From the Bookshelf of Between The Pages…

These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights, #1)

Chloe Gong

Start date: July 1, 2021

Finish date: July 31, 2021

Discussion: Moderator's BOTM Discussions

Discussion leader: Sylvs (NOVELty Reads)

Why we're reading this: Moderator's BOTM for July. Theme: Retellings …more
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last updated Oct 05, 2021 08:03PM

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Jul 30, 2021 Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Umm excuse me what was that ending? And how dare you make me wait until November for the sequel?

I'm so mad because that book (in the most simplest of terms) destroyed me towards the very end. I had high expectations for These Violent Delights they faltered a little bit I'm not gonna lie but then the ending made it all worth it. I was bored... I kept reading and then I metaphorically died. That basically sums up my reading experience.

The book is set in 1920's Shanghai which is ruled by two oppos Umm excuse me what was that ending? And how dare you make me wait until November for the sequel?

I'm so mad because that book (in the most simplest of terms) destroyed me towards the very end. I had high expectations for These Violent Delights they faltered a little bit I'm not gonna lie but then the ending made it all worth it. I was bored... I kept reading and then I metaphorically died. That basically sums up my reading experience.

The book is set in 1920's Shanghai which is ruled by two opposing gangs: The Scarlets (lead by the Cai family) and The White Flowers (lead by the Montagov's). Despite their blood feud and family rivalry, the heirs of the gangs, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov have to work together in order to stop a violent monster from destroying their town that is killing both gangsters and civilians alike. What results is a quest to find answers and possibly a cure to stop the insects making people rip out their own throats and of course, our giant cliffhanger which I knew was coming but I definitely didn't prepare properly for.

In my opinion, the strongest part of this book had to be the writing. From page 1 Chloe Gong captivated me. I mean, who wouldn't be when a book starts with a line like this: "In glittering Shanghai, a monster awakens." Let's just say the writing got better from there. The writing bled into the world-building and the livelihoods of the people living in 1926's Shanghai. The descriptions of everything were long but beautiful and I found I could envision everything like a movie.

The characters fell a little bit shorter for me however, if I was to compare the characterisation in These Violent Delights to Romeo and Juliet, the characterisation drew really close. Marshall was so much like Mercutio, Benedikt was so much like the quiet Benvolio, Roma felt a lot like Romeo but the only character who I felt really changed was Juliette. Juliet seemed quite passive as a character in Romeo and Juliet but in this book, she was strong, fearless and brave and I loved how Chloe Gong took Shakespeare's character and make it her own. At the end of the book, I had the strongest of connections to Juliette and Marshall. I didn't care for the side characters such as Rosalind (who I thought was quite selfish especially towards the end), Kathleen (who seemed nice but I didn't get a feel for her character enough) or Tyler (who was well... Tyler... let's just say that).

The other thing that was really good was the plot structure and the hints of political intrigue. I found that element well executed however, it did risk the pacing of the story which was my main issue with the book. Despite having all the elements I would typically like in a book, the pacing felt really slow for around 300 or so pages before it picked up towards the end. It was because of the slowness I found myself a little bit bored for a while just wishing and hoping it would pick up speed. That's not to say I didn't like the book, I did, but I wanted more intrigue and this feeling of excitement over never knowing what was to come next.

All in all, a very strong debut with strong writing, great political intrigue, world building and characters but it just fell flat with the pacing a bit.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.8 STARS

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Apr 19, 2025 jabulisile (chaotic.pagesofjae) rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2025-reads, fantasy

2.5 stars

This book started out very slow and it made me not pick it up for a few weeks after pausing at 55 pages. However, it’s a long weekend and I’m committed to finishing off all my current reads.

Set in the 1920’s in China, we follow main characters Juliette and Roma who are both from rival gangs with a blood feud. There is a mysterious disease that is taking out citizens en masse and they must find a way to work together to stop the madness before it eradicates both gangs.

It took me a while 2.5 stars

This book started out very slow and it made me not pick it up for a few weeks after pausing at 55 pages. However, it’s a long weekend and I’m committed to finishing off all my current reads.

Set in the 1920’s in China, we follow main characters Juliette and Roma who are both from rival gangs with a blood feud. There is a mysterious disease that is taking out citizens en masse and they must find a way to work together to stop the madness before it eradicates both gangs.

It took me a while to figure out why I wasn’t fully connecting with the story but now I know - Juliette is not a likeable character. She is actually horrible and an asshole and not at all the badass FMC she thinks she is. There are so many instances where she exhibited classist behaviour and didn’t have respect for anyone else.

Roma didn’t have much of a personality in my opinion. We got his POVs but most of the time you’d think we are still observing him from another person’s perspective. Even Benedikt and Marshall have more of a personality than him?

Speaking of the characters, the POVs felt all over the place, we jumped around from person to person without any set structure. It felt as though we got POVs according to what was convenient at the time to push the story forward. This made the story feel disjointed most of the time.

There is a lot of political intrigue and the Chinese are fighting to stay in power with the rising foreign powers.

“They were vultures, all of them—the British and the French and every other newcomer. Circling above the city and awaiting the carnage so they could gorge themselves until they were full. The Russians had arrived in this country and merged forward, wishing to learn the way of things and do better. These foreigners had sailed in and grinned at the crime.”

This was mentioned through Roma’s POV and I’m confused. It implies that everyone else is wrong but the Russians are right? They are foreigners still?? Or is it only okay becos Roma is the love interest and could they really be enemies to lovers with the backstory?
AND another thing. The blatant racism, hellooo??
- “Roma wasn’t quite certain if Marshall was still using his native tongue, or merely making noises to express his frustrations.” What the fuck are you talking about?! In the previous paragraph you just said Marshall switched to Korean and established that Roma can’t understand cos he skipped Korean lessons when he was young. So why the fuck would he now assume that he’s making random noises?
- Juliette talking about how Chinese people, HER PEOPLE, are still very much people of the past and therefore she can’t even reveal the existence of the scientific lab to her gang even if she wanted to. What are you talking about?!

I’m confused, the Scarlets and the Whiteflowers are both rivals and it’s on sight every time but when there are rumours of the monster ravaging through the gang members - the supposed leaders of both these gangs are basically very chilled about this fact??? Besides that one meeting they had, when else are they actually concerned? It all feels very unserious. The stakes felt so low.

Overall, this was okay, I’ll be reading the sequel just so I know how the story ends
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