“Interesting, captivating and filled with adventure.”
~ Under the Covers
I came into reading this second book with many doubts in my mind. I wasn’t as bought into the hype with These Violent Delights, and I wasn’t sure what I would find with Our Violent Ends. However, I was extremely surprised to find myself loving the direction that the sequel to These Violent Delights took. It helped answer a lot of the questions that where left up in the air in the first book, but thankfully there was also much more detail and description around the political scene and the gang intricacies, and less focus on the monster part of the story.
In order to avoid spoilers of the first book in case you haven’t read it, we are left at an impasse between our main characters. The blood feud between the families is at its highest, and there seems to have been an irreparable rift between our two main characters that we just cannot wait to see mended.
We hit the ground running with this book, with every page bringing in new information, new dangers and the stakes are higher and much more complicated. Multiple players in the Shanghai scene start to take on a bigger role, and the streets of Shanghai drip with shed blood that does not actually come from the monster our two star crossed lovers defeated in the first book.
I am absolutely glad I continued reading this book. I’d fallen in love with Roma in the first book, but this second book was all Juliette for me. I loved reading about her struggle. Juliette’s chapters were an incredible insight into the anger, anguish and frustration she feels as she navigates the complicated relationship she has with her family, what she feels is right and her love for the heir of the White Flowers.
Moreover, there a few new players, with interesting roles in the overall plot that I absolutely loved. It’s clear that the romance in this story is absolutely secondary, with the story playing a central role and just bringing it to a thrilling conclusion. I felt the romance could have been exploited a bit more – it was quite lacking at times, and it could have had a bigger involvement in the story, even being a YA novel. Overall the star crossed lovers’ routine fell a bit flat. I would have liked more commitment to that romance story from the author in order for me to become more emotionally involved with the perils they faced. I would have liked more character development and more emotion from them to be able to feel more connected to the story.
At times the story dragged, but I have to say that the last twenty percent of the book made it so worth it. I would say that those last few pages absolutely wrecked me, and I’m left emotionally destroyed. Our Violent Ends places this duology in the solid 4 stars for me. Interesting, captivating and filled with adventure. This interesting take on the Romeo & Juliette retelling was an exciting read for me this year.
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[about-author author=”Chloe Gong”]
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Thanks for the review.
such a nice article . Living in Argentina with only two real English bookstores has been a challenge for most of my life. Most of my international trips include coming back home with a bag dedicated to books bought abroad