Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Welch grausames Ende

If you liked book one, book two is an amazing pairing that brings the chaos and tragedy of the R&J story. While opening up an interesting world for what is to come afterwards. I would definitely suggest picking it up, if that’s the case for you. However, I am on the other side where I was anticipating Book 1 forever and felt bored and disappointed throughout it. While Book 2 gives some character development and explains some of the GAPING context holes, for me, it still wasn’t a WIN. I’m glad I gave the second book a chance, but the blood feud remains nonsensical, Roma & Juliette continue putting each other above everyone else EXCEPT the people that they DO NOT KNOW who they feel the need to protect for no reason but the city is “theirs” and they feel responsible… For a mess they did not create. The length/pacing of this was too drawn out for me. And it made all the parts that could have made this a 4/5 star read for me feel lost in all the other plot lines, characters, etc. I’m tired. I never want to dive into this world again.

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kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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getlitwithamy_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Chloe Gong’s Our Violent Ends is the stunning finale in the Violent Delights duology.

Plot: 4.75 ✰

Characters: 5 ✰

Setting: 5 ✰

Writing Style: 5 ✰

Personal Impact: 4.75 ✰

Overall Rating: 4.75 ✰

Tropes: rivals to lovers, knife to the throat, corrupt government, forced proximity

Content Warnings: murder (including mass murder), parental abuse, blood, violence, gore, torture, death

For a more in-depth review, visit https://www.getlitwithamy.com/reviews/our-violent-ends!

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rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

This book will have you on the edge of your seat no doubt. Here you have a sequel that is shocking, humourous and in its foundation, political. I do not want to reveal too much but Gong has successfully crafted the most complex and riveting characters. Juliette is wise, cutthroat and embodies a much more empowered version of her original character written by Shakespeare. Though she is wise, she is also flawed— which makes her loveable. She is unfairly torn between two political forces: loyalty or betrayal. Roma is another complex character who pales in comparison to his sister, Alisa who is not a central plot device by any means; but she proves herself to be a hero in her own right in this mind boggling, emotionally distressing (in the best way possible) young adult masterpiece.

I will not say anything else other than if you want to see what real women are made of, you must read this book. 5 of the easiest stars I gave this year.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

OUR VIOLENT ENDS is a great finish to an excellent duology, with just the right amount of angst and catharsis. If you read THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS and wanted more of Juliet and Roma treating stabbing and bullets as expressions of fraught teenage love in the midst of a plague-turned-takeover, you should read this ASAP.

The worldbuilding is consistent with the previous book, but it's now slowing down to build as many non-human parts of the setting as THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS was able to. Juliet sometimes still wears flapper dresses, and Roma has a Meaningful Wardrobe Change, but tensions are high and there's just less time for fun. Plenty of time for emotionally fraught pining and hatred, especially coming off of events from the last book.

I love how much Kathleen shines in this one, she has a much better sense of herself and what place she wants to hold. Alisa, too, gets more of a role and it's very nice to see. Ben and Marsh are fantastic, I'm so happy about their arc here.

This wraps up a bunch of things from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. It has a couple of storylines which start here and weren't present before, but since this is part two of a duology that's somewhat limited, as it exists to complete the story. I'm not sure if any major things were both introduced and resolved here, as generally the groundwork was laid previously even if the very specific story thread is mostly contained to this volume. It feels finished, except in as much as the ending intentionally left things open, e.g. living characters are implied to have plans for what they'll do next. The main characters are the same, with a similar ratio of how many chapters each one narrates. Their voices are distinct from each other but consistent with their styles of narration from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. This might make some sense if someone picked it up at random and didn't know about the series (especially if they're familiar with ROMEO AND JULIETTE. The relevant backstory is succinctly and precisely conveyed in a way that makes it pretty easy to get up to speed, but certain character motivations and present circumstances will be confusing if someone tries to begin here, in part two of two. It does hit the sweet spot for enough of a reminder for readers who waited a while after reading the first book, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Well-done with an ending I'm still thinking about, make sure to check out OUR VIOLENT ENDS.

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