Reviews with content warning for Torture - Our Violent Ends

They say Romeo and Juliet is the most tragic lovestory there is. So knowing how that ends it shouldn’t be a surprise to have a large foreshadowing of how this book would end…. And that makes it extremely disappointing.

I wanted the happy ending… it felt like we deserved the happy ending after all the struggles they went through to be together… I thought she would change the end so they wouldn’t meet the same fate… but she didn’t and that left me unfulfilled and disappointed

I really wanted to like this book, but I did not care about the politic struggle that was going on and this book was about 80% just that…. The monsters from book 1 felt like an afterthought, the romance was still more tell than show and felt off. You are constantly reminded that the cast in this book are all 19ish cause they act 19 with their over dramatic actions and stupid decisions!!!

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valeria_balzan's review against another edition

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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.

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mousmoulo's review

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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

what the fuck i'm broken beyond repair i cannot believe that it's over and it's over like thIS I'M IN SO MUCH PAIN

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ladygetslit's review against another edition

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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.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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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.

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breedawnwriter's review against another edition

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4.0

Um…

I have so many thoughts and feelings. I’ve never been more STRESSED about a book in my LIFE.

I LOVED it.

I teared up.

I cursed.

I squealed.

I think I screeched.

The ending felt kinda lackluster to me because I guess I expected it all to go down differently? Don’t ask me what I thought would happen because I don’t know, I just thought it would be different.

I wanted it to make me sob uncontrollably. It did not, so I knocked off a star because I’m a cruel book dragon.

Please don’t come for me. I will not respond or engage with that kind of behavior.

I will probably update this review when I’ve had time to think more about the book.

Content warnings (from the author): Blood, violence, gore, character deaths, murder (including mass murder), war themes, torture, weapon use, insects, alcohol consumption, parental abuse.

Additional content warnings: passionate kissing (including a gay kiss), a sex scene (not graphic, mostly just describes them undressing and the guy asking “is this okay?” before the scene ends), and strong cursing.

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ourlastopus's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

we can clearly see how much chloe gong has evolved as a writer in this incredible sequel; this killed me in the best way possible
ok, now i’m going back to crying

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cemeterygay's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I thought this was a pretty okay and satisfying conclusion to the duology. I think the plot had a lot less direction than the first book which made me enjoy quite a bit less than the first book. However, I still adored the characters and the attention given to the political backdrop, and the ending was pretty great.

I really enjoyed it; however, I don't think I will be re-reading it any time soon.

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