Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Our Violent Ends

I felt like the plot in this one wasn’t as good as the first book, but the character development was spot on. It was emotional af, though. I couldn’t handle Ben’s chapters at all.

Fantasy, Dark Romance, Taboo, 1 🔥

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melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

omg!! This book definitely exceeded my expectations and was even better than the first. The action, the betrayal, and the angst made this a suspenseful yet gut wrenching read bc even if you predicted certain things, you never knew when or if they would happen or to whom. The way the book left off at the open ending of did they or didn’t they when it came to Juliette and Roma’s HEA, Chloe Gong wrote it in a way that makes you believe they did bc it’s the ending they deserves after fighting so hard for it. This duology was so good and one I’ll always appreciate reading. I’m also glad that people insisted on reading this before starting Foul Last Fortune since it’s a connected series bc I was able to get the full backstory on the rival families and the war on the city, etc. I 1000000% recommend reading this duology if you’re looking for a high stakes fantasy Romeo & Juliet retelling‼️

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bluelilyleest's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring sad 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

Chloe Gong putting me behind on my reading challenge again because her books are so damn long 😅

So, I loved it. I get why people say the second book is better than the first, because in terms of character interaction/profiles/development, it did much more. The plot was thicc, the pace was fast but still allowed for funny moments or background information, the setting and atmosphere were immersive.

Then why do I not rate it 5 stars, you ask? I ask myself the same question. I can't quite put my finger on what was lacking, and therefore you probably shouldn't take my review too seriously. It was a great retelling of what we know to be Romeo and Juliet. I think now, whenever Shakespeare's play is mentioned, I will think about Gong's Romeo and Juliet, too, and I believe that is no small feat.

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serendipity421's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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ghostsversion's review against another edition

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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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archiveofrasa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

this story definitely isn't the best of this genre but it sure was entertaining.

I finished it in 3 days (2, technically, because I read until 3 am to finish it) and I was not expecting me to be kicking my blanket and silent screaming at the last 100 pages. while I do wish some things were built on more than they were, there was some really nice payoff

yes, I'm talking about when Benedikt found out that Marshall was alive

to things set up in the previous book. I'm glad they managed to tie the monster with the blood fued; I feel like that's one of the things I was missing in the previous book.

as for the plot twists, there were a lot and I can say that I clocked some of them very quickly

Rosalind and Dimitri

, but again some others I don't think were as built up as I would've wanted them to be

Marshall and General Shu

. they were still entertaining and I wasn't looking for a serious book to dissect the craft of. this sucked me in and I really don't know what it was about it.

definitely need to read the Last Violent Call sometime soon. I don't think I'm ready to let the main characters go quite yet.

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, but for some reason the first third of it felt really slow, like nothing was happening with the plot or the characters. I adore the entire cast and while the ending is heartbreakingly beautiful it has less weight for me because I feel like we are mislead and I don’t have to wait to read more books in this world. The tension of this love story against all odds is so good. I appreciated that Juliette and Roma couldn’t fix everything happening to their city during this political upheaval. I loved seeing the growth and change in these characters as their world was changing.

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