2023 Is the year many books that have been published years before make their way to the Dutch market. Many of these are getting the reread treatment by me. In March, I’ve reread These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, now it was time for the sequel to get its translation. I was eager to dive into Our Violent Ends, did I enjoy my reeread equally as much, less or more?

Please note: This review contains spoilers for these Violent Delights.

About the book

• Title: Our Violent Ends
• Author: Chloe Gong
• Series: These Violent Delights #2
• Publication date: November 16, 2021
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• ISBN: 9781529344561
• Number of pages: 494
• Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

The year is 1927, and Shanghai teeters on the edge of revolution. After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less. Roma is still reeling from Marshall’s death, and his cousin Benedikt will barely speak to him. Roma knows it’s his fault for letting the ruthless Juliette back into his life, and he’s determined to set things right—even if that means killing the girl he hates and loves with equal measure. Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and though secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat once and for all. Shanghai is already at a boiling point: The Nationalists are marching in, whispers of civil war brew louder every day, and gangster rule faces complete annihilation. Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences to combat monsters and politics, but they aren’t prepared for the biggest threat of all: protecting their hearts from each other.

My review

Expectations

Thankfully I knew what to expect before picking this sequel up. However, I was slumping alot when I read this book for the first time and I might have missed bits and pieces every now and then because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. That was me and definitely not the book. I noticed I was able to get a better grip on the story in my native language when reading the first book in this duology, so I flew through that one pretty qucikly. I expected to exprience the same with Our Violent Ends. Although I didn’t have as much time to read as I’d wished, I indeed flew through this book as quick as possible.

Characters

This book picks up a few months after the events of the previous book. Juliette and Roma both have to face the heartache past events caused, but they still can’t deny what they really feel for each other. After the madness returns to the streets of Shanghai, both future clan leaders have to work together in order to find a solution. However, there is still a blood feud going on and there are family members not agreeing to their collaboration. This tension is visible throughout the entire book, even amongst Roma and Juliette. One moment they are friendly and even playful with eachother, the next moment they are hostile or civil at best. Meanwhile, some other characters happen to have their own agenda which can lead to destruction of both gangs and maybe the entire city. Inspite of it all, there is much character growth in this book and this really shows in the second half. The story gets much more thense there and it’s literally all or nothing.

Writing

As said before, I flew through this book pretty quickly. I would have been quicker if I had more time, but the writing was indulging nevertheless. Most of the time it’s straight forward, but in some chapters there’s another perspective with a more whymsical writing style. It’s hard to explain this because if I try, I might spoiler something. Also, Gong uses the multiple POV narration which works really well here. Members of both The Scarlet Gang and The White Flowers have their own agenda and this gets even more obvious by changing POVs. This way, we get a good overview of the entire story.

Plot

This book is more focused on the Romeo & Juliet retelling I believe. More elements of the original Shakespeare story are woven into this book and now I was able to actually see that it’s a retelling. This was not the case for me in These Violent Delights. Gong stays true to the original story, but she gives it a unique spin with the setting, the world building and the events. Therefore this is much more than just a classic love story and it’s really interesting. The tension is great, it keeps you on the edge of your seat and you just want to know what’s going on.

Final thoughts

I’m glad I was able to reread Our Violent Ends in my native language, even though there was a different translator than for the first book. For me, it was much easier to follow the storyline and I was able to enjoy it more. I liked the retelling aspect and the character development accompanied by it. I hope the next books in this world will get a translation too, because I want to give Foul Lady Fortune another try someday.