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sarah984's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was fine, but it left me feeling disappointed.
First off I will say, I loved the concept of a 1920s Shanghai Romeo and Juliet retelling. The descriptions of the city and events surrounding the characters are great, and you can tell that the author is passionate about this history. The monster story does the job and some of the horror writing is great.
The story and characters were another thing, unfortunately. The book takes way too long, with characters meandering around monologuing while nothing much happens for large amounts of time. Juliette is an interesting enough character (a little too stock YA heroine for me but she's fine) but Roma is like a block of wood. This is a shame because in the play you can call Romeo a lot of things but "boring" isn't really one of them. The enemies to lovers romance is so bland and uninteresting. The word "thudding" is used so often that I want to erase it from the author’s brain.
Things finally come to a head at the end and the final confrontation is exciting (though there are definitely some stupid things that happen because they sound cool, like firing a 1920s pistol underwater) but the author takes a big risk and then immediately backtracks it, which bugged me.
It was fine, if you like YA enemies to lovers and/or historical you'll probably enjoy it, but I don't really care too much if I read the second one or not.
First off I will say, I loved the concept of a 1920s Shanghai Romeo and Juliet retelling. The descriptions of the city and events surrounding the characters are great, and you can tell that the author is passionate about this history. The monster story does the job and some of the horror writing is great.
The story and characters were another thing, unfortunately. The book takes way too long, with characters meandering around monologuing while nothing much happens for large amounts of time. Juliette is an interesting enough character (a little too stock YA heroine for me but she's fine) but Roma is like a block of wood. This is a shame because in the play you can call Romeo a lot of things but "boring" isn't really one of them. The enemies to lovers romance is so bland and uninteresting. The word "thudding" is used so often that I want to erase it from the author’s brain.
Things finally come to a head at the end and the final confrontation is exciting (though there are definitely some stupid things that happen because they sound cool, like firing a 1920s pistol underwater) but the author takes a big risk and then immediately backtracks it, which bugged me.
It was fine, if you like YA enemies to lovers and/or historical you'll probably enjoy it, but I don't really care too much if I read the second one or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Vomit, and Transphobia
offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Transphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Alcohol, Drug use, Vomit, Misogyny, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Grief
acerbicread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book was everything I needed on a Sunday evening in October: suspense, mystery, and a badass, 1920's, Chinese, gangster, flapper heroine who hates white men and speaks 10 languages as easily as she threatens people. The book feels like Casablanca meets Roaring 20's meets Alien. The writing is phenomenal for a Debut author, and the character development is amazing. The pacing felt good for me, but everyone has different preferences.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Colonisation, Gun violence, Medical content, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
olijordan's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
5.0
This was awesome. A little slow for my taste but other than that I loved it. I wasn’t expecting the queer representation so that was a nice surprise I was scared about Marshal (as he’s meant to be Mercurio - who dies) because Gong heavily insinuated a connection between him and Benedikt. I’m very glad the author didn’t play into the ‘bury your gay’ trope
I also think this book is a must read for white people. In Australia, asian racism is an absolute epidemic. The mere fact that how the author showed the racism towards their characters was in no way different to what I see basically everyday from my family and other white people shows how important it is to understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end. The book covered so many different issues in a way that didn’t even feel like it was which was exceptional.
Gong’s writing was absolutely amazing. From the first page alone I knew I’d love this book because of the way she wrote and world built. It was a fun and educational read and I can’t wait for the sequel
I also think this book is a must read for white people. In Australia, asian racism is an absolute epidemic. The mere fact that how the author showed the racism towards their characters was in no way different to what I see basically everyday from my family and other white people shows how important it is to understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end. The book covered so many different issues in a way that didn’t even feel like it was which was exceptional.
Gong’s writing was absolutely amazing. From the first page alone I knew I’d love this book because of the way she wrote and world built. It was a fun and educational read and I can’t wait for the sequel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Gun violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
aromarrie's review against another edition
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? No
4.25
with a book that holds so much promise in exploring even deeper the famous tragic tale of “romeo & juliet”, chloe gong completely exceeded my expectations with such vivid storytelling and such fiery angst that it made my reading journey with these characters absolutely memorable.
a historical fiction this story is, and gong does such an incredible job of making sure this piece of history—Shanghai in the 1920s—wasn’t a complete work of fiction. she shared rather marvelous insight and an in-depth look of how colonialism and power played a hand in shifting Shanghai during this time and what impresses me even further is that she did so with connecting these events to her own characters. romeo & juliet are shakespeare’s creation, yes, but roma & juliette are completely a work of art created in gong’s image. she took these two characters from a classic tale of star-crossed lovers and absolutely knocked it out of the park by completely tearing apart all criticisms that are attached to one of shakespeare’s famous works, and rather highlighting just how tragic this tale lies between not just juliet and her romeo, but between two prominent families within the same city that practically tore themselves apart.
the inclusion of a sort of fantastical element that much more teeters into speculative fiction heightened the tension that made the original love story between romeo & juliet so forbidden, and it goes even deeper to make the overall arcs of roma & juliette to be so high-stakes and incredibly moving. the passion that both of these characters have and the ties they’ve made not just to each other but to other characters as well brought deeper connections to the story and raised the angst bar pretty high once i got to the end of the book. i found the multiple perspectives included in this narrative to be so distinct and well-done, especially with the vivid atmosphere surrounding these characters in Shanghai, and while this story did feel very slow, i don’t have much complaints at all as i am a fan of a slow-moving character study that also relies on political tension so there’s no qualms coming from me.
how descriptive gong was in her storytelling, how imaginative, she was in laying out motivations between all the characters and the shocking reveal that erupts at the very last page was all so smart and exciting. it means a lot to me to see someone so close to my age have such a complex way of bringing her ideas to life, so much so that she’s gotten so much praise and well-deserved insights into how her ideas can stretch on even further once the sequel, “our violent ends” is eventually up to being released. seeing how much work she’s put into this and her making me see beyond what was said to be a satire in shakespeare’s original story, it just goes to show how much deeper these classic works could have gone and how inspirational the characters have become. i absolutely loved this.
a historical fiction this story is, and gong does such an incredible job of making sure this piece of history—Shanghai in the 1920s—wasn’t a complete work of fiction. she shared rather marvelous insight and an in-depth look of how colonialism and power played a hand in shifting Shanghai during this time and what impresses me even further is that she did so with connecting these events to her own characters. romeo & juliet are shakespeare’s creation, yes, but roma & juliette are completely a work of art created in gong’s image. she took these two characters from a classic tale of star-crossed lovers and absolutely knocked it out of the park by completely tearing apart all criticisms that are attached to one of shakespeare’s famous works, and rather highlighting just how tragic this tale lies between not just juliet and her romeo, but between two prominent families within the same city that practically tore themselves apart.
the inclusion of a sort of fantastical element that much more teeters into speculative fiction heightened the tension that made the original love story between romeo & juliet so forbidden, and it goes even deeper to make the overall arcs of roma & juliette to be so high-stakes and incredibly moving. the passion that both of these characters have and the ties they’ve made not just to each other but to other characters as well brought deeper connections to the story and raised the angst bar pretty high once i got to the end of the book. i found the multiple perspectives included in this narrative to be so distinct and well-done, especially with the vivid atmosphere surrounding these characters in Shanghai, and while this story did feel very slow, i don’t have much complaints at all as i am a fan of a slow-moving character study that also relies on political tension so there’s no qualms coming from me.
how descriptive gong was in her storytelling, how imaginative, she was in laying out motivations between all the characters and the shocking reveal that erupts at the very last page was all so smart and exciting. it means a lot to me to see someone so close to my age have such a complex way of bringing her ideas to life, so much so that she’s gotten so much praise and well-deserved insights into how her ideas can stretch on even further once the sequel, “our violent ends” is eventually up to being released. seeing how much work she’s put into this and her making me see beyond what was said to be a satire in shakespeare’s original story, it just goes to show how much deeper these classic works could have gone and how inspirational the characters have become. i absolutely loved this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Self harm, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, Vomit, Torture, Alcohol, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
2.5
This is yet another book that booktok hyped up and I just...didn’t like. I even bought it, because the cover was beautiful and I’d heard so many good things, but it only took a few pages for me to get annoyed by the writing style. I love retellings of classic stories, and the premise of this seemed so interesting—1920s glamor! Shanghai! Rival gangs!—but once I started reading I was pretty disappointed by the whole creepy bug concept. I’m not a fan of gore, and so there were a few scenes that I really wish I could’ve skipped past. I did really like the Benedikt/Marshall relationship and I hope that we see more of it in the next book (because, yes, even though I didn’t like this book I’m still going to read the sequel).
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending): It was a bit of a cliffhanger! Definitely not happy, and even though it’s only the first half of the duology, I’m not surprised—this is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, after all. I am interested to see whether Gong sticks to the original ending in the sequel, or if she’ll decide to spin it in her own way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Addiction, Colonisation, and Drug use
nerdybirdy101's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book via audiobook. I was interested in this book because of the reviews many book influencers were doing, so while mafia Romeo and Juliet books are not things I usually like, I wanted to give this book a chance. I ended up really enjoying this book! I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars because I felt like there was some lag for me because there was a bunch of drama, then a slow dragging part, and then the ending was fast. I think I needed more of a balance to keep my attention since I am not an avid fan of the themes. The author is clearly skilled and I am very excited to see their future works, definitely am hopeful they will write more historical romance-type books. I do recommend this book because the author is a fabulous writer and they have skills that other people need to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Bullying, Blood, Addiction, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Stalking, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Murder
angelareads's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, and Terminal illness
Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Trafficking, Transphobia, and Vomit
iviarelle's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
5.0
This book is cheesy as heck and I love it. Just mind the content warnings, I'm sure my list isn't comprehensive but check out the main book page's lists, as there's very little this book doesn't get real squicky about. Especially something the content warnings don't include by default: bugs. If you freak out at those "bugs growing inside someone" urban legends, either prepare yourself for some nausea or consider avoiding this one.
These Violent Delights won't be to everyone's tastes, especially if you're the kind of person who reads "What was your name again? Peter? Paris?" "Paul." and rolls your eyes. Every major named character in Romeo and Juliet has a different name here and a slightly different purpose to the story.
But, for all that: I love what Gong has done with each and every one of them, though there are too many for me to list here. I also specifically love that Rosaline is NOT guesting as "Sir Not Appearing In This Film" and actually plays a role along with her trans fraternal twin, Kathleen. There are a lot of twists to the original work here and it's really interesting to me how Gong plays with our expectations, from start to finish.
And I gotta say, I fell for every misdirect and I loved it. Sometimes I start overthinking and figure things out too soon, but this really kept me on my toes until the very end.
But, for all that: I love what Gong has done with each and every one of them, though there are too many for me to list here. I also specifically love that Rosaline is NOT guesting as "Sir Not Appearing In This Film" and actually plays a role along with her trans fraternal twin, Kathleen. There are a lot of twists to the original work here and it's really interesting to me how Gong plays with our expectations, from start to finish.
And I gotta say, I fell for every misdirect and I loved it. Sometimes I start overthinking and figure things out too soon, but this really kept me on my toes until the very end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Police brutality, Racism, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Bugs. Bugs growing inside people. If you get at all squicked out (or worse) by bugs, you will encounter a whole lot of nausea here.m_________'s review against another edition
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 angstfrom 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!
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
Also, I love the couples so much.
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
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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Alcoholism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Vomit