I’m a sucker for a modern retelling of a classic. 10 Things I Hate About You? Love. Clueless? Yes, please.
What I didn’t know I wanted?
A historical retelling of a classic.
These Violent Delights sees Romeo and Juliet (which I maintain is miscategorized as a drama and is, in fact, one of Shakespeare’s best comedies) set in 1920s Shanghai, a city divided between warring gangs – one Chinese, one Russian – attempting to retain control of an ever-more-patchworked city, divided among the French, the British, the Russians, the Chinese. The novel is set four years following the star-crossed period of new love between Russian Roma and Chinese Juliette, each heir to their family’s respective gang. Nurse is dead; Benvoglio and Mercutio (Benedikt and Marshall) are a little bit gay for each other.
Oh, and there’s a monster in the river threatening to make the entire city mad enough to claw out their own throats.
Shakespeare would have loved it.
My only complaints with this book stem from the fact that, as is the trend in YA fantasy, it’s designed to be the first in a series. It could have been a lot tighter as a stand-alone tome, and while I did enjoy it, it didn’t rise the stakes enough by its conclusion to have me racing to read the sequel. But if it makes any young readers more interested in Shakespeare (and I’ll bet it does) then it will have done its job.