Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong (with spoilers)

Hello bookish people,

This post follows the previous review I’ve done. As it’s the last book in a duology well-loved by many people and myself, I decided to make a review full of spoilers, and there are a lot of them. I couldn’t wait to do this as a LOT is happening in this final book of These Violent Delights series.

Before starting here are some trigger warnings to know before starting this book: gun violence, violence, blood, death, massacre, and colonialism.

If you didn’t read this book, stop right here and return when you read it. And if you want to read a review without spoilers, click here.

Let’s go!

As the romance takes the next step and is more present in this book, you have so much tension between Roma and Juliette. Thank her plan to “kill” Marshall and didn’t tell anyone that he is still alive and hiding in a local. Why didn’t she tell anyone, like at least Roma! So, now he wants just to kill her. Revenge!! So, the tension is at its peak and that since the first encounter in this volume, and let me tell you, it will only build up from there. For example, their first encounter in the Theater, like she just froze when she saw him and did like nothing was happening. However, they have a fight backstage, and she hits him and waits for him to faint to tell him that she still loves him.

“Because even if you hate me, Roma Montagov, I still love you.”

Juliette Cai

You can’t say something like this and just go away, and yeah, I know she tends to his wounds, but still. When I read this part, I was okay; this will be a book full of tension, and I won’t be okay! But, on the other hand, Roma has changed, and the worse is that he still loves her as much as he hates her, I couldn’t. Especially after their fathers decided for them to work together as the monsters are back and blackmailing both of the gangs. Let me tell you, that scene is as great as it’s full of tension. First, because you have the two leaders of the gangs, and then Roma and Juliette need to do like they don’t know each other at all. You feel like they just want to have an argument during this whole scene.

“The consequences of love in a city ruled by hate.”

Juliette Cai

Even if you have a lot of tension, you also have some sweet scenes between the two. A scene that represents that well is the scene of the kiss on the train. He was afraid to find Juliette dead as the monster had killed everyone in the compartment, and then he saw her go out of it without injuries. At this precise moment, you feel that he genuinely want to kill her, and at the same time, he just want to kiss her and be with her. Happily, he chose the second option or at least part of it, and this kiss was amazing, from both parts. I also like how they start to think about it and nearly argue with themselves after that.

The sweetest and the funniest was when they went in the countryside to follow a clue and stay for the night in a whorehome. As Roma doesn’t want to have any relation with the girls of this home, he starts to play a role and calls Juliette his wife. That surprised me a lot, but I think everyone was surprised in that scene, even him.

They finally decides to change the course of their lives and just marry each other and escape their family and this country. I like how they have done it. It’s so them and I like that scene because finally!! After, one and a half book they choose to be together They finally decide to change the course of their lives and just marry each other and escape their family and this country. I like how they have done it. It’s so them, and I like that scene because finally!! After one and a half books, they choose to be together and be who they really are. They are not heirs anymore, even if at that moment it doesn’t mean anything anymore thanks to the civil war. However, only one thing is bothering me: their deaths. Like why, I know this is a Romeo and Juliette retelling, but still, whyyyy!! I was prepared for their death, and I was stressed during the whole book as I didn’t know when it would occur. I wasn’t prepared to be at the end of the book. The only thing is that I don’t believe in their deaths. I don’t want to; there are no bodies found on the explosion site. They have found a way to escape and live their happily ever after elsewhere and be whoever they want to be. Don’t tell me otherwise, I won’t believe you 🤫🤫🤫🤫

“For as long as hatred lurks in the waters, the story of Roma and Juliette starts anew.”

Alisa Montagov

The thing is that the romance is also present with another couple: Marshall and Benedikt. Because YEAH! They finally are together in this book, and let me tell you, I didn’t believe it at the beginning as Benedikt didn’t even understand why he was grieving Marshall that much. He broke my heart; he was clearly in grief which was starting to have physical effects. I loved to have his pov as you understand why he wasn’t eating and why he was ready to die when he encounters some Scarlett. On Marshall side, he accommodated really well to his situation. He starts to befriend Juliette, and I like that relationship. He trusts her. However, he still struggles to follow the rules. He can’t go outside as he is supposed to be dead, but who want to still see and protect Benedikt? Him, yeah, he goes outside hidden like a superhero.

For this couple, I have two moments that I liked a lot. First is the recognition of Benedikt feelings for Marshall. That scene is kinda heartbreaking as he has realised that nobody is grieving Marshall as much as him. The thing is that he especially accuses Roma of not being touched as much as him. When he confronts him, he finally admits that he loves Marshall, a lot more than a friend. But this cry, let me tell you, was very heartbreaking and hard as you know, as a reader, that Marshall is alive. The second is the declaration. Juliette tells Benedikt that Marshall is alive and I was sure that he will declare himself to him at the moment they see each other, but nothing like that; it’s a lot later in the book and after being separated for a second time, thanks to Marshall’s dad, because yeah he has a dad who is Colonel Shu, a high graded nationalist.

“You forget. I was not raised respectably. I was raised as a gangster.”

Marshall Seo

When Benedikt go to deliver Marshall, they have an argument, and at that moment, he tells him that he loves him. Why does Benedikt need to be angry to reveal things? Does he know that he can just say them without starting an argument? But the lovely thing in this scene is that Marshall knew all along for Benedikt’s feelings but never said anything to not pressure him to accept who he is. I found that sweet and so fair.

Other than the romance, one subplot is present: a spy in the Scarlett. I had my idea about who is it but to have it written, it starts being true and not just an idea, and it was hard to read. The scene when you discover who she is is kinda hard as she is beaten up as Lord Cai wants to have more information, but she doesn’t want to say anything. However, when you know the reason, you know that she will be dead and not just whipped if she has told anything. Yeah, because she decided to fall in love with a coward of the White Flowers, Dimitri. He just doesn’t care about her; he just wants information. So he plays a role and gives her exactly what she missed in her life, because yeah, she is, like her sister Kathleen, nothing in her family. Oh! I didn’t tell you, yeah, Rosalind is the spy.

As I said, the feeling of being nothing is also felt by Kathleen, and contrary to her sister, she finds her place with the communist. She wants to be part of this group and protect them not for the Scarlett, but because by dint of spy their meetings, she starts to adhere to some ideas. Yeah, she realised that with this civil war that can begin at all times, the Scarlett are nothing and that they will never do anything for her. I like her, especially when she starts to be called Celia as she should be called. She is just a badass who wants to protect. But, sadly, she can’t as there is a massacre during the peaceful procession in chapter 43. This chapter is sadly one of my favourites as it’s so well-written, but also it’s based on an actual event which makes the scene a lot more atrocious. As you follow the pov of Celia, who is in the procession and understand what will happen, you realise that fairness doesn’t exist in those situations.

The last character that marked me was Tyler. So for the first book, I didn’t like him at all. I don’t say that I like him for this second book, but I don’t hate him anymore. It took me a long time to understand him a little more. In reality, he needed to be dead for me to understand him. He is killed by Juliette following a Russian duel between him and Roma as he kidnaps Alisa, Roma’s sister. The thing was that Roma would be dead at the first shot, and Juliette could let it happen and kill her cousin and his subordinates. The death in itself isn’t sad; it is what happens later. He has the time to ask why before being dead; this is sad, and as it’s Juliette’s pov, you have some souvenirs of them before everything, and THAT is a sad part. You understand that his father raised him harshly and in a blood feud. His parents are dead for it, so he only understands and sees that. The gang and the blood feud is his life, and the rest doesn’t really matter.

For the bad guy, it’s Dimitri. This guy just wanted power for himself, so he used the monsters, the White Flowers, the communist’s cause, and Rosalind. He utilised the blood feud and the beginning of the civil war in his own interest. He uses the monsters to blackmail the gangs and have money and weapons. If the demands weren’t answered, it would release his monsters, who were his subordinates in the White Flowers, to attack some gang’s places. But let me reassure you, he is dead.

“It was this city, divided by names and colours and turfs, but somehow bleeding the exact same shade of violence.”

Juliette Cai

Here is the end of this long spoiler ramblings about this second and last book of These Violent Delights duology. Now, I just want for Foul Lady Fortune to release at the end of the year.

See you soon,

Liz.