Last book review of the year! At the start of my Christmas break, I had a little reading slump. After needing to read a lot for school, I lost the joy in reading. Since I only read books for uni and not for myself. So, I started my break by picking up a book I was very excited about: Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. This book delivered! I enjoyed every single page of it and I loved the elements of Romeo and Juliet hidden in the novel. Other elements than the naming and the obvious family rival that goes on.
From the moment that I read the description of this book, I knew that it was one that I wanted to read. I want to get into historical fiction more, and combining it with fantasy seemed like a great start. From the moment I started this book, I was hooked. The story took me away and I liked the characters in it. I also enjoyed the sudden switches in narrative which I found well done. Not only did it change at a new chapter, but also sometimes within a paragraph. This was usually done between scenes with Juliette and Roma, not that often, but frequent enough for me to notice. Besides this, I found the book well-paced and I liked the action. Of course, the entire monster was made up, but the context around it was very fun to read and informative, as I don't know much of that period in Shanghai.
I found Juliette a fun character to read. She can be bitchy but is also smart and thoughtful. While reading her pov, you clearly see that because of her role as the heiress, the daughter of the man running the gang, she needed to create a persona for herself. She did and she uses it as a shield and as a way to survive in the city. This was very relatable, because we all kind of do this in real life, we have a version of ourselves that we display to the outside world and of course who you are underneath it. Not this extreme, of course, but I could relate with her anyways.
For a debut novel, I found this story very captivating and strong. I liked the 'classical' element of Shakespeare, by making it a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The other elements I named earlier were the balcony, which we saw a few times, and of course, the drug that makes a living person seem dead. These things made it even more recognizable to the Romeo and Juliet play of William Shakespeare. And for me, as a literature nerd, that was very fun to read (and recognise)!
Then, the chemistry between Juliette and Roma. I need more of it!! But that one scene, omg.... It was so well done and sooo good to read!! I hope that the sequel is filled with more of these moments because, well, I need more!
This book was just so fun, I legit read it in two days because it just sucked me into the story. I will definitely recommend this to anyone. The fantasy in the story is not that much, but the enemies-to-lovers trope is just so good! Besides, we love some lbgtq-representation. Not that much, but I have the feeling that we will see more of that. Also, I think that it is important to also read books from different cultures or in very different settings. Like this one, set in Shanghai. You learn from it and broaden your worldview. Besides, it is important that not just white writers are getting published. It is good to see writers from other ethnicities get the spotlight! We need more of that.
I hope you all enjoyed my review. I cannot believe I'm writing this, but only a few days left to the new year... Have a lovely day everyone!
Keep reading,
Julia
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