Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

17 reviews

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

“She wasn’t built to be the savior—she was only a girl afraid of the world, and then Orion had come along to pull her out of the pit she had dug herself.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, War, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

aklovekorn's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Violence

savreads28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Death, War, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Medical content, Gore, and Torture

maple_dove's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Loved the double lives, assassins, and the unique humor of Chloe Gong's books. I just--unforgettable.

My only qualm was that near the end, it felt like things were quickly made up in a way that didn't line up with the story set in place. Not a huge deal though.

Favorite Quotes:

Regret is an emotion reserved for the powerless. There is no need for it here.

Phoebe felt like she was using him.
Well, she was. That part was unquestionable. Friendship consisted of reciprocally using each other with love, after all.

If I am to do some good, then I must make peace with my own limits. I would lose perspective otherwise."

We leave our characters during a period of peace, to continue onward with their lives even if they are soon to be surrounded by tragedy: as we all must do to some degree during our time in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping and Transphobia

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Car accident, and Gore

Imperialism (graphic), Anti-transness (graphic)

teddy_books's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, War, Death, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Blood, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Car accident

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-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

4.75

This book was such a good conclusion to the series and these characters. I didn’t know how it would all work out for them, but it did and it makes sense without being too out there. I feel like you need to read the novellas to know how certain characters play a role in this book that don’t appear in the Foul Lady Fortune. I also feel like some really important plot points get resolved a little too quickly/without conflict considering how long this book is. This was a compelling read that I couldn’t put down and I am sad to leave this world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, War, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Torture, Medical content, Cursing, and Kidnapping

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, and Car accident

sophiareads_'s review

adventurous mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

Content Warnings: violence (including gun violence), death, murder, war, mind control, medical experimentation, transphobia, child abuse (mentioned)

With her identity as Fortune, a nationalist assassin, exposed to the public, Rosalind Lang struggles to free her former mission partner, Orion Hong, from his mother's control and find a cure for the dangerous inventions Lady Hong has created.

Unfortunately, I never really got as swept away by the story here as I did reading the previous Secret Shanghai novels. This could definitely br my own fault - I do regret not rereading Foul Lady Fortune before I started this. Still, Chloe Gong's writing remains very engaging and enjoyable, I really do love the cast of characters she has created, and the ratio of plot to romance is spot on. (Was bringing Roma and Juliette back total fan service? Yes, but I do have to admit to getting hyped when they turned up).

Huge thank you to Hodder Books for sending me an ARC :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and War

Minor: Child abuse and Transphobia

wet_towlette's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

CHLOE GONG THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE. bro I can’t believe the Shanghai series is over this is absurd. There is always something about Chloe’s second books that get me to my core. It was so fun and exciting and like an action movie but made for the squealing teenage girls like me. The ending was perfect. I loved her notes and the end I thought it was really well done. Even though there is a lot of perspectives in this book and for a bit I thought that would be a complaint, they actually turned out to be really engaging and interesting in their own right. Like for a while I really cared to read about Rosalind and Orion but then it all started to work together and the pieces were falling into place and ITS JUST ALL SO GOOD I SWEAR BRO THE CHLOE GONG SECOND BOOKS JUST HIT DIFFERENT 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Colonisation, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Vomit

Minor: Transphobia

jenny_librarian's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

As good as the others! This last Secret Shanghai novel brings a beautiful end to the saga, with as many twists and turns as one can expect from Chloe Gong.

A lot happened in there, and I don’t mean only with the characters. Once again, the tense historical Chinese background blooms through and gives this story life. The setting is its own character and really elevates the whole thing from good to great.

I don’t usually love stories where everyone gets matched, but these couples have been in the work for two books, and some of the side characters have been together longer. So I can forgive it. And the demiromantic and trans rep included so smoothly makes it even better.

The last act might have required some suspension of disbelief (despite everything, I draw the line at that blood transfusion 🙈), but it doesn’t diminish my love for this series.

Thank you, Chloe Gong, for introducing me to early 20th century Shanghai and its many layers through a story that started as a Romeo & Juliet retelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Medical content, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Transphobia, Child death, Police brutality, Torture, and Sexism

palmkd's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I definitely recommend reading Last Violent Call prior to Foul Heart Huntsman for some extra adventures (and background detail) between the two books. It's not a must for the plot, but adds some extra depth and gives you more insight into some of our past main characters.

Whether you read Last Violent Call first or not, Foul Heart Huntsman is a great end to this series focused on a complicated group of individuals that find themselves with some abilities that aren't quite so normal. Shanghai in the 1930s was tumultuous and our main characters find themselves caught between family and politics. They used to protect their city as part of the gangs but now they are trying their hand from the shadows as spies for the different political factions. Add family and love into the mix, and it's anyone's guess what will happen next.

Chloe Gong writes really compelling characters and I was quite happy with how things wrapped up with this series, and appreciate the extra novellas to fill in some of the gaps between book 1 and 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Blood, Murder, and Death