#once more to see you is romajuliette

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Do you have Mitski song recommendations? I've been meaning to start listening forever but really only know a few songs.

Okay so I think my top three songs from her are I Will, Heat Lightning, My Love Mine All Mine, and I’m Your Man.

I Will is very kanej end scene 🤝 philas end scene 🤝 olivercelia

Heat Lighting itches my brain and there is a triple layered version on YouTube sounds very 🤌🤌. It also has philas end scene vibes in my head

My Love Mine All Mine is very Rosalind in FHH I think.

Then I’m Your Man I enjoy because it is extremely Phoebe coded because of the way religious imagery and the dog metaphor is used

If you want to cry listen to Class of 2013 and think about Phoebe 😃

Should’ve Been Me is also very good and also an excellent philas song

[therubyreader]

My Review of Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong

See a full list of my book reviews here

Review word count: 1,202

Spoiler warning for the entire Secret Shanghai Series (These Violent Delights, Our Violent Ends, and Foul Lady Fortune) below. If you haven't read all of those books please don't read this review.

I know I said I was going to get this review out last week but I’m going to be honest with you all and tell you I was in a writing slump. I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn’t find the motivation to sit down and just type out my review. But I’m here now, maybe I’m writing this instead of paying attention to a work meeting, maybe I’m not, who knows?

Usually I’m a library girlie (virtual library beloved) but this book I actually preordered on Apple books because I’m impatient and needed it in my hands as soon as the clock struck midnight. And because of that same impatience I finished the book in a day. I was so excited to see how both Roma and Juliette and also Benedikt and Marshall were doing four years after the end of Our Violent Ends. It made me happy to see both couples were alive and thriving and also living happily as married couples. I really liked the fact that these stories were both directly tied to the plot of the next book which is something that doesn’t usually happen in stories like this, partially because they are usually released after the series is over but also it gives the fans a bit of closure. What Chloe Gong has done is taken that concept and managed to weave these stories back into the main plot. I think this is a great use of this type of epilogue, not only do we get two cute and happy stories but it also bridges the gap between Our Violent Ends and Foul Lady Fortune and unlike other types of epilogues which are completely optional to read this one is essential to the plot of Foul Heart Huntsman. I do think because of the nature of the book being considered as Foul Lady Fortune 1.5 there are going to be people who don’t read the book when reading through the series for the first time which is unfortunate because there is a huge plot point there of Roma and Juliette being alive (and also other stuff that directly impacts the plot of FLF and FHH but mostly Romajuliette are alive) and what they and Benmars have been doing in direct relation to the events of FLL. 

Speaking of, making it so that the Roma and Juliette casually come across a couple that are able to directly help out her cousin is something that would happen to them in universe even if it is just a blatant way to connect both of their stories. It also gives us a bit more of a look into what is happening behind the scenes of the main plot and once again making Laurens, everyone’s favorite scientist, the direct cause of everyone’s problems. It does feel a little bit of a full circle moment that the gang getting back together in this book to try and help Rosalind, and also the whole of China, is based on them wanting to keep their families together when in the first series they were all fighting against each other for their own interests. They are now all one big happy family and though I don’t remember any of the White Flowers (except Dmitri but whatever) explicitly being close with Rosalind or Celia the union between Roma and Juliette has essentially brought them together and now they are loyal to each other in a way that warms my heart. 

Taking a sharp turn into my next point which is the fact that Roma and Juliette are alive! There was tons of speculation that they were alive after the end of Our Violent Ends especially because their bodies were never recovered and Juliette has an affinity for faking deaths but we finally get confirmation of the fact that they’re alive and how. We do get a bit of a hint alluding to them being alive in the form of Alisa mentioning that her bills are always paid in FLL but she brushes it off as someone who was once loyal to her father helping her out. It is pretty sad that the only people who didn’t know that Roma and Juliette were alive are Alisa and Rosalind, the two people who are hurting the most because of their “death”. We see in the entirety of FLL that Rosalind blames herself for Juliette’s death and still carries that grief with her and I’m very excited to see how she reacts to finding out her cousin is alive. I think there will be some sense of betrayal since quite literally everyone besides Rosalind and Alisa knows that Roma and Juliette are alive, I mean I would be upset, but I’m more excited to see their reunion.

Moving back onto the plot of the book, I absolutely loved seeing how domestic both couples are once they are finally free of the gang life. Though as Benedikt pointed out, the fact that Roma and Juliette are still involved in an illegal business is something that is very reminiscent of them being the heirs of the two biggest gangs in Shanghai. I think it's adorable that Benedikt and Marshall run an art school out of their apartment and that’s how they make their living and I honestly wish we had more of that in the book just for my own personal enjoyment. Just imagining how both of them would interact with the children warms my heart and if any of you have written a headcanon about it please let me know because I would love to read it. I honestly loved their dynamic because we didn’t really get to see them be a couple in the original series since they spent most of it in denial, it was amazing to finally see them be together as husbands! Though I know because of the time period the story is written in there are complications with writing an openly gay couple and also managing to remain historically accurate since homosexuality was publicly frowned upon, and very illegal until embarrassingly recently and even now queer people face tons of discrimination. I do think Chloe Gong found a way to make the couple accurate to the time period and themselves, they are able to be in love and also remain safe which is something a lot of queer people of the time period didn’t have the luxury of. 

After reading this book I am even more excited to read Foul Heart Huntsman and see all of the lovely cast of characters have a reunion to save the world and each other. Though I am upset because this is supposed to be the last book in the series, it is a very bitter sweet moment and luckily we were promised a happy ending so I am looking forward to it. I also hope that we get another book like Last Violent Call after the end of the series so we can see how everyone is doing and get a cute story with them after the events of the series. I will remain hyped until September when I will inevitably read Foul Heart Huntsman in a day because I have no self control.