A review by goodgamerlaine
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

The first half of the novel is pretty slow. It’s much more of an ensemble piece than I was anticipating and it’s very focused on the political and national struggles of the current times. Originally, in the first half, I had rated the story about a 3 star rating. It was pretty good but nothing to write home about. There were some random moments of Girlboss that I didn’t totally love. I found (even til the end) some of the secondary characters to be underdeveloped (namely Rosalind and Roma, surprisingly enough) and kind of boring. Everyone else really comes into their own in the second half. We don’t spend a whole lot of time with Roma and I found the connection with Juliette to be lacking a little. But there’s a lot to accomplish and establish in the first of a series so I’m not TOO upset at it. I went back and forth on Juliette’s character but one cannot deny that we spend the most amount of time with her, in contrast to the original text. I loved the references to Shakespeare and even if you haven’t read “Romeo and Juliet”, you can still appreciate those moments. All in all, I did really enjoy this book. The second half really, really is worth the first 220 pages moving slowly. I cannot wait for the sequel, I have high hopes that the pacing will pick up and the characters, as individuals and interpersonally, will grow and deepen together. For a debut novel, this is spectacular.
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