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A review by jayisreading
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
4.25
This was a fun way to wrap up an overall great retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Our Violent Ends had as much of my attention as I was able to give between everything happening in my life as of late. Like These Violent Delights, I truly appreciated Gong’s spin on a classic love story and some of the creative liberties she took in the sequel. With that said, I think after reading this and having had time to mull over the first book, it’s safe to say that I was more invested in the characters than anything else. The plot of Our Violent Ends felt more scattered than its predecessor, had some loose ends, and it felt as though the book served more as a means to satisfy readers’ desires to see how things come together for the characters while the happenings of Shanghai were somewhat of an afterthought. Thankfully, the delightful thing is that Gong really knows how to breathe life into her characters in such a refreshing and exciting way.
From what I gathered, Gong seems to be working on another Shakespeare retelling, and I look forward to what she’ll come up with next.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts