I'm kind of wondering now if Chloe Gong is going to continue reimagining Shakespearean dramas in eastern settings, though I'm also reminded of how I... don't think I've actually read/watched Antony and Cleopatra so I'm fuzzy on side characters (who were mostly based on real people to be fair, so this is a layered narrative: a sci-fi interpretation of a Shakespearean dramatization of historical events based onPlutarch's biographies).

I don't remember if These Violent Delights/Our Violent Ends was also in present tense the entire time, but I thought it was an interesting choice here given the Battle Royale premise, adding urgency to Calla and Anton's moves (side note, would love it if people who read The Hunger Games read BR... does predate it by a bit). The idea of jumping bodies is fascinating, and I'm curious to see how it'll play in the second book (as a reminder, I kinda sped-read this after mistakenly checking out Vilest Things not realizing it was a book 2). I also appreciated setting this in a fantastical version of Kowloon Walled City.