3

I hoped if this book wasn't good it would at least be entertainingly over the top, but to me it seemed neither, it just felt kind of meh.

I still somewhat enjoyed reading it because the mystery mysteried and the atmosphere atmosphered, and I mostly liked the ending despite the motivation of the main villaing also being meh, but...

Two of the main things about the book that it is a Romeo and Juliette retelling but with gangsters in 1926 Shanghai, and neither of the things worked for me.

The two main characters are heirs in rival gangs amid a blood feud. They used to be lovers, then one of them betrayed the other, reigniting the feud with a new force. But now they have to work together to save their city and their gangs.

And for this premise, there is so little drama, both around the main characters and between them. There is some tension, but all of it is so meh. No arguments, no passion, no fights, no teasing, no nothing. Like, I started the second book (mostly, because I can't live with an unresolved cliffhanger), and the MMC and MFC shoot at each other in the very first chapter - I needed more of that.

And as for the blood feud, there is so very little gang-on-gang violence! Most death happen from the mysterious madness. I am not really that blood-thirsty, I just have a thing about delivering on what is promised. Members of the rivaling gangs mostly snap and bark at each other - and that's it. There are a couple of kills, but most of the feud is talked so much about and not really shown.

All the characters are so one-sided - both Roma and Juliette (and yes, I think the names are silly and not really necessary for it to be a good retelling) are little more than heirs to their respective gangs, and supporting characters are just cardboard cutouts used to move the plot along.

One of my biggest disappointments is Kathleen: she has such a cool backstory, being a transgender woman in 1920s Shanghai, who can sort of live as herself, as a woman, but also has to hide under the identity of her dead sister. Does the backstory or her being trans have any bearing on the story? Not at all. She mostly runs errands, doing what practically any other character could do. Feels like so much wasted potential.

So... I can't say I disliked this book, but with its premise, it could have been so much more fun.