Book Review: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong delivers a breathtaking conclusion to her These Violent Delights duology — a sequel that is sharper, darker, and even more emotionally devastating than the first. Set against the backdrop of a fractured Shanghai descending into political chaos, the novel picks up the threads of love, loyalty, and revolution, and pulls them taut until they threaten to snap.
Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov are still caught in a bloody feud between their rival gangs, but their shared past — and the fragile, burning hope of something more — lingers beneath every betrayal. As Shanghai reels from foreign interference, internal revolution, and the resurgence of the deadly contagion, Juliette and Roma must make impossible choices: between family and truth, between survival and sacrifice, between vengeance and love.
Gong’s writing remains lush and cinematic, but there is a heightened urgency in this sequel. The pacing is relentless, the stakes even higher, and the emotional tension nearly unbearable. Juliette’s arc is especially powerful — she is fierce, tragic, and achingly human, navigating the weight of legacy and the cost of agency in a world that rarely allows women to be both tender and strong.
Our Violent Ends is more than a love story — it is a reckoning. Gong interrogates nationalism, identity, and the brutality of colonialism with remarkable insight. Her characters are flawed and conflicted, which makes their moments of connection all the more meaningful.
The novel builds to a heart-wrenching crescendo that is both inevitable and unforgettable. Chloe Gong doesn’t just end her story — she carves it into your heart.
Fierce, fearless, and utterly consuming, Our Violent Ends is a triumph. This duology has solidified Chloe Gong as one of the most exciting voices in YA literature today.
About Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
The year is 1927, and Shanghai teeters on the edge of revolution.
After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on a mission. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less.
Roma is still reeling from Marshall’s death, and his cousin Benedikt will barely speak to him. Roma knows it’s his fault for letting the ruthless Juliette back into his life, and he’s determined to set things right—even if that means killing the girl he hates and loves with equal measure.
Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and though secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat once and for all. Shanghai is already at a boiling point: The Nationalists are marching in, whispers of civil war brew louder every day, and gangster rule faces complete annihilation. Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences to combat monsters and politics, but they aren’t prepared for the biggest threat of all: protecting their hearts from each other.
