Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

29 reviews

litliz's review

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

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

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

readingdragon28's review against another edition

Too much detail on the gore of what happened with the "madness" from the *spoiler alert* nasty engineered insects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Death, and Blood

cnaccarato's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Misogyny, Classism, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Gore, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Drug use

Minor: Police brutality, Outing, Bullying, Sexual content, and Homophobia

superstar_y2k's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

this book is not as complex as it seems to be (or rather has the potential to be) 
this book speaks on colonialism, racism and white supremacy, murder, betrayal, politics, and other humanitarian topics but somehow oversimplifies and brushes off those topics to follow a clumsy mystery where our romeo & juliette must work together despite their previous murderous betrayals.  see, the thing about shakespeare’s romeo & juliette is that the reader wants to root for them.  roma & juliette cai aren’t likable characters that i felt didn’t actually love each other.  
i could go on, but honestly there are many other reviews i’ve seen that correspond to the way i feel, so i won’t beat a dead horse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Death, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Gore, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

serendipity421's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Violence, Classism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Vomit

akane_readsyt's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Transphobia, Racism, Police brutality, Child abuse, Dysphoria, and Body shaming

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

i enjoyed this more than i thought i would. i liked the modern retelling of romeo and juliet, &

that they already had a past & were aged up so it was a new take, despite it being obvious they’d end up together.

majority of the plot was predictable with a few unexpected twists in there. quite political; so took me a little longer to get into it but was relevant to the story. i liked some of the side characters, they added depth to the story and it was left in a way that i want to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, War, Xenophobia, Murder, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Alcohol, Bullying, Racism, and Grief

mattiedancer's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Writing: 5⭐️/5 

The writing is both natural and elegant, making the most violent of scenes read smoothly and cleanly. I really enjoyed how the writing read, both technically and artistically. 

Characters: 5⭐️/5

The characters are based on “Romeo and Juliet,” so, while she pays homage to these original characters in her retelling, Gong manages to make each one feel new. Juliette – unlike her Shakespearan counterpart – is largely independent and unreserved, constantly questioning her father, making demands of her family, and challenging established systems. Roma, based on Romeo, shares his namesake’s penchant for sensitivity and eloquence. The secondary characters used their shared traits to their advantage, gaining more characterization through their connections rather than less. 

Plot: 5⭐️/5 

Again, it’s a sort of retelling, so the plot points are predetermined, and yet the ways in which Gong uses those preestablished moments to add to her unique tale is adeptly handled. I loved the nods towards the Shakespearan play – telling someone his name was Montague while undercover, the fight scene at the start where someone utters, “I don’t know what that means,” the **SPOILERS** “death” of Marshall, who is Mercutio reincarnate. All of these were heavily enjoyable but not overdone. 

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

Amazing. Want to read it again for the first time. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet 
• Fantasy meets mystery fans
• Readers looking for a Chinese mythology-influenced story

CW: Blood, Violence, Gun Violence, Parental abuse, death, colonisation

Final Rating: 5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol and Fire/Fire injury