I loved this book. That’s it. That’s really all of the review right there. That, and you need to read this book. Seriously.
Ok, but to get into more detail, everything about this book was perfect. The characters, the setting, the plot, the tone, the romance, the pacing, everything.
I’ll start with the characters. Literally, loved all of them. One thing about me is that I’ll always be a sucker for for multiple-POVs, and this book achieved that perfectly. Like every character had such a distinct voice and I loved them all. Of course my fave and always will be my fave was Marshall. But Juliette was a VERY close second. It’s not often that you see a FMC that gets to be a total badass like her and it was so refreshing. Oh, and you know I loved Benedikt and Kathleen! Both of them were so relatable and had such compelling storylines! Like it’s wild that Chloe Gong was able to balance so many plots and character arcs this well in one book!
Which leads me to the next point: plot. I loved the storyline of this book so much! I will be the first to admit I never thought I’d read (and enjoy) a historical fiction this much and be this invested with it, but I am! It felt so unique and I am absolute sucker for a book with mystery aspects in it, so you know I was sleuthing around trying to figure out all the clues about what actually happened. I don’t wanna dive too much into plot so that I don’t spoil anything, but trust me you’ll love it!
Now, I have to talk about world building. If you’re starting to pick up on a pattern by now, it’s that there were a lot of things in this book that I wouldn’t normally love, but Chloe writes in a way that makes me absolutely obsessed with it! And the same applies here. I’ve never been a huge fan of world building. In most books actually it’s my least favorite part and I try to skim as fast as possible. But I loved Shanghai! I loved reading about the 1920s and how dangerous it was and the debauchery that went down. It felt like the infrastructure of the city itself was dangerous in its own right, and that if you let your guard down too long the city itself could consume you. It was all just amazingly written I loved it.
This also goes hand in hand with the tone and pacing of the novel. After reading These Violent Delights, all I want to do is read everything Chloe Gong has written! Her writing style is addictive and the pacing of the story was on point! I was a little (very) intimidated with the size of the book but I chewed through it like it was nothing!
And now finally, the part of the review everyone (including myself) is here for: the romance! Sigh, the romance was everything I could ask for. This is something that I’m embarrassed to admit, but this enemies to lovers book I’ve read. But now, I need to read that trope like my heart depends on it (give me recs please!) If you notice I didn’t mention Roma in the character section above, it’s because I do have one hot take that I hope I won’t be too shamed for: I really liked Roma as a love interest, but not so much on his own. Don’t get me wrong, I think he was an objectively great character and his relationship with his dad breaks my heart, but it’s hard for me to get behind his need to not kill people while Juliette was just shooting them up like nobody’s business. But anyway, they had such an enjoyable relationship! Y’all should know by now that I’m obsessed with banter and this book was full of it! I don’t want to get to spoilery, but let’s just say that I need to read that second book immediately because the tension in their relationship is killing me!
Now, before I wrap up this review, I do want to say that the ending of this novel… ugh, it killed me. Don’t worry I won’t spoil it, but wow all I can say is emotional damage!
Whew, I knew this review was gonna get pretty winded but wow! I had a lot to say! But seriously though, everyone needs to read this book. It’s shaping up to be one of my all-time fave books (which is wild because I’ve always been diehard #1 Six of Crows fan for life lol) But yeah, honestly if you like reading in general you just need to read this book. Like, why are you still looking at my review? Go read it!
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