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chronicacademia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Death, Child death, and Self harm
Moderate: Body horror, Animal death, Classism, Blood, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Drug use, and Violence
axahean's review against another edition
- 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
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
clairew97's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Torture, Grief, Abandonment, Misogyny, Gun violence, Alcohol, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
nehanaomi's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Alcohol, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, and Grief
louisegraveyard's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Minor: Animal death
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- 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
These Violent Delights takes us to a fantasy Shanghai were rival gangs fight over control of the city. As the blood feud rages, outside forces have come to Shanghai to try and take over. It will come down to Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov to figure out what the rumors of a monster and madness mean and who is responsible.
I loved this retelling so much. The way this story differs from the original was masterfully done. I felt like this story had so much more heart and dimension than the original as well. While we still have starcrossed lovers and rival gangs, this book also adds in a magical element of a monster that spreads a plague. At times, it did feel quite gory. And the fact that insects were involved just ups the cringe factor.
I loved these characters and their backstories so much! Juliette is so ruthless and cunning. She is the heir, but she's also working against a lot of misogyny and sexism to ensure she gets her due. Roma is secretly a cinnamon roll, but he looks like he could kill you. I really loved seeing these two work together and how their past actions informed their present. I'm not explaining this well but I just loved all their interactions.
Then there were all the side characters! This book is so rich in setting, culture and character. Like every little thing added up. Even though this was a longer audio, I felt like I sped through it and I can't wait for the sequel!
Rep: Chinese female MC, Korean male MC, Chinese trans female side character, possible MLM side couple, Chinese and Korean supporting cast.
CWs: Alcohol consumption, animal death (insects), blood, colonisation, death, gore, gun violence, injury/injury detail, medical content, misogyny, murder, racism, sexism, violence, war, xenophobia. Moderate: deadnaming, grief, transphobia/transmisia.
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Grief, Transphobia, and Deadnaming
aromarrie's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Self harm, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, Vomit, Torture, Alcohol, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent
mothman19's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use
Minor: Animal death
iviarelle's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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.introvertinterrupted's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Murder, Medical content, Gore, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Blood, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Torture, Terminal illness, Stalking, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Animal cruelty