Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

13 reviews

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

ohgull's review against another edition

Umm, yeah…

Very edgy and Mary Sue in a cringey way. For a Romeo and Juliet re-telling, you really only get Juliet in this novel. Roma had no personality whatsoever. I swear that the side characters got more screen time than he did.

Wasn’t worth powering through for me, just not compelling enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

fee_nix05's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I loved the setting and premise of the book, but the main character, Juliette was just insufferable imo. Another downside to this book was that I listened to the audiobook, and I just don't like the wat the narrator voiced the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Terminal illness

jessiereads98's review

adventurous dark 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

3.75

Overall this was really enjoyable. A unique take on Romeo and Juliet, but maybe the best one I’ve read in being both recognizable and tolerable. Chloe Gong successively captures the atmosphere of the setting. There does seem to be the occasional anachronism, but nothing glaring or intolerable. Juliette came off as the badass heroine that YA stories often strive for without seeming flat or cringey. My biggest criticism would be that this is definitely overwritten in parts. There’s many instances where the prose could be simplified and tightened up. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Medical content, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Police brutality, Child death, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

axahean's review

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Alcohol, Blood, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Terminal illness

ppixxie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This take on Romeo and Juliet is so fun and refreshing! I really loved all the characters, the setting, and the mystery in the book. The romance and tension between Roma and Juliette was fun to read too. Definitely gonna read the second book when I can 😌

I loved the body horror + gore in this book but definitely check people's cw beforehand if you need it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Alcohol, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Torture, Addiction, Death of parent, Classism, and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Drug use

theoverbookedshelf's review

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Stalking and Terminal illness

voxelbee's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

• 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, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Transphobia, Colonisation, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, and Terminal illness

therese_nook68's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

4.5/5

TW: death, murder, gore, assassinations, implied pandemic... pandemic vocabulary

Really good reimagining of Romeo & Juliet. I loved the prose and the background its set on — it's really fun to see a book that was created for a western audience, reimagined into an eastern backdrop.

I loved how Chloe Gong created this and made it such a compelling read. I loved the characters and how she wrote them. It was so great and I honestly loved seeing how she weaved this story with this new idea. The characters were honestly the best part, they were so complex and so fun and really brought some depth to Shakespeare's original cast.

My biggest issues was that there was no urgency. None. Like people were dying, dying, and it felt like they were taking it super casually. Even when we hit the climax, I still didn't feel the urgency or the panic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Terminal illness

elissareadsbooks's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.5

i adore Shakespeare but do not particularly enjoy romeo and juliet. this book made me enjoy romeo and juliet. this was so much fun: as dark as it needed to be to live up to its premise, as hopeful as it could dare. i had a grand time, especially during the whirlwind of the last 100 pages. im in awe of how grand YA books are at the moment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Racism

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use