Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

18 reviews

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

(Spoiler review) oh my gosh. Once again horror and politics are SO not my vibe when I’m reading. BUT. There’s just something about Chloe Gongs writing that ensnared me. I HAD to know what happened and I HAD to know if Roma and Juliette ended up together! I still wish she had killed her parents, and as with a couple other things I’m not entirely sure what the ending meant so I feel… fulfilled but also not. It’s been a long time since I read something that left me with that feeling at the end of a book. I will be very intrigued to see what this author comes up with in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

devynry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, and War

rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

This book will have you on the edge of your seat no doubt. Here you have a sequel that is shocking, humourous and in its foundation, political. I do not want to reveal too much but Gong has successfully crafted the most complex and riveting characters. Juliette is wise, cutthroat and embodies a much more empowered version of her original character written by Shakespeare. Though she is wise, she is also flawed— which makes her loveable. She is unfairly torn between two political forces: loyalty or betrayal. Roma is another complex character who pales in comparison to his sister, Alisa who is not a central plot device by any means; but she proves herself to be a hero in her own right in this mind boggling, emotionally distressing (in the best way possible) young adult masterpiece. 

I will not say anything else other than if you want to see what real women are made of, you must read this book. 5 of the easiest stars I gave this year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, War, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

bedtimesandbooks'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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Self harm, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexism

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

OUR VIOLENT ENDS is a great finish to an excellent duology, with just the right amount of angst and catharsis. If you read THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS and wanted more of Juliet and Roma treating stabbing and bullets as expressions of fraught teenage love in the midst of a plague-turned-takeover, you should read this ASAP.

The worldbuilding is consistent with the previous book, but it's now slowing down to build as many non-human parts of the setting as THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS was able to. Juliet sometimes still wears flapper dresses, and Roma has a Meaningful Wardrobe Change, but tensions are high and there's just less time for fun. Plenty of time for emotionally fraught pining and hatred, especially coming off of events from the last book. 

I love how much Kathleen shines in this one, she has a much better sense of herself and what place she wants to hold. Alisa, too, gets more of a role and it's very nice to see. Ben and Marsh are fantastic, I'm so happy about their arc here.

This wraps up a bunch of things from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. It has a couple of storylines which start here and weren't present before, but since this is part two of a duology that's somewhat limited, as it exists to complete the story. I'm not sure if any major things were both introduced and resolved here, as generally the groundwork was laid previously even if the very specific story thread is mostly contained to this volume. It feels finished, except in as much as the ending intentionally left things open, e.g. living characters are implied to have plans for what they'll do next. The main characters are the same, with a similar ratio of how many chapters each one narrates. Their voices are distinct from each other but consistent with their styles of narration from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. This might make some sense if someone picked it up at random and didn't know about the series (especially if they're familiar with ROMEO AND JULIETTE. The relevant backstory is succinctly and precisely conveyed in a way that makes it pretty easy to get up to speed, but certain character motivations and present circumstances will be confusing if someone tries to begin here, in part two of two. It does hit the sweet spot for enough of a reminder for readers who waited a while after reading the first book, at least as far as I'm concerned. 

Well-done with an ending I'm still thinking about, make sure to check out OUR VIOLENT ENDS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, Torture, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Minor: Physical abuse

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Body horror, Gun violence, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

Cheese and rice. I knew this book was going to be intense, but I was absolutely not prepared for how intense it actually was. I think I survived all of the other books I’ve read over the years just so this one specifically could kill me. Very rarely do books evoke such physical reactions in me; as I read, I was laughing, gasping, and my heart was pounding. I don’t think it slowed down at all during the second half of the book.

There’s not much I can say that’s spoiler-free, and honestly, I don’t have either the physical or emotional energy right now for an in-depth review. Just know that as much as I loved the first book, somehow I love this one even more. Juliette, Roma, Marshall, Benedikt, and Alisa stole my heart; Juliette and Roma in particular own my soul. I’m legit reevaluating my mental list of favorite series of all time to make room for this duology in the top five. Anything that affects me as much as this did sure as hell deserves it.

So yeah. My heart is a pulp and my brain is mush and I don’t really know what to do with my life right now. If these books weren’t already one of my main personality traits, they are now. I’ll definitely reread them at some point, but I need to prepare myself for that first. I’m eagerly (and nervously) awaiting Chloe Gong’s next book.

Representation

• Chinese protagonist and side characters
• Chinese trans girl side character
• Korean queer side character
• queer side character with OCD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Police brutality

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

kinsportch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Jesus. One of the best books I’ve read in awhile. The writing was supreme and the ending was so incredibly emotional. These Violent Delights was amazing, but nothing compared to Our Violent Ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Torture, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content