Our Violent Ends

Our Violent Ends is a 2021 young adult historical fantasy fiction novel by Chinese-born New Zealand author Chloe Gong. Our Violent Ends is Gong’s second book, following her debut, These Violent Delights (2020), the first in this series. Both novels were New York Times bestsellers, and These Violent Delights won Best Youth Novel at the 2021 New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards. In 2022, Gong published Foul Lady Fortune, a spinoff set after Our Violent Ends that focuses on Rosalind.

This guide refers to the 2021 Margaret K. McElderry Books eBook edition. Pagination in electronic editions may vary.

Plot Summary

In Shanghai, 1927, spirits are high even though the blood feud between the two major gangs is as violent as ever and revolution looms. The heirs to the two gangs—Juliette Cai of the Scarlet Gang and Roma Montagov of the White Flowers—once lovers and now enemies, encounter each other for the first time since Juliette pretended to kill Roma’s friend, Marshall Seo, and let Roma think the betrayal was real to protect him from danger. The city’s citizens celebrate the disappearance of Paul Dexter’s monster and a contagious virus referred to as “madness” (both vanquished at the end of These Violent Delights).

Juliette and Roma know that more monsters are forthcoming, as both gangs are being blackmailed to prevent their release. When the monsters return to Shanghai, Juliette and Roma are tasked by their fathers to work together to stop the blackmailer. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Gang use Paul Dexter’s papers to attempt to manufacture a vaccine for the virus. In These Violent Delights, Paul manufactured the virus so he could profit from selling the vaccine.

Labor strikes continue around the city due to the growing Communist Party movement in Shanghai. Juliette’s cousin, Kathleen Lang, becomes more involved with the Communists, and the Scarlets officially align with the Nationalists. A monster peacefully dispels one of the labor protests. Roma and Juliette track down the blackmailer by visiting the International Settlement, a colonized area of Shanghai. They obtain a flier announcing that a vaccine is available in another city. Benedikt Montagov, Roma’s cousin, is furious that Roma would work with Juliette after her apparent murder of Marshall, whom Benedikt loves. Roma tries to maintain his hatred of Juliette, but memories of their love distract him.

While traveling to the address on the vaccine flier, Roma and Juliette spot a White Flower on the train who transforms into one of the monsters. Juliette, who was vaccinated by Paul, pushes Roma to safety and traps herself with the bugs that the monster emits, though she is unsure if the vaccine will work against these new monsters. Roma is terrified by the idea of Juliette dying, and when she lives, they kiss. They go to the address on the flier—it is a wonton shop in Kushun, and purchase a dose of the vaccine the owner has left over from Paul selling them.

Stranded in Kunshan overnight, Roma and Juliette are robbed, and the vaccine is stolen. The next day, they travel to Zhouzhuang, where a second dose is available, which they steal. When they return to Shanghai, they find Tyler Cai, Juliette’s cousin and rival, burning down a house of White Flower children and elders. The Scarlets and the White Flowers battle in the streets. Benedikt fights recklessly until Marshall, who has been acting as an unseen protector, knocks him over the head to remove him from the fight.

Though the White Flower-turned-monster on the train is their first real clue, Roma won’t work with Juliette after this incident. When White Flowers and Scarlets come face-to-face outside a temple, Juliette abducts Roma’s sister, Alisa Montagov, to lure Roma. Roma and Juliette fight fiercely, and Roma throws a knife at Juliette just as Alisa pops out of a hiding spot. Juliette jumps in the way, saving Alisa. Juliette explains that the White Flowers have been infiltrated by the Communists and that they must track down the man from the train, which Roma agrees to do in exchange for access to the Scarlets’ vaccine information. Juliette and Kathleen help Roma steal a copy of Dexter’s records and a sample of the vaccine. Shortly afterward, the monsters infiltrate the lab and steal the entire supply.

On their way back from the lab, Benedikt attacks Roma, knocking him out. He intends to kill Juliette as revenge for Marshall, forcing Juliette to reveal Marshall is alive. Benedikt is angry that Marshall didn’t tell him but reluctantly goes along with the secret to protect Juliette, at Marshall’s urging. When Juliette returns home, Tyler accuses her and Kathleen of collaborating with the monsters to steal the vaccine since Juliette wishes to give it to the whole city for free. Tyler wishes to only give it to Scarlet allies. They seek Lord Cai, Juliette’s father and head of the Scarlets, to arbitrate, but discover that he is having Rosalind whipped because she has been spying on the Scarlets for her lover, a White Flower.

Tyler kidnaps Alisa, leaving a note for Roma that she will be returned if Roma meets Tyler for a duel. Though Juliette and Benedikt beg him not to, Roma agrees. Just as Tyler is about to shoot Roma, Juliette shoots Tyler, killing him. She confesses her love for Roma, and Marshall reveals he is alive just as revolution comes to Shanghai. While the Communists and the Nationalists battle, Juliette and Roma hide in a safe house, where they apologize for their lies and promise to love one another. Kathleen rallies Communist troops, though the Nationalists ultimately take the city.

Roma identifies the man from the train, Moreau. Juliette has seen this name among Rosalind’s papers. She finds a list of five names and shows them to Roma, Marshall, and Benedikt, who have captured Rosalind. Her lover, Dimitri, Roma’s once-rival, is the blackmailer, and she helped him turn the five men from her list into monsters. Dimitri plans to become the hero of the workers’ revolution by using the monsters to fight alongside the Communists. Suddenly, General Shu, Marshall’s father and the leader of the Nationalists, bursts into the safe house. He takes Marshall with him.

Back home, Juliette learns that the Nationalists have ordered a “purge” of all Communists and have issued a kill order for the Montagovs, starting in two hours. While Kathleen heads off to warn the Communists, Juliette writes a note falsely announcing her death by suicide in an attempt to stall the purge. Roma hears of Juliette’s supposed death and rushes off to Lourens’s lab to get the flammable vaccine so he can blow up the Scarlets, whom he thinks have murdered Juliette. He threatens to shoot himself, but Juliette arrives just in time. Roma, Benedikt, Alisa, and Juliette plan to escape Shanghai, but Benedikt won’t go without Marshall, whom he sets off to save. Roma and Juliette have an impromptu wedding, saying that not even death will part them.

At Shu’s house, Benedikt hides in a storage room and overhears that Shu planned to kill the Montagovs. Benedikt tells Marshall this and confesses his love, which is reciprocated. They kiss and escape with a note bearing Shu’s stamp so they can cross Shanghai in peace. At the river, Juliette, Roma, and Alisa make it to the boat that will take them to freedom, but their plan has been discovered. They are taken away by Scarlets, Juliette in one direction and the Montagovs in another. Marshall and Benedikt witness this and set off to save the Montagovs, but Marshall ends up getting captured alongside them by Dimitri and his men, who plan an evening execution. Benedikt gathers Juliette, who has one dose of the vaccine. They set off to save their friends by revealing the monsters, using gasoline, which forces them to transform. Juliette offers herself as a more valuable prisoner in exchange for Marshall and Alisa, then slips Roma the vaccine. Marshall and Alisa leave, and Benedikt sprays the area with gasoline. The monsters transform, and everyone present succumbs to the “madness,” leaving only Roma, Juliette, Dimitri, and the monsters alive. Rather than leave Shanghai subject to the monsters, Juliette and Roma use the flammable vaccine that Dimitri has stolen to create an explosion, killing the monsters and sacrificing themselves in the process.

In the Epilogue, a year has passed. Benedikt and Marshall now live in Moscow, but Alisa has chosen to stay in Shanghai. She is a Communist spy, supervised by Kathleen (who now uses the name Celia). The gangs are gone, and the blood feud is over. Alisa spots two familiar silhouettes but doesn’t follow them, choosing instead to live in hope.