These Violent Delights: a brilliant debut

 

Title: These Violent Delights

Author: Chloe Gong
Pages: 449
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

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.

Romeo and Juliette has always been a pillar of English literature, a masterpiece made of love, betrayal, and sufferance. Deep and undeniable sufferance that not even a retelling could erase. Chloe Gong debuts with a young adult fantasy novel set in Shangai during 1926, a city split between two gangs: the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers. Two groups divided by hatred, they claim the city as their own, but when a monster starts killing Scarlets and White Flowers alike, they must work together in order to solve that gruesome mystery and eradicate a deadly virus.

But who are our new Romeo and Juliette? We follow the story of Roma Montagov, heir of the White Flowers, a Russian man who was born to lead an empire steeped in blood and his destiny doesn't differ from Juliette's fate. She is a Cai, heiress of the Scarlet Gang, and she would do anything to secure her place as the future head of the gang.

A mystery to solve that can only be discovered if joining forces, so Juliette and Roma have to put aside their hatred and investigate throughout the Shangai of the 1920s. But their past knocks several times and even if years have passed, their feelings remain and so old wounds.

The reader slowly discovers the truth about their youth page after page and so about their previous relationship. Their story melts with the present and it has been a beautiful journey through their memories.

Between fights and disappointments, our two protagonists can't trust each other. Juliette's reputation follows her, she is believed to be returned from New York as a merciless and heartless woman who will do anything to obtain what she wants; on his behalf, Roma thinks to have lost the girl he had fallen in love with, and it was exactly what built the right tension between the characters. Their relationship evolves and changes as the story goes by, capturing the reader in a maze of love and hate.

For those who love the enemies-to-lovers trope, that's the right book for you!

“Memories were beastly little creatures, after all—they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment.”

 

In a race against time, they need to find out who's producing fake vaccines and at the same time spreading the plague. The end and so the discovery of who's really creating such a horrible disease was no surprise to me. On that matter, I expected far more from a book so well written, the mystery was developed quite well, yet the resolution was what made me turn my nose up. I am of the opinion that while writing a mystery, the revelation has to leave the reader speechless and surprised, probably it was just me, but it didn't happen.

Don't worry, I loved These Violent Delights and if not for the disclosure of the mystery what did I enjoy more? The slow-burn romance, obviously.

Chloe Gong has built a tension almost palpable. A second chance romance that made me scream and cry multiple times, I loved the fact that they had a previous history that kept them apart, something that continued to push them to stay away, even if the string that tied them together couldn't disappear.

Their relationship is what glued me to the pages, I couldn't stop reading and the end really destroyed me.

But not only do the protagonists move the scene, but even the secondary characters also have great and unmistakable importance in the plot itself. We meet Rosalind and Kathleen on the Scarlet Gang’s side and Marshall and Benedikt on the White Flower’s side. I have to admit that Kathleen and Benedikt were my favorite characters with Juliette, they are so interesting, with a thousand facets that make them really complex! They have their paths, their story to tell and Chloe Gong gave them their own chapters that made the story even more tangled and fascinating.

“Those who do not care, those who are violent, those who delight in that which is terrible”—Marshall shrugged, waving his hands about as he chose the right words—“they thrive. They come outside.”  

 

I love when there are multiple points of view, unfortunately, this plot device isn’t used so frequently in YA, but I find a book more complete when more characters tell their side of the story. We get to know them better if they are told in their own words.

Chloe Gong is not only a great writer for her prose, she depicts an extremely realistic image of Shangai during that period, a portrait of colonialism and what it entailed. On this path, Chloe Gong describes how the West influenced China, and even the ideological differences between the nationalists and the communists are of great importance for the plot. It is a book that doesn't only carry you in a fantasy reality, but it shows China during the 1920s and what happened in that period in the eyes of two teenagers.

History and fantasy mix in a book where every piece fits in the right place.

Shangai itself is described in all its glory. Chloe Gong has done an incredible job of finding the right way to portray the city as it was back in 1926. Her descriptions are great, they build the scene just like a real picture.

“Entitlement that encouraged their wives to place a delicate handkerchief to their nose and sniff, wholeheartedly believing the tirade was deserved. They believed themselves the rulers of the world—on stolen land in America, on stolen land in Shanghai. Everywhere they went—entitlement. And Juliette was so tired.”

Juliette is probably one of the best main characters I have ever met. She is a powerful and ruthless woman, but at the same time, we can see how fragile and sensitive she is and how she tries to be better day by day. She is also clever and that’s beautifully described by the author. I've loved her character, but I expected more from Roma. He still is a question mark for me, and even though Juliette was well characterized, I don't know if I can say the same for Roma. I didn't feel his "voice", but probably it's my problem.

The story is labeled as fantasy, but the only fantasy element is the monster, so I see it more as sci-fi. It's a brutal and realistic story under a lot of points, but the story is easy to read and to appreciate.

These Violent Delights is a modern retelling of a novel that made history, and Chloe Gong has given justice to the characters of Romeo and Juliette. A book of love, betrayal, death with a lot of history and LGBTQ+ representations, at the end I obviously recommend it.