cielorem's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
ruhru38sb's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lshatilla's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
The problem with this book is that it tries to do too much.
the conflicts are as follows:
- nationalists vs. communists
- gang war (white flowers vs. scarlet gang)
- spy within the scarlet gang
- Roma hates Juliette
- new monsters! who do they belong to? how do we get them to stop attacking people?
- vaccination?
- power struggle within each gang (Tyler and Dimitri)
- imperialism
- Roma and Juliette can't be together because of the Clan war
- Marshall is still alive
- Kathleen's growing sympathy towards the communists
And quite frankly, most of them are forgotten, and then brought back up in the last 100 pages to clear up loose ends. The Monsters were mentioned every 70 pages or so, and then totally dropped. It also doesn't help that the 'type' of monster in book 2 is different than the insects in book 1.
The 'jumping' from conflict to conflict, problem to problem means that there is little focus on the characters. Book 1 did at great job at balancing internal and external conflicts, Book 2 did not do this so the the characterization sucked. there was barely any character development until the last 100 pages where Juliette decides that she wants to save everyone. Honey, this is the revolution, you've got to pick a side.
To conclude this god-awful review of a disappointing book: Chloe Gong needed to decide whether this book was going to be about a revolution, gang war, or monsters. Instead of focusing on a million mini-plots, she could have spent time developing the characters and made me care about them again before half of them died.
The problem with this book is that it tries to do too much.
the conflicts are as follows:
- nationalists vs. communists
- gang war (white flowers vs. scarlet gang)
- spy within the scarlet gang
- Roma hates Juliette
- new monsters! who do they belong to? how do we get them to stop attacking people?
- vaccination?
- power struggle within each gang (Tyler and Dimitri)
- imperialism
- Roma and Juliette can't be together because of the Clan war
- Marshall is still alive
- Kathleen's growing sympathy towards the communists
And quite frankly, most of them are forgotten, and then brought back up in the last 100 pages to clear up loose ends. The Monsters were mentioned every 70 pages or so, and then totally dropped. It also doesn't help that the 'type' of monster in book 2 is different than the insects in book 1.
The 'jumping' from conflict to conflict, problem to problem means that there is little focus on the characters. Book 1 did at great job at balancing internal and external conflicts, Book 2 did not do this so the the characterization sucked. there was barely any character development until the last 100 pages where Juliette decides that she wants to save everyone. Honey, this is the revolution, you've got to pick a side.
To conclude this god-awful review of a disappointing book: Chloe Gong needed to decide whether this book was going to be about a revolution, gang war, or monsters. Instead of focusing on a million mini-plots, she could have spent time developing the characters and made me care about them again before half of them died.
mgriffin17's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Ooh Shakespeare why are you on the floor???
katieeigenfeld's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jennaorava's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lolarmoore's review against another edition
4.0
First two thirds are very good, last third becomes rushed, confusing, and a little nauseating.
kylanicole's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve got to say, this was so much better than the first book. The way I became so attached to these characters and felt evert heartbreak, anger, and love right along with them. I quite like the writing style used to deal with each POV and deal with the setting, it is really effective and really gets you into the plot like you are right along with them. This Romeo and Juliet retelling really did it for me.