. Although I will say I did not expect a re-enactment of

the war scene from ACOTAR . You know which one.

Otherwise I'd say this has definitely given me hope for the next books in this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, War, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Xenophobia, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Blood, Medical content, Violence, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Confinement, War, Alcohol, Murder, Gore, Genocide, and Colonisation

Minor: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Classism

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

This was a great ending to the duology. It strays enough from the original Romeo + Juliet while maintaining the themes to create the perfect balance for a retelling. 

Chloe Gong once again nailed it with the setting and atmosphere of 1920s Shanghai. I loved how she tracked the shifting the politics and atmosphere of change. The pacing in this book is great. I also just love a fantasy novel set in or based on 1920s East Asia.

The characters were well done and compelling for the most part. I feel like we got a good amount of time with all the side characters to experience the world outside the view of the two main characters, without it feeling like it detracted from the story or was a waste of time. I actually wish we had gotten more time with Rosalind. I think the story would’ve felt more complete, and she would’ve been a great counterpoint to Juliette had she been more fleshed out. I was left with questions at the end around her character and motivations.

I know she’s the focus of the next duology in this universe. However, her character and POV still should’ve been explored more in this book, especially given the important role she plays here.

Once again, this book is a bit overwritten. There’s metaphors and heavy handed setting descriptions that are unnecessary. Some of the dialogue feels forced rather than natural for the characters and their setting. There are a few moments of cringe, but it isn’t enough to make the entire book off-putting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Confinement, Grief, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: War, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Suicide, Abandonment, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexism

peachieko's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Colonisation, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent

ye_li's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Death of parent

komalks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Gun violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, and Gore

angelsfw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

ourlastopus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

we can clearly see how much chloe gong has evolved as a writer in this incredible sequel; this killed me in the best way possible
ok, now i’m going back to crying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Murder, Torture, Death, Violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Classism, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Death of parent

kdailyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was a striking and engrossing book. I don’t want to say I enjoyed this second book more than the first one, because there is a lot of dark and heartbreaking things that happen and I feel odd saying I “enjoyed” it. I was definitely highly engaged. I wanted to read this book whenever I had a free moment. I wanted to read it when I didn’t have a free moment. I felt like the first book in this duology was a little slow in pace at first, whereas this second one felt nonstop the whole time. This book is somehow both extremely plot-driven and character-driven, and both the plot and the characters destroyed me. Even though I knew this was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, I wanted to know so badly what would happen. How close of a retelling it would be - would the ending be faithful? Or would Roma and Juliette (as I found myself hoping) survive somehow? And of course, I wanted to learn the answers to this retelling’s specific questions and mysteries. The book ends on a heart wrenching, but still somehow hopeful note. Our Violent Ends is incredibly well-written. I will be reading anything and everything else Chloe Gong writes. I also greatly appreciated the author’s notes at the end of both books discussing historical context, and am interested to learn more about this time period in Chinese history. 

If you read this book (or the first one), be sure to look for a complete list of content/trigger warnings because there are many. Some major ones - gun violence, self-harm (due to monsters), violence to children, fire, neglect, and torture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Torture, Self harm, Blood, and Gun violence