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dianaschmidty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, Gore, Medical content, Murder, War, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Homophobia
Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Kidnapping
Minor: Police brutality
carlyoc's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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? No
4.0
A well-wrapped second half of a duology that continued to make interesting twists on the classic Romeo and Juliet story while also weaving in the history of the emerging conflict between the communists and nationalists in 1920s Shanghai.
However, this installment was a bit of a slog with a slow pace. Both books in the series could have been half their length. I'm glad I made it all the way through though. I found the overarching theme of the triumph of hope and love over hatred and violence to be uplifting even if the events of the book were dark, bloody, and sad.
However, this installment was a bit of a slog with a slow pace. Both books in the series could have been half their length. I'm glad I made it all the way through though. I found the overarching theme of the triumph of hope and love over hatred and violence to be uplifting even if the events of the book were dark, bloody, and sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Suicidal thoughts
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and War
Minor: Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Colonisation, Gun violence, Death, and Emotional abuse
theliterarymess's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Torture
pages_with_panda's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
✅ Finished Jan 17, ‘23
“Tiān nǎ” (I hope I'm using that phrase right!)
A beautiful continuation of the first story, picking up right where we left off. There's really no time for much recap so if it's been a while since you read the first one, maybe brush up on some names. This book is fast-paced, full of betrayal, violence, and yearning.
“Tiān nǎ” (I hope I'm using that phrase right!)
A beautiful continuation of the first story, picking up right where we left off. There's really no time for much recap so if it's been a while since you read the first one, maybe brush up on some names. This book is fast-paced, full of betrayal, violence, and yearning.
"Lovers turned to strangers, and it cut deep enough to bleed."
The monsters are still here - this time with a new master who can control them at will. The threat of the Communists, the Revolutionaries and both gangs are still around our main characters and they have to deal with the plot-twist of the last book.
Juliette and Romeo's relationship in this book was amazing. I loved their development from enemies-to-lovers and their love-hate relationship. Forced together (again) to work on solving the mystery of the monsters was great and I ate it up.
Only he knew that if he screamed I hate you, what he really meant was I love you. I still love you so much that I hate you for it.
Beyond our two star-crossed lovers, I fell in love with Alisa, Rosalind, Celia, Marshall and Benedict. Their stories were intertwined well with our main characters, and I loved all of them...Though one a lot less than the others.
The relationships/romance weren't the main points of the story either. (Reminder that the original Romeo+Juliet wasn’t a romance but a TRAGEDY.) Gong does a great job of making this a historical fantasy book by tying in real events that happened in Shanghai. The politics were interesting and making no one faction the good guy/bad guy made for a great story. Her writing was descriptive and poetic, and she even quoted some of the plays dialogue in a way that fit the setting.
And even though this is a retelling, the story was full of surprises and I audible gasped at a few scenes. The ending should've been expected but still hurt.
Loved it.
She would rather hold this hope so close to her chest that it feels like a fire on its own, flickering against the darkness, flickering even where other embers burn out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, Violence, War, Murder, Blood, and Gun violence
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore
sof_f's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
hnagarne's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Grief, Police brutality, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, Genocide, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Homophobia and Deadnaming
khnleesi's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
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
4.0
i am convinced that NO-BO-DY knows what ugly tears are better than Chloe Gong's readers.
you might think you know what it means to cry your heart out over fictional characters, but trust me, you don't!!
-1 star for some small plot holes & also because i wasn't always fully concentrated while reading, but apart from that i have nothing else to say except that i couldn't be more grateful for writers, story tellers- ARTISTS- to create/express their creativity through films/paintings/songs - and here, through novels- because by doing so, they end up making our lives (a tiny bit) better <3 thank you thank you thank you!!
❛ TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL ༉‧₊˚
you might think you know what it means to cry your heart out over fictional characters, but trust me, you don't!!
-1 star for some small plot holes & also because i wasn't always fully concentrated while reading, but apart from that i have nothing else to say except that i couldn't be more grateful for writers, story tellers- ARTISTS- to create/express their creativity through films/paintings/songs - and here, through novels- because by doing so, they end up making our lives (a tiny bit) better <3 thank you thank you thank you!!
❛ TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL ༉‧₊˚
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Torture, and Emotional abuse
shaipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.0
This was a solid sequel - while I wasn’t quite as obsessed with this series as I expected to be I enjoyed it overall and really connected with a number of the characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Death, Violence, War, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
btrz7's review
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Not sure exactly how I feel about this duology, but I guess I'll try to summarize how I feel in parts.
Firstly, this is one of those books where an author chooses a setting (location/time period) and instead of letting it just work as a background, they fully brought it to life and let it be relevant to the story. I think Chloe Gong painted a very vivid picture of Shangai and the gang's lives and this certainly elevates the story in my eyes.
As for plot, I understand intertwining politics with gang business (not that the two leads seemed to care that much about politics), but at some point I felt like the fantasy element was too much. Like, specially in this book, it felt like it was sidetracked for a long portion of the book, and I feel like the same effect on the story could have been achieved by a non supernatural element. This is already a retelling, which has its own elements and beats to hit, and while I thought the rival gangs with a blood feud fit it well, the book felt too long for me. As in, I felt like some sections of the plot were neglected for too long, and specially towards the second half of the book, I kept waiting for things to wrap up, and even when it felt like it was time to conclude it, there were tons of things still left.
Lastly, I didn't care much for the two main characters and their relationship (when it felt to me like it was time to end the book, I kept thinking "isn't it time for you to die now?") but I did like their respective sidekicks (Ben and Marshall, Rosalind and Kathleen), and it was their endings I was looking forward to since the end of book 1.
Firstly, this is one of those books where an author chooses a setting (location/time period) and instead of letting it just work as a background, they fully brought it to life and let it be relevant to the story. I think Chloe Gong painted a very vivid picture of Shangai and the gang's lives and this certainly elevates the story in my eyes.
As for plot, I understand intertwining politics with gang business (not that the two leads seemed to care that much about politics), but at some point I felt like the fantasy element was too much. Like, specially in this book, it felt like it was sidetracked for a long portion of the book, and I feel like the same effect on the story could have been achieved by a non supernatural element. This is already a retelling, which has its own elements and beats to hit, and while I thought the rival gangs with a blood feud fit it well, the book felt too long for me. As in, I felt like some sections of the plot were neglected for too long, and specially towards the second half of the book, I kept waiting for things to wrap up, and even when it felt like it was time to conclude it, there were tons of things still left.
Lastly, I didn't care much for the two main characters and their relationship (when it felt to me like it was time to end the book, I kept thinking "isn't it time for you to die now?") but I did like their respective sidekicks (Ben and Marshall, Rosalind and Kathleen), and it was their endings I was looking forward to since the end of book 1.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence