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Read this if: You like your fantasy with a side of romance.  King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair
I've never been a fantasy reader, but when I came across King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair, a fantasy romance, I decided to give it a try. The story follows Isolde, a human warrior princess who is married off to a vampire king, Adrian, to save her kingdom. She was always taught that vampires were evil and brought other monsters to their world, so from the moment they take their vows, she tries to kill him. However, her assassination attempts eventually come to a stop as she begins to have feelings for Adrian, and as she takes her place as queen in his kingdom. Moreover, as she starts to trust him, she realizes that what she's been taught about vampires, their world, and even her own history, is far from the truth.
I read this book in one sitting! The world-building isn't too heavy, but the mythology and lore is engaging. Not to mention, the romance is 🔥. Enemies to lovers, royals, "I hate everyone but you," fated romance — if you love tropes, there's guaranteed to be one for you. King of Battle and Blood made me want to read more fantasy and is definitely a top 2021 read. It comes out later this month, so preorder your copy now. —Shyla Watson
 Chloe Gong is the New York Times bestselling author of the YA historical fantasy novel These Violent Delights, the first book in her duology, which concludes with Our Violent Ends. First-time readers will not only be immersed in Gong's impressive worldbuilding (the series is set in 1920s Shanghai), but they'll also find all the things that make up a great fantasy novel: enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love, heart-pounding action sequences, race-against-the-clock stakes, surprising villains, and so much yearning and tension. Gong's books are long (the last one clocking nearly 500 pages), but they're intriguing — political and thoughtful — and keep readers hungry for more. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Chloe, where we discussed the strange parallels of the pandemic and this series, writing these books while attending university, and how she'll continue to expand this world in future novels.
Hi Chloe! This is Farrah with BuzzFeed! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me today. I'm so excited we could make this happen! How are you doing?
Hi Farrah!! It's an honor to be chatting with you. I'm very delighted hehe. I'm good! How are you?
I'm great, thank you! I'm such a fan of both of these books, and I have so many questions I am dying to ask you. Let's dive right in! Our Violent Ends is the finale of your duology that began with These Violent Delights, which is set in 1920s Shanghai and inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. What inspired you to create this story told within this world? And why the 1920s?
SO excited for the questions, and I will try very hard not to typo all over the place or slip into my usual lower-case-everywhere habits. I first got the idea for a Romeo and Juliet meets 1920s Shanghai story because I wanted to write about two families caught in a blood feud and the inherent tension that comes with trying to fight against that. I LOVE angst, and I had grown up reading angsty YA, and the stories that I was most obsessed with always involved love and hate and familial drama. But I also wanted to see myself represented in the type of angsty heroines who got to star in those fantastical stories, so the immediate setting that came to mind for mine was 1920s Shanghai, since I had grown up hearing about this golden age era from the cool stories my parents pass on from *their* parents and relatives. I've always adored the Roaring '20s aesthetic, but there was something especially delicious about Shanghai at this time — the good, the bad, and the ugly where the streets were soaked in debauchery, but it was efforts of foreign colonialism that caused the sense of party in the city…so it was just a perfect setting for me to really sink into and explore!
I, too, love books filled with angst! It's so interesting to hear that stories passed down from your family helped shape your own novels. You paint the setting so well. And speaking of angsty heroines, Juliette is this fierce, protective total badass. What sparked the idea to create her as your main character?
I truly never would have been as drawn to Shanghai as I was and as I still am if it weren't for my family's stories! Juliette is so close to my heart. When I set out to create her I wanted to fully embrace the "overpowered" archetype: the girl who is going to stab anyone who upsets her… but still allow her to be flawed enough to be upset and messy and unreasonable. I had grown up reading about the Celaena Sardothiens and Isabelle Lightwoods and I thought, you know, it's high time we get a Chinese diaspora character in YA fantasy who fits into this archetype too. A thing that was really important to me, too, was that Juliette embraces her femininity whilst being powerful. We kind of went through an era in YA where female main characters could either be feminine or they could be strong — ditching the dresses for the knives — but I wanted Juliette to be both, where she was fierce and liked wearing pretty things and maybe wearing those pretty things also gave her a certain power to navigate her society.
I don't want to step into spoiler-y territory for Our Violent Ends, but I'm curious about this: Did you know how this book would end from the very beginning?
Oooooh, very good question! I both did and I didn't. And by that I mean These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends used to be one big manuscript, but in that original format there was still so much of the story that I could flesh out, such as Roma and Juliette swapping into each other's shoes (which is how we open Our Violent Ends: Juliette now being the one keeping secrets from Roma while Roma was the one keeping secrets in the first book) or such as the side characters like Benedikt and Marshall. So when my editor suggested a duology instead, I of course jumped at that idea and started the process of splitting them up. Our Violent Ends has the original climax from the original manuscript, so I've always known the course that the sequel would take and how each character would move around. But! The final chapters of Our Violent Ends are now drastically different from the original ending I set out with from the very beginning! I think once I had the chance to expand the world, more of the characters' goals and desires revealed themselves to me, which also informed the ultimate ending and altered it. I do love this new ending much, much more. More From BuzzFeed
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