I was always going to love Last Violent Call. These novellas feature my favorite characters and are the perfect segue into Foul Heart Heartsman! A must read for fans of this series! Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
In A Foul Thing, Roma and Juliette have established themselves as the heads of an underground weapons ring in Zhouzhuang, making a living the way they do best while remaining anonymous in their peaceful, quiet life. But when they hear about several Russian girls showing up dead in nearby towns, they decide to investigate—and ultimately discover that this mystery is much closer to home than they ever imagined.
In This Foul Murder, Benedikt and Marshall have been summoned by Roma to find the elusive scientist, Lourens, and bring him to Zhouzhuang. Time is of the essence aboard the week-long Trans-Siberian Express, but when someone is murdered on board, Benedikt and Marshall convince the officer in charge not to stop the train so that they aren’t thrown off-schedule. Instead, they pretend that they are investigators and promise they can solve the murder, but as they dig deeper, they realize that the murder might having surprising ties to their own mission…
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Look if you want to know, “should I indeed pick up these novellas if I want to read Foul Heart Huntsman” the answer is a resounding yes. Not only will you want a bit of serotonin and good feels after the ending of Foul Lady Fortune, BUT these provide some threads and backstory to what I assume will be the next book. I’m sure it’s not an absolute necessity, but we are talking about not only feeding you some crumbs to survive until then, but also to give you a better picture of the world and characters going into the sequel.
Now if you want to know, “should I read these novellas if I’ve just finished These Violent Delights and am screaming” the answer is another resounding yes. How could you not!? The Roma and Juliette, Benedikt and Marshall content alone added five years to my life. The serotonin boost these pages will give you….Last Violent Call is a stunning novella collection. It balances both the questions you might have had with domestic scenes that will make your heart melt. There’s plenty of banter which had me laughing.
And there’s also tenderness in every page. Seriously, reading this novella was the boost I needed to get me through the cold winter. Not only that, but it made me – dare I say it – even more excited for Foul Heart Huntsman. I did not think it was possible, but Gong weaves in details that propel the world and the characters. This is perfect for fans of the series and I am seriously so thankful Gong delivered on this premise. Can we petition more novellas after series are completed please? Find Last Violent Call on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org, & The Book Depository.