By Megan Amato
Content warning: blood, torture, violence
These violence delights have violent ends.
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. — Shakespeare
After that maddening and hair-pulling cliffhanger Chloe Gong left us with in These Violent Delights, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the conclusion to the 1920s Shanghai duology, Our Violent Ends. Both books are named aptly after Romeo and Juliet, the work that inspired them, and the titles hint at the arrogant decadence and bloodshed that coat the pages and trap the tragically in-love protagonists in the blood feud between their rival gangs. The finale is intense, full of hostility and betrayal, but most of all love, in all its forms.
To protect everyone she cares about and hold her place at the top of the Scarlet Gang, Juliette killed one of Roma’s best friends—or so everyone thinks. Marshall hides during the day in an apartment outside of the city and sneaks out at night to protect those he cares about in the White Flowers Gang while Juliette smuggles him food. Although Roma and his cousin Benedikt are out for her blood, she keeps up the ruse as bloodshed between the rival gangs escalates.
But it’s not only the gangs who are amping up the violence. As the communists and nationalists make moves to take over Shanghai, so too does a blackmailer who will let the city fall to contagious monsters unless both Scarlet Gang and White Flowers come to heel. Juliette and Roma will have to work together again to save their city and risk both their hearts and lives in the process.
This thrilling conclusion brought the characters we were just getting to know in the first book to life—especially the side characters. We get much more of fun-loving Marshall and his relationship—or lack thereof—with his military father. Juliette and Marshall’s blossoming friendship provides some of my favourite moments in the novel, as does his devil-may-care attitude as he vigilantes to save his love, Benedikt, from his own destructive behaviour. Roma’s younger sister Alisa is also far more fleshed out. Her motivations and actions shift from younger sister to a girl just as willing to protect her family without the bitterness Roma carries.
However, Kathleen’s character arc stands out from everyone’s—including the main characters. She transforms from a supporting character into her own as her position as Scarlet infiltrator into the communist party blurs until she no longer pretends to sympathize. Though she loves her cousin, she moves out from under Juliette’s shadow, sheds the disguise of the dead sister she’s worn for too long, and emerges as Celia, a woman who wants more for herself and her city than the corruption and violence of gang life.
Roma and Juliette’s love is just as all-consuming and destructive as it has been all along, each willing to sacrifice everything to protect and love the other. But this doesn’t mean that it isn’t beautiful to behold. Despite the many consequences of their actions, their love for each other is just as intense as their love for Shanghai. When both are threatened, their combined efforts to save everything that matters has them shed their gang roles and egos, which ups the stakes and moves the plot to its volcanic crescendo.
Thank you, Simon & Schuster Canada, for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.