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Book Review: These Violent Delights

 THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS by Chloe Gong

3 Stars

Pub date: 17th November 2020

Verdict: A lot to love, but perhaps too much? 

Warning, this book contains more gore than the usual YA read.

This is the story of Romeo and Juliet, but if they were gangsters, and it's set in 1920’s Shanghai - and also there’s a monster on the loose. So many exciting things! There’s also a transgender character, LGBT slow burn romance, and an unapologetically fierce female lead. I was super excited to read this, but I wondered how all the pieces would come together.

First off, I loved Juliet. She’s the right heiress for a gangster crown. She’s bold, brave, and leaves others trembling in her presence. I loved the layers in her character, especially with her concerns over how other's would perceive her time spent in American. 

Roma on the other hand is averse to violence and struggles to earn his father’s respect. He's slightly more standard YA, but very likeable. When these star-crossed lovers come together, it’s electric. However, the book picks up four years after Roma betrayed Juliet, meaning their connection is steeped in backstory. As a reader, I felt pushed out rather than pulled in...more on this later. 

I also had mixed feelings about the world building. The tension between the gangs was visceral, and the use of different languages within the prose was seamless…some of the time. Other times I had to keep reading to figure out what was going on, and again, I felt pushed out. And while the politics around the gangs was tense, the politics between the nations was vague. There was a lot of talk of the French and Communism and power…but there wasn’t much depth to it, and it had more word time than relevance.

So I started to lose interest around the half way mark. While the writing was gorgeous at times, the pace was bogged down by exposition. Different POVs were thrown in without being necessary, and less was shown than it could have been. Maybe the book tried to accomplish too much? 

Oh, and I almost forgot the creepy monster. I loved the supernatural mystery but the monster plot became less interesting the longer it went on. It helped spark some action back into the end sequence, but when the story ultimately finished on a cliché and a cliff hanger, my heart sank. 

I’m sorry I didn’t like this one more. There’s a lot to love about it, and I think others would find it a good read. For me, it just wasn’t in the moment as much as I wanted it to be. I lost interest somewhere in the middle, and it didn't manage to win me back this time. 

Source: From the publishers via Netgalley.

See my video review: https://youtu.be/dMBCAiwD-40

Buy the book using an affiliate link.

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