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valeria_balzan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Chloe Gong has not missed on delivering a thrilling, fantasy and romance filled adventurous novel.
All of her hard work and setting in the previous novel was a good foundation for this novel, and I dare to say that it was better than the last one. The prose of the author was just excellent in the telling of their forbidden love story against their feuding families.
Roma and Juliette's moments when the world isn't watching them have my whole heart. It's the bittersweet moments when they know what their fate is, and don't know whether they want it or not. Especially the pinky promise scene.
It's more negative aspects are the very thing I criticized on the last one and that is that sometimes the prose get's lost on the action and it's hard to know what is happening.
Overall I think it is a very solid book. l loved it.
All of her hard work and setting in the previous novel was a good foundation for this novel, and I dare to say that it was better than the last one. The prose of the author was just excellent in the telling of their forbidden love story against their feuding families.
It's more negative aspects are the very thing I criticized on the last one and that is that sometimes the prose get's lost on the action and it's hard to know what is happening.
Overall I think it is a very solid book. l loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Death
It's a war, what did you expect?nehanaomi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
4.75
screaming, crying, throwing up
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Medical content, War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Violence
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
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
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
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
3.5
i really loved the ending and i really enjoyed the writing of this book, definitely good for my slow little brain. but it was definitely slow for 65% of the book and also kind of similar to the first book but different? if i thought too much about it, i didnt like the first half of the book but when i was just vibing, it was fun!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, War, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence
ladygetslit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
There will be hatred. There will be war. The country will fight itself to pieces. It will starve its people, ravage its land, poison its breath. Shanghai will fall and break and cry. But alongside everything, there has to be love—eternal, undying, enduring. Burn through vengeance and terror and warfare. Burn through everything that fuels the human heart and sears it red, burn through everything that covers the outside with hard muscle and tough sinew. Cut down deep and grab what beats beneath, and it is love that will survive after everything else has perished.
My Personal Opinion: It is a rare sequel that lives up to the first installment, but Our Violent Ends managed to blow me away. This book has everything: political intrigue based in Chinese history, queer and trans representation, family drama, mysterious monsters, loyal friend groups, and (of course) star-crossed love.
My Teacher Opinion: this would be an amazing replacement for Romeo & Juliet, although I may ruffle feathers by saying so. I do think the duology would be best for an upper level high school class, due to the pretty heavy violence and complexity of the political plot lines.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Colonisation
averyrembish'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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping and Suicidal thoughts
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
takarakei's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I am honestly pretty apathetic about this series. I really really wanted to like these, but ultimately I really struggled to get through both books.
I did not like the writing style or pacing of these books. The way the story is written makes it hard to follow, and I found the writing to be repetitive and boring. I found myself having to constantly re-read paragraphs but at the same time not really caring about what I was reading. Ultimately I did not care for Juliette and Roma’s relationship. After finishing the first book I found myself wondering why it is I just didn’t seem to really *get* their relationship - supposedly this is enemies to lovers (which is my favorite trope btw) but beyond this giant familial rivalry which is described over and over again I honestly did not feel enough tension or hatred between them to build up and make me care about them ending up together. I did not find either Juliette or Roma to be very complex and therefore their relationship was not impactful.
Throughout both books I was way more interested in the secondary characters: Benedikt and Marshall and Kathleen in particular. I found myself wishing for more time spent with these characters and their journey, struggles and development. To me, Kathleen is the real intriguing character of the series - she is way smarter, complex and ultimately I think more badass than Juliette. I would have rather been reading her story and POV solely.
In both books the monsters that plague the city and the entire plot-line there did not really intrigue me. Even less so in Our Violent Ends since it’s an even smaller part of the second book, and seems very in the background of everything else going on politically in this world.
Did I feel like the second book was better than the first? maybe a bit, but since it’s longer than the first book the pacing was even more of an issue for me. There were parts of the second book that I did enjoy reading but they were too far and fewer between (and were pretty much solely the parts from the secondary characters' POV).
I pushed myself to finish the books because I did want to see how it ended, but I was left feeling unfulfilled. The “climax” of the story feels like it drags on for too long, and I kept thinking “ok is this IT yet?” I honestly think that it would have been more impactful to not leave the ending open the way it is and stick more to the source of Romeo and Juliet dying - because in Shakespeare’s tragedy them dying is what teaches those around them that violence, power struggle and hatred between people are the evils that corrupt our world. They die for love and for each other, and without that the ending fell flat. Perhaps it is intentional that the author will continue the series and eventually bring these lessons around to this world and those living in it? but I likely won’t be reading on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gun violence, and Torture
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Minor: Colonisation
letiross's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood