Book Review: These Violent Delights

Author: Chloe Gong

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: 11.17.20

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Source: Purchased

My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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.”

I’ve gone back and forth on what to rate These Violent Delights about a hundred times.

In case you missed it, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong took the bookstagram world by storm when it released in November 2020. It felt like my entire feed was readers praising this story, five star review after five star review. Of course, that meant I had to grab my own copy and get reading as soon as possible.

Now, here’s where my mixed feelings begin. I absolutely loved the story… however, I struggled with the writing.

The concept of this book was incredible. I loved the gang rivalry, 1920’s Shanghai setting, and mysterious monster lurking in the shadows. The plot itself was fascinating and well executed!

My biggest struggle with These Violent Delights was the writing. I found it to be too dense at times, and difficult to work through. Reading this book took over two weeks (which is unusual for me) and I would find myself loosing focus and skimming the long descriptive paragraphs, rather than reading. This was particularly true towards the beginning, so much so that I almost decided to give up reading it.

Things got significantly better with the writing towards the end; the ending (no spoilers) picked up, along with the writing, to complete the book with a thrilling end. I mean, it was an incredible way to wrap up this story that has me set on picking up Our Violent Ends as soon as it releases.

Overall, I’m feeling very conflicted on how to rate this! I loved the story, but the writing made the story difficult to get into and difficult to be absorbed in. I had very high expectations for this book and I’m still upset that this book didn’t match the hype to me. I think that when the second book in this series releases I’ll be giving it a chance (because I am very much invested in the plot) and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll love it even more than this one.