Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

178 reviews

graceheartsbooks's review against another edition

4.0

FYI: can’t tag this but trigger warning for insects—especially near the end (I think they’re beetles?). 

All I’ve ever heard about this book is it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling but I honestly think that does it a disservice (or maybe it’s just the fact that Romeo and Juliet retellings have to bring something interesting to the table since a story that’s been retold many times). I’ve never seen anyone mention that this story involves a supernatural monster and if I had known that I would’ve read it sooner lol

I’m amazed that Chloe Gong wrote this during college—writing/doing the research process to make the story authentic to 1920s Shanghai while also studying as a student. Especially since I’m around the same age she was.

Anyway, the story is much more about Roma and Juliette’s relationship and the mystery surrounding the ‘Larkspur’ which is the monster that is killing Shanghai plus the struggles between current residents and the foreigners that have taken over the area’s local businesses. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world that Chloe Gong set up. I can’t wait to read the second book.

I was going to rate this 4.5 stars initially but I got into a reading slump so had gap between when I last read a chapter and when I finished the book so it’s getting a 4.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism and Blood

Minor: Homophobia, Drug use, Transphobia, and Death of parent

falibat's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Transphobia, Blood, and Racism

tell_them_stories's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, Classism, and Medical content

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Parasitic lice-like insects

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical content, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Bullying, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

elislittlelibrary'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is (as far as I can remember) the second Romeo and Juliet-retelling that I read and loved. It took me some time to get into this book, but it really paid off! I liked the writing and really loved the setting. The world-building was well done and, even though there is magic involved, the world felt quite realistic. While, as has been mentioned, this is a Romeo and Juliet-retelling, the plot did not feel romance-heavy, which I personally really enjoyed. And the romance plot that was there focused a lot on connection, which I also tend to like. 
There are various plot twists in the book. I did guess some of them (

Paul Dexter, the usage of Doodskus for example

), though this did not take away from the plot, so I didn't mind!
The book puts a strong emphasis on language aspects, as well as the use of different languages (they are used throughout the book, often just words or phrases, sometimes sentences), I LOVED that!
Also, this book ends on a cliffhanger and I really have to read the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Racism, Blood, and Transphobia

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

These Violent Delights is a great re-imagining of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet set in 1920s Shanghai, China with Roma & Juliette now at odds against each other after secretly dating four years prior to the events of the novel. Their families head the rival White Flowers and Scarlet Gang, and they can never forget that key piece of their personal identities. I love the subtle (and not-so-subtle) callbacks to the original play through major and minor characters, scenes, and pivotal lines. Those were all written in carefully to tie book into its source material but not pull the reader out of the new historical fiction story. Gong also did a delicately wonderful job weaving Chinese and other world history into the setting and plot by laying the history out whenever relevant to the story or characters but never over-explaining anything. Knowing the history prior to reading this book is not necessary but did add to my experience. The mystery of what causes the madness seeping into the city pushes enemies together for collaboration, and the intense action kept me hooked. Diversity in cast felt authentic to the time period of China's forced spheres of influence from other countries' powers, and the multi-pov storytelling really made certain chapters feel like isolated scenes as in a play. I am excited to read the sequel and the other books in the world of Secret Shanghai soon. The bonus content in the B&N edition was well worth it, too. I loved getting inside Roma's head through his letters from their first romance together, the prequel story of their courtship before is so sweet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Emotional abuse, Blood, Classism, Violence, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Gore, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Cursing, Terminal illness, Racism, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia, Sexual content, and Drug use

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia

metalballwheatley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Romajuliette's alright but I loved Juliette as a character, she's so fun. 

Also this book has great white british man representation. I feel like the content here is really accurate to their culture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Moderate: Transphobia, Racism, and Blood

m4rtt4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Secret Shanghai is officially one of my favourite world's I've ever visited, and I'm glad to know the story doesn't end here. I enjoyed almost everything — the monster plotline could have been executed a little better — but I'm only taking 0.5 stars off for that. My absolute favourite thing in addition to the dynamic between Juliette and Roma was

everything about the brain-infesting insects (I'm a biology student...), though I must say the science stuff also felt a bit off and/or too modern for the time, for example the term 'viral' wasn't really used until the 1940s, and what were those machines in Lourens's lab, how did they work?

I need more specific answers, I'm curious — in all seriousness, I'm just a nitpicking nerd. Nevertheless, Gong has done an excellent job researching and creating all this, big kudos to her <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Body horror, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use, Transphobia, and Alcohol

kylosten's review against another edition

tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Classism, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia