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A review by laurenlanz
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
4.0
I’m not even a fan of Romeo & Juliet, but these retellings are getting out of hand!!! Seriously, take me into the world of These Violent Delights, to 1920’s Shanghai where I can befriend rival gangsters and hunt river monsters.
Although I’m tempted to kick off this review with praise, the first half of the book left me with mixed opinions. Roma and Juliette were probably the least interesting characters in my opinion, which—considering they’re the protagonists—made things harder for me to get through. You’d think that Roma being the male heir to a Russian gang and Juliette being the female heir to a Chinese gang would offer culturally vibrant and overall very different perspectives, but that wasn’t always the case. Similar family dilemmas and trauma made their POV’s feel closely related a lot of the time.
Since the start, though, These Violent Delights had a massive saving grace, one that was a consistent high point: Basically every character except Roma and Juliette.
I’m serious. The side characters undug the early grave this book was readying for itself. I love Kathleen, Benedikt and Marshall an unhealthy amount. I’m itching to read the sequel for them (and a certain *cough* dilemma involving two of them).
The amount of LGTBQ representation was lovely. Chloe Gong mentioned that said rep is incredibly important because it reflects the state of our current world, and teens should be able to see themselves in the stories they read (which I loved to hear!!) Kathleen’s experience as a trans woman in the 20’s touched my heart, and watching Marshall and Benedikt’s feelings for eachother subtly unravel was so sweet.
The last 20% of this book was mind blowing. The romance, action scenes, and plot twists that came had me beyond taken aback. (Swooning, gasping, putting the book down, and crying a bit for someone…). I need the sequel, desperately.
“The stars incline us, they do not bind us.”
Although I’m tempted to kick off this review with praise, the first half of the book left me with mixed opinions. Roma and Juliette were probably the least interesting characters in my opinion, which—considering they’re the protagonists—made things harder for me to get through. You’d think that Roma being the male heir to a Russian gang and Juliette being the female heir to a Chinese gang would offer culturally vibrant and overall very different perspectives, but that wasn’t always the case. Similar family dilemmas and trauma made their POV’s feel closely related a lot of the time.
Since the start, though, These Violent Delights had a massive saving grace, one that was a consistent high point: Basically every character except Roma and Juliette.
I’m serious. The side characters undug the early grave this book was readying for itself. I love Kathleen, Benedikt and Marshall an unhealthy amount. I’m itching to read the sequel for them (and a certain *cough* dilemma involving two of them).
The amount of LGTBQ representation was lovely. Chloe Gong mentioned that said rep is incredibly important because it reflects the state of our current world, and teens should be able to see themselves in the stories they read (which I loved to hear!!) Kathleen’s experience as a trans woman in the 20’s touched my heart, and watching Marshall and Benedikt’s feelings for eachother subtly unravel was so sweet.
The last 20% of this book was mind blowing. The romance, action scenes, and plot twists that came had me beyond taken aback. (Swooning, gasping, putting the book down, and crying a bit for someone…). I need the sequel, desperately.