Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

54 reviews

sarahquang's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

thank god i have the second book ARC cause there’s no way i can function if i don’t read it now, that cliffhanger omg. juliette is one of my fav chinese characters now, and i felt so represented by her (in a way cause yk) roma and juliette are complicated enemies to lovers goals and i hope that we get to see more of their past in the second book. also marshall is the loml i don’t make the rules. anyways stan chloe gong and this book.

Content Warnings

rose_play's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Slow burn VERY WELL DONE enemies to lovers to enemies
Apt social commentary on sexism and colonialism
The writing is PHENOMENAL. It's unbelievable how it's her first book.

Juliette had always prided herself on her priorities. She knew how to sight what was important, like explorers knew how to sight the north star. Her city, her gang, her family. Her family, her gang, her city. But could an explorer still find the north star if the whole world turned upside down?

The characters AND THE SIDE CHARACTERS are so lovable and sympathetic and MORALLY GREY
They are smart, wise and brilliantly complex

JULIETTE: “I am the heir of the Scarlet Gang,” Juliette said. Her voice had grown just as sharp as her weapon. “And believe me, tángdì, I will kill you before I let you take it from me.”

ROMA: say hello to my new book boyfriend 💞 he's so sweet and gentle but also protective and always trying to be good despite his violent circumstances.

If the heavens opened and offered Roma a little villa in the outskirts of the country, where he could move himself and his loved ones out to live a life in obscurity, he would choose it immediately.

They are so well suited to each other.
The love they have, the wau they JUST GET each other was such a delight to read about.

Most of the plot was fast paced unique and addictive with being a little slow in the middle to give depth to the best side characters I've ever read about. It starts off a little slow but I found it quite important to give layers and establishing a politically fragile state of the country
I didn't see many things coming and it was a real roller coaster.

WARNING (I guess) cliffhanger, details of violence, death of a parent(off page)

PS the next title of the series is so terrifying. FINGERS CROSSED🤞🤞🤞

Thanks to grace for buddy reading it with me🤩

Content Warnings

vendottie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

Content Warnings

eve_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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

4.0

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ Gong is a literary master — the way she seamlessly blends the story of her characters with Shakespeare’s play AND historical Shanghai blows my mind. There are so many little nuggets of detail and references in here that sent my heart a flutter!

⁕ This book is structured around a quest-type plot, which is not my favorite but Gong kept it interesting with lots of suspense.

⁕ I love that we see Juliette’s character develop so much in the present story of the book but we also get information about how her past experiences shape her as well

⁕ I want more information and world-building in regards to each character’s families and their respective gangs! I hope that’s included in the next book.

To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads

Content Warnings

thenovelmaura's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This is not your typical Romeo and Juliette retelling, and you'll need a strong stomach to get through Gong's descriptions of blood and gore. It's also deals with complex themes of colonialism, betrayal, assimilation, and loyalty, which made it a great book club pick!

Set in Shanghai in 1926, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov are the heirs apparent to two rival gangs, and their families' feud keeps the city streets running red with blood. However, when a contagion sweeps through the city and causes their gangsters to tear out their own throats, Juliette and Roma begrudgingly set aside the feud in order to work together and find a cure.

Like many other reviewers, I loved the Shanghai setting and Gong's writing is beautifully atmospheric. Juliette in particular describes the city in all its corrupt beauty. I also enjoyed the overall concept of the retelling and how the feud had such massive stakes for both heirs. When Juliette and Roma each blame the other gang for the deaths of their friends and family members, you understand why they're so resistant to their feelings for each other. Plus, Juliette is a total badass, so it's pretty much impossible not to root for her! There's also some great trans rep with a prominent side character that I really appreciated.

This book is definitely too long and I had some issues with the rapid-fire ending that I'll put under a spoiler tag, but be warned that there is a major cliffhanger that will leave you pretty unsatisfied unless you have the sequel in hand.

I don't have a problem with cliffhangers as a general rule, but this ending completely erased any progress that had been made throughout the book. Juliette and Roma? Hate each other again. Marshall and Benedikt? Benedikt thinks Marshall is dead, so... The plague? Actually worse than before they killed the big baddie.

And I think you'll have a better reading experience if you know that this is more historical fantasy than historical fiction (that realization took me out of the story a bit). This didn't meet my admittedly high expectations, but if it's been on your radar you should pick it up!

Content Warnings

angelareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

rachrreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

These Violent Delights is set in Shanghai in the 1920s. Roma Montagov is the son and heir to the to White Flowers, a gang that rose from the bottom to the prominence they have today. Their rival gang, the Scarlet Gang has been ruling Shanghai for decades. Juliette Cai has just returned from America, and as heir to the Scarlet Gang, she is ruthless.

Soon after, a monster is on the loose wreaking havoc among the city. People are falling dead in droves and the contagion is spreading like wildfire. Juliette realizes that to put an end to this, the Scarlets and White Flowers must pool together. Otherwise, the gangs will die out and the Communists and foreigners will take over.

I picked up this book not really knowing much about it. I had read the synopsis in the past, but never thought much about it. I even had to ask a friend “wait, is this a Romeo and Juliet retelling?” while reading the first few chapters. LOL. I’m glad I went into it with no knowledge or expectations, because otherwise I likely would’ve put it off longer.

This book was a MASTERPIECE. Chloe Gong, thank you for this wonderful, painful, masterly crafted book. I cannot wait for book 2. The romance between Roma and Juliette was absolutely squeal worthy. I found myself screaming so many times over their interactions.

THAT COAT SCENE WAS SO HOT PLEASE

Content Warnings

m_________'s review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Characters

There was a fairly large cast of main characters/significant side characters, so I was a bit worried that some of them would fall a bit flat, especially since this is the first book in the duo-logy so there is less opportunity to develop them. This is not at all the case! All of the characters are very vibrant and well-crafted: I especially loved Juliette, Roma, Kathleen, Benedikt, and Alisa. This will be a repeated theme throughout the review, but I adored how Gong used the source material of Romeo and Juliet as a starting point, but was unafraid to further expand and even alter elements in order to better service her story. Overall, this made the book super fun to pick apart and examine which elements were directly retold, which were expanded, and which were completely new. I definitely felt as though the characters here were even stronger versions of their Shakespearian selves: her Juliette is markedly confident and convicted, whereas Roma is more subtle and rational (also less annoying). As well, the additional characters not in Romeo and Juliet , especially Kathleen and Alisa, were wonderful .

I do love the enemies to lovers trope, but I am pretty picky about it - it has to be done right for me to enjoy it. A lot of the time, especially in more recent YA books, I think this trope is thrown in just for marketing and is resolved in an underwhelming and unsatisfying way. Thus, I was also a but nervous about that when I picked up the book. Again, Gong delivers in this regard. The main characters hate each other, but also love each other so much , and the reasons for this are convincing. Their antagonism doesn't ever immediately disappear and

is still very unresolved; it will certainly be a major component of the second book

. In a way, it reads more as the enemies in love trope, which I have zero complaints about, since it is less often done than enemies to lovers, and is, in my opinion, far better, more interesting, and, in an odd way, realistic(?).

Also, I love the couples so much.

Benedikt and Marshall are the sweetest, and it broke my heart when Benedikt thought Marshall had died. I have a haunting suspicion that his lingering grief is certainly going to cause issues and violence, at least at the start of the next book when he doesn't know yet that Marshall in fact did not die. RomaJuliette is my absolute favourite types of couple: the very aggressive one, and the one who has a tough exterior but is actually very sensitive and a major simp and thinks that everything the other does, including (especially?) their unhinged tendencies, are simply magnificent. For m/f couples, the has girl is the first one, and the boy the second, which is what happened here!

I think my one minor issue with the characters is in the shifting point of views of the novel. I would say that the novel is principally narrated by Juliette, and it shows in her narratorial voice. Namely, I found the sections from her PoV had a very vibrant voice, which was clearly Juliette's, but the other characters' perspectives and voices in narration were a bit less distinctive. Sometimes, it made it seem as though the other characters' PoVs were more in place to fulfill a technical role of filling in the reader on events that Juliette realistically couldn't detail.

Plot, World-building, etc.

Gong’s world building was absolutely fantastic and her writing skills really shines through in the novel - especially in the “zoom out” scenes from the perspective of Shanghai. These scenes in particular had such elegant prose and I loved the imagery and literary devices which she employed! I also like how her writing incorporates humour within the prose - it is at times sarcastic and sardonic, which I found enjoyable and entertaining.

Overall, the pacing was super consistent and solid, especially for a first published book. There were a few chapters, that certainly moved at a slower pace, but I think virtually all books fall into that category. The world-building was fantastic, but it never occurred at the expense of the plot, which moved forward in an exciting, fast-paced manner. There were shocks and surprises from middle to end! I remember being about half-way through the book and being curious about how Gong would continue to increase tension as the ending neared, since it was already so climactic (needless to say, she again delivered). The plot with the monster and the madness was very disgusting and very well done. It was a great and unexpected way to incorporate a fantastical element to the book. I also love books which draw on historical events, whether directly (ie they are historical fiction to some extend) or as an inspiration for the history/current events of their fantastical world (ie The Poppy War ). Gong's discussion of the horrors of colonialism and the tension leading up to the Chinese Civil War was so well-crafted and nuanced - definitely an important read in that regard!

Our Violent Ends And Overall Thoughts

I am so excited for Book 2 (obviously)! The book ended on such a cliffhanger, and apparently the second one has a small time skip so I am dying to know what happens next - I don’t know how I will manage waiting until November to read it. I’m excited to see the political plot evolve and for the stakes to rise even higher! And for the yearning and angst

from Roma, Juliette, and Benedikt

of course.

I think Rosalind is the spy, although I feel like that may be too obvious? But I'm not sure who else it could be, who is named. Obviously not Juliette, and it is unlikely to be Kathleen (we have so many scenes from her perspective, although it could be that Gong was purposely withholding information from them to lead us astray). It would be interesting if Tyler was collaborating specifically to take down Juliette though, although that would sort of feel like a cop-out in a way.

My brain: You know what happens in the original play Romeo and Juliet - everyone dies - so you should really be anticipating that for Our Violent Ends . It will cause it to hurt less when there is no one left alive at the end.
Also my brain: Roma/Juliette/Marshall/Benedikt/Kathleen/Rosalind/Alisa happy ending when ?????

It would be even worse if only one of the Roma and Juliette dies, though. And one of them is left to try and repair what has happens. nope nope nope NOPE NOPE please Chloe I am begging

Anyways , this book is clearly awesome and you should absolutely pick it up! It's not everyday you find such a unique and well-written YA fantasy novel, and Gong's work is really something special. Can't wait for Book 2, as well as whatever writing she has planned for the future!

Content Warnings

emberysing's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

booksnbeesofbea's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...