Oh, when the moment you come across a specific scene or line in the book makes you understand the symbolism on the cover, and the experience becomes even more painful! Will I ever look at a lighter the same way again? I don‘t think so.

Before I even begin to tell you how much I have loved this book, and thus the duology as a whole, I want to remind you of the source of this retelling because damn me for believing it might end differently, and damn Miss Chloe Gong for making me fall in love with this story and its characters so much.

These Violent Delights had been one of my highlights of 2021, and I was eager to read its sequel and be back with the characters that had their hold on me ever since their first appearance. I was initially hoping that just as I started last year with These Violent Delights, I could finish it with Our Violent Ends. However, instead things played out differently and I was able to end last year with the most beautiful scene (the pinkie finger scene for those of you who have read it), and start this one with bawling my eyes out and scolding me for why the hell did I expect something different from a story that is based on a freaking tragedy. This doesn‘t change anything about the fact though that this duology has become a new favorite of mine, and that I will find myself holding it in my heart forever.

Our Violent Ends picks up several months after the events at the end of the first book, and we follow the characters as they face the consequences of the events at the end of the first book. One of the beautiful things Chloe Gong has mastered with this duology is the tension filled romance between the two heirs Roma and Juliette. Once more we find these two at a similiar position of hate as Juliette tries everything in her might to keep her distance to Roma after her faking the murder of Marshall, and tries to stay focus on the task before her: the potential return of the madness and its monsters. Roma, on the other hand, is filled with the need for vengeance and tries as hard to put his former feelings for Juliette aside while fully taking his place as the heir of the White Flowers. The tension of hatred, the feelings of betrayal, loss and love can so strongly be felt between them, that one has no other choice than to feel everything they do and turn those pages in hopes for a moment of release. And when those moments come, they are so beautifully sprinkled between pages of action and risks that you cherish them all - and often come back to reread them just because they‘re so utterly wonderful. I mean … the scene in the theatre? The scene in the train? The scene in the brothel? The scene in the alley? The scene in the safe house? The scene in the lab? Just. Every. Single. Scene. With. These. Two!! Utterly perfection.

Then, there‘s Benedikt who is filled with grief for his friend‘s death and almost blindly walks the streets of Shanghai, fueled by the need of revenge, while said friend, Marshall, keeps his promise to Juliette to stay hidden while he looks after the one person he loves. These two had already multiple times stolen the scene in These Violent Delights, and them being seperated due to Mars‘ fake murder was just as painful to watch. Every time I asked myself when will the moment happen of seeing Ben and Mars reunited again? How will Ben find out about Mars? And not only of him being alive, but also of them finally saying what they feel for each other. These two own my heart just as much as Roma and Juliette.

But there‘s also Kathleen. A character I love, and who finds herself between two paths and has to decide which to follow. I loved that Kathleen gave us a different insight to the politics of Shanghai, and had her own conflicts to face. As a Scarlet gang member and loyal friend to Juliette, it was refreshing to see a secondary character like Kathleen telling us her own story and I love that the secondary characters in this duology all had their own agendas to follow. There were many more who play a role on the streets of Shanghai, but these five will forever stay with me.

My love for the characters already says a lot, as they were what made this duology so perfect and kept me turning and inhaling those pages like they were oxygen. But aside from the amazing cast of characters, it is also the setting and events of this book that make this one epic page-turner. From the blood feud between the two gangs, to the political changes that are not kindly knocking on the door, to the threat of monsters coming back and infecting everyone with the madness - everything put the characters at risk and one could never have been sure of what twist might happen next!

Overall, everything of this book was perfect even the ending after it cruelly hit me in the face with a reminder I wish I hadn‘t forgotten or dared to avoid of thinking about. But even that was worthy of the story, and in the end, it was the hope that fueled the story and my heart that also concluded this beautiful duology, letting us readers think of a possible „what if maybe…“ that makes the ending and its ambiguity so panifully bittersweet.

Chloe Gong has become a new favorite author just as this duology has become a favorite, and I am excited to see what this talented genius has in store of us. If there‘s one person allowed to break my heart again, it‘s Miss Gong.