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anikarajan's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
3.75
ametakinetos's review
4.0
This absolutely was a violent delight.
I've read the criticism of this book, and I get it. The purple prose comes across as unskilled in many areas. Its dedication to historical canon, unreliable. The handling of delicate historical issues and culture varied between insightful and inconsiderate at times.
For me, those items were water under the bridge. I loved the total immersion that Gong's storytelling provided in an entirely fictional but still compelling version of Shanghai. Juliette and Roma are not necessarily likeable nor their actions excusable, and that enriched it for me. Who should I be rooting for? Who is in the right? It mimicked the conflict of reality in which every individual hopes their side is the hero, while knowing their behavior makes them anything but. I've seen people point out how Roma excuses the Russian invasion while condemning the others - of course he does. Characters who are hyper-aware of their own contradictions give no credit to the reader. Juliette is rude to her staff and cruel in her considerations of the rioting workers - naturally, considering her background.
Perhaps I give Gong too much credit, but the complexity and brevity was balanced just right for my summer reading tastes. I look forward to experiencing the sequel!
Note: The multilingual and multifaceted cast of characters would lend itself so incredibly well to a TV adaptation like Netflix's short-lived "1899". 100% would watch.
I've read the criticism of this book, and I get it. The purple prose comes across as unskilled in many areas. Its dedication to historical canon, unreliable. The handling of delicate historical issues and culture varied between insightful and inconsiderate at times.
For me, those items were water under the bridge. I loved the total immersion that Gong's storytelling provided in an entirely fictional but still compelling version of Shanghai. Juliette and Roma are not necessarily likeable nor their actions excusable, and that enriched it for me. Who should I be rooting for? Who is in the right? It mimicked the conflict of reality in which every individual hopes their side is the hero, while knowing their behavior makes them anything but. I've seen people point out how Roma excuses the Russian invasion while condemning the others - of course he does. Characters who are hyper-aware of their own contradictions give no credit to the reader. Juliette is rude to her staff and cruel in her considerations of the rioting workers - naturally, considering her background.
Perhaps I give Gong too much credit, but the complexity and brevity was balanced just right for my summer reading tastes. I look forward to experiencing the sequel!
Note: The multilingual and multifaceted cast of characters would lend itself so incredibly well to a TV adaptation like Netflix's short-lived "1899". 100% would watch.
liftedlife's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.75
aquarles's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.25
yokinami's review against another edition
2.0
This book wasn't bad but.. Personally, i didn't really like Juliette. It was difficult to read her pov's. I think she was supposed to be seen as "strong, cool" or something, but it feels like she only pretends to be this way. And about the plot. It feels too much. So many things were happening. Politics, problems between Roma and Juliette, gangs, fights between these gangs, fights inside these gangs, monster. Too much. In general, this book is good and pretty interesting. It's written good. But not for me. Maybe if you like something like this, then you'd enjoy it.
doodayoussef's review against another edition
2.0
I am still 100 pages away from the ending but I have made up my mind about this book. At first I was enjoying it so much. It was a great start of a fantasy book. Despite me not liking Juliette pov most of the time, I liked following other characters. I had my ghost ship in this book and liked some of the characters background however the story was dragging too much.
First let’s talk about Juliette pov. In my opinion she sounded pretentious. She wants to act strong when she is nothing near strong, have identity crisis and sounded excessively arrogant at some point. I get she is the heiress of a gang but… she just wasn’t to my liking.
Moving on to the plot dragging, the book introduced a monster in the first page of the book and until page 100 it felt like they are running after nothing. A delusional maybe. The monster rarely appeared and people just kept dying. Some people would think it would keep to know until the end what kind of monster that is, but I just got bored. It’s like fighting with yourself and you don’t know who is your enemy.
Now moving to the romance part, it’s almost not existent. I couldn’t connect with the characters emotions. I didn’t feel the angst the writer was trying so hard to deliver. It just didn’t hit. Cause beside we didn’t know the monster the whole book we also didn’t know Roma and Juliette history and we are expected to relate to their pain. Even the slightest tension between them wasn’t there
First let’s talk about Juliette pov. In my opinion she sounded pretentious. She wants to act strong when she is nothing near strong, have identity crisis and sounded excessively arrogant at some point. I get she is the heiress of a gang but… she just wasn’t to my liking.
Moving on to the plot dragging, the book introduced a monster in the first page of the book and until page 100 it felt like they are running after nothing. A delusional maybe. The monster rarely appeared and people just kept dying. Some people would think it would keep to know until the end what kind of monster that is, but I just got bored. It’s like fighting with yourself and you don’t know who is your enemy.
Now moving to the romance part, it’s almost not existent. I couldn’t connect with the characters emotions. I didn’t feel the angst the writer was trying so hard to deliver. It just didn’t hit. Cause beside we didn’t know the monster the whole book we also didn’t know Roma and Juliette history and we are expected to relate to their pain. Even the slightest tension between them wasn’t there
shealawlis's review
4.5
4.5⭐️
Wow! It took me about 40% into the book to start truly enjoying it but after that it got sooo good! This is about the most of slow burn trope I can take it and was perfect. Roma gives golden retriever energy and Juliette gives black cat. It’s perfect.
The world building felt pretty easy to understand and I loved the historical aspect thrown in with the fantasy. I also enjoyed the queer representation in this book.
I’m not a huge YA person but I really loved this book!
Wow! It took me about 40% into the book to start truly enjoying it but after that it got sooo good! This is about the most of slow burn trope I can take it and was perfect. Roma gives golden retriever energy and Juliette gives black cat. It’s perfect.
The world building felt pretty easy to understand and I loved the historical aspect thrown in with the fantasy. I also enjoyed the queer representation in this book.
I’m not a huge YA person but I really loved this book!
emath98's review
adventurous
dark
tense
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
3.25