These Violent Delights // Book Review

Author: Chloe Gong
Published On: November 17, 2020
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderly Books
Genre: YA, Fantasy
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Synopsis:

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

Shanghai truly does ring to the tune of debauchery, and I love it.

This book was fantastic. These Violent Delights was written by a college undergrad, and Chloe Gong is such a bright light in the book community. I knew after I followed her on Twitter and saw how engaged with the book community she was that I was going to adore her for the rest of time.

If you haven’t been sold by the enemies-to-lovers plot or the magical Shanghai setting, let me convince you why you need to pick this book up immediately.

**There are mild spoilers under the first “what I disliked” point, so read with care if you haven’t finished the book yet!**

• The prose of this book is phenomenal. The prologue alone took my breath away with how beautifully written it was. Gong has such an amazing way with words – some of her sentences had me literally shivering. One of my favorites – “This was a city shrouded in blood. It was foolish to try and change it.” Ugh, shivers. Her writing is what I’ll be striving for for probably the rest of my life.

• Gong did a fantastic job at making us feel the atmosphere of 1920’s Shanghai. Because there were so many aspects of this book that I was excited for (the romantic aspect, the dangerous gangs, the Romeo-and-Juliette retelling), I was nervous that the setting would get pushed aside in favor of more plot-driven scenes. This didn’t happen. Gong did such an amazing job at conveying the beauty and the danger of 1920’s Shanghai, using Juliette and Roma’s connections to their gangs to dive deep into their love of their city.

• THE SIDE CHARACTERS. I was SO pleasantly surprised by how many side characters I absolutely fell in love with!! Juliette’s cousins – Kathleen and Rosalind (something sketchy going on here….), and Roma’s best friend and cousin – Marshall and Benedikt, give me life and I adore them to no end. I loved that we got little snippets in their perspectives, and I’m dying for more of them in the next book.

• How complex the main characters are. Juliette spent most of her life growing up in the US, and struggles with feeling out of place in her birthplace, Shanghai. Roma, who is a lot softer than I expected, struggles with his sense of duty to his gang and his desire for a more peaceful Shanghai. Both of these conflicts are exasperated with each character’s fight to maintain authority within their gangs – it’s all very complex and very exciting. I loved them both, and I can fully understand how they connected over their ~mostly hidden~ soft sides.

• The discussion on Western imperialism and the ways in which loyalty can be tested. This story has a few antagonists, one of which are the foreigners who’ve come to Shanghai to stake some sort of claim over the city. Juliette, who’s already struggling to assert her power within The Scarlet Gang and reconcile her Western roots with her future in the gang – notices this and is forced to think about her loyalty to her city and how far she’ll go to protect both it and her people.

• **MILD SPOILER** One very, very small thing is the way that Juliette and Roma reconcile. I felt like their make-up was a bit rushed – Juliette is consistently lamenting about how much she hates Roma as they work together, and then all of a sudden is like “oh wait, I don’t hate him at all!”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy they made up, but I did feel it was sudden.

• THAT CLIFFHANGER!!! Okay, I actually loved it. I can totally respect how great of a cliffhanger that was while also banging my head against the wall in pain. How many days until November 2021 again??

Please, for the love of God, read this book. It’s definitely in my Top 10 of 2020 (maybe even Top 5?? Stay tuned!). If you don’t feel compelled to read it for the story, read it for Chloe Gong, who I am now loyal to for eternity.

My Rating:

Have you read These Violent Delights? What did you think of it? Are you now Chloe Gong trash like me? Let me know!