Chloe Gong delivers a masterful, heartwrenching, dramatic sequel in her second novel, Our Violent Ends, the finale to her These Violent Ends duology. A story that combines elements of Shakespeare's original Romeo and Juliet without compromising a single ounce of its originality, Our Violent Ends paints a story of love and violence, and the both horrifying and delightful ways in which those two combine.
Chloe Gong is the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and its sequel, Our Violent Ends. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double-majored in English and international relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located in New York, where she is pretending to be a real adult. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok under @thechloegong or check out her website at TheChloeGong.com. You can find more of my reviews of Chloe's works here.
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 one another.
*To review this novel to the fullest extent, there are a few unmarked spoilers ahead. Please read at your own risk*
With a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, you definitely expect a lot of romance. While it was pretty subtle in These Violent Delights, I certainly felt like the romance was amped up in Our Violent Ends. I personally felt like the development, and the time spent on their relationship, was much better this time around. There was a lot of anticipation and build-up surrounding how and when and even if Roma and Juliette would get back together. There were also more scenes, and the re-budding of their relationship was definitely more important in this novel (for the ending, especially) than in the first. However, Gong does not compromise the rest of the story in the slightest to build up their romance. Roma's and Juliet's dynamic feels natural and organic, giving readers enough time to believe in their relationship's development while also getting invested in the rest of the story.
The rest of the story I was originally wary about—seeing as how the inside flap summary seemed like it would be a repeat of the first book—but I definitely had nothing to worry about. While the second book starts out a bit slower, the plot reveals itself to be more twisted and even more dramatic than the first. Gong also ties in elements of the original Romeo and Juliet that we didn't see in These Violent Delights. Much like how the last three acts are focused on Juliet's arc, Tybalt's revenge, and the ultimate tragic ending, Our Violent Ends could be divided similarly, making for both an original plot line with the original characters we have fallen in love with, while also staying true to the retelling identity.
Kathleen and Rosalind are some of the most interesting characters. I knew that Rosalind was the spy from more or less the second Lord Cai announced that there was a spy in These Violent Delights, so I saw the reveal of Rosalind's identity coming. While the reveal was anticlimactic (for me, personally), and how I wished there was more, I thought what Rosalind did next made her a more complex character than any of us could have guessed. It made me wish that we had seen more of Rosalind from the very beginning, had been able to track her choices and follow her as she made all the choices that led her to the one of betrayal. On the other hand, Kathleen's identity has always been interesting since the second we learn that she is actually named Celia, and took the name Kathleen when her other sister died. While I've been confused on that name-switch since the beginning, and kept wishing for clarity throughout, I still enjoyed her character's arc—especially when she made the clear shift near the ending to become Celia again. For both of the sisters, I understand why they ended up how they did—it just made me wish we got to see more of them throughout the duology! Maybe one day, Gong will release some short stories or something like that!
And finally—Juliette. I love Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and have since one of my college professors taught it to me as Juliet and Romeo—done because the story, when read closely, can be seen as Juliet's path into her own identity and into her own power. I talked about this a little bit in These Violent Ends, but I saw Juliette taking control of her own story again and again more in Our Violent Ends that I thought it deserved its own analysis in the review. She continuously makes choices that she knows are deadly, but that are single-minded in her desire to protect and maintain safety for herself and the ones she loves. I was especially rocked when she was dismissed after Tyler's death (which, first of all, she killed her own cousin for Roma!), and how that dismissal is what pushed her over the edge as far as what she wants to do about the feud. After that turn, we can really draw a lot of parallels between Juliette and Juliet—their arcs, their choices, their language all take a turn into being more confident in themselves and more swayed towards questioning everything they've been taught. I don't want to reveal more than I already have—so I'll just continue to say that, if you loved Romeo and Juliet and These Violent Delights, then you have to do yourself the favor and read Our Violent Ends. You will not be disappointed.
While Juliette's and Roma's stories might have come to a close here, Chloe Gong's career is just beginning. To stay up to date with all of Chloe's news, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @thechloegong.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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