Reviews with content warning for Murder - Our Violent Ends

Review to follow. I just finished this book and I need to process my emotions. 😭😭😭

Two things I'm sure of: this duology is added to my favorite series and I realized I love fiction books that tackles politics (case in point: THG is also my favorite series).

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radiodarkblue's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

"It must feel safe."
Juliette glanced at him properly. "Safe?"
"Don't you think?" Roma shrugged. "There must be a certain comfort here. Cities can fall and countries can go to war, but this" - he raised his arms, gesturing at the rivers and the stone paths and the delicate ceiling tiles that decorated what were onces temples- "this is forever."

What a ride. What a story!
It almost took me three months too finish it (mostly because I was so scared to come to the end of this incredible story!)

Chloe Gong is such an amazing and talented author, she manages to create such a thrilling story filled with tension, rivalry, anger, sadness, secrets, monsters, humor, sarcasm and, of course, love! I thought I would have hated her by the end of the book (as if), but I can only love her more. Her words are so beautiful and, of course, made me so damn emotional.

Even if I feel kinda empty right now, I also feel so hopeful for all the characters and I think this is the best thing of all <3

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boomwormbrittany's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

Our Violent Ends is the second and final book in the These Violent Delights series which is a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920's Shanghai. The first book, These Violent Delights follows Roma and Juliet who are children of rival gangs that once had a past but now hate each other.
Chloe Gone has definitely become an auto buy author for me because I loved These Violent Delights and I loved Our Violent Ends. After the ending of this book, I am so excited to see what her next books have in store. I believe it's going to be epic. It's very clear throughout the two books that Chloe Gong has studied the story of Romeo and Juliet thoroughly and was able to put her own unique twist on it. I loved her writing style and the plot that she created in this. How she reimagined the characters was so well done and I loved it.
Her characters are so distinct from each other and I loved seeing their stories unfold. It was so interesting to read about how they thought so differently but still managed to make things work. I love how Chloe Gong continued the story from the first book by incorporating the history of 1920's Shanghai. I have no knowledge of this history so what she put in this and put in the Author's Note was very interesting to read about.
I think Chloe Gong is a terrific writer and I am so excited to see where she is going to take the other characters as she left this pretty open ended. Her next book, Foul Lady Fortune follows another character in this series which I am excited to get more of her characters, plots and the history of Shanghai at this time.
I do want to talk about the ending which I will put in a spoiler.

I don't think Roma and Juliet are dead. I've always subscribed to the "no body, no death" theory so I think they are not dead. I think Roma's sister did see them at the end. And if that's the case, I think it will definitely play into Foul Lady Fortune.

Overall, I loved this book and this duology. I am so excited for Foul Lady Fortune and see where Chloe Gong is going to take this world. If you love Romeo and Juliet retellings or historical fantasy, definitely pick this duology up.

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eve_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ Gong takes the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope and raises you enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies-and-back-to-lovers-again FLAWLESSLY. She doesn't ignore the conflict between their families and political parties, but builds that tension into every scene between them. It's an agonizing slow-burn with the greatest payoff.

⁕ This sequel was even more enriched with historical context than These Violent Delights. I've never read a book in this setting before and loved learning about/researching 1920's Shanghai.

⁕ [spoilers] I love the small bit of hope that Gong concludes this duology with. She still honors the authentic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet but also makes space for the reader to explore other possibilities for her main characters.

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