Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

73 reviews

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What a fucking rollercoaster. My god.. the betrayals, the slow descent into madness, the unreliable narrator... perfect. Just, wow. This is exactly how I wanted this to end. A giant crash and burn, everything going so wrong yet so right, everyone going back exactly to where they started out, but with everyone more hurt and traumatised that before. It hurts to read, but you can't stop cause it's just so good. You can't look away from the carcrash. What a fantastic finale. My heart couldn't bear it. I feel so bad for all the characters who deserve better, but didn't get it cause Rin was too blindsighted by her rage, cause of the flaws in the system, cause people are hellbent on hurting each other, cause, cause, cause. How fucking amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Suicide, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, War, and Addiction

Moderate: Death of parent and Confinement

ccpetrikas's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I thought this was a good ending to the trilogy but not as strong as I was expecting. Still worth the listen but I was a little disappointed with the ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Violence, War, Alcohol, Child death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

obrooke1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Rape

space_bandit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Animal death, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, War, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Murder, and Racism

isleoflinds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Alcohol, and Xenophobia

Minor: Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Confinement, Addiction, Trafficking, Medical content, and Abortion

middumullu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

still really enjoyed it but i think by this point i had gotten a bit tired of all of the same circles that have been happening over the past few books. still really enjoyed the characters

but i missed them all being together all the time,

and i felt like some of the newer characters were a lot less fleshed out. i think i liked the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Death, Medical content, Sexism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Violence, Colonisation, Cursing, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cannibalism, Torture, Ableism, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

again there was so much goin on in here that it is hard to remember in totality if something should be graphic/moderate/mild. for instance - there isn't as much medical content/trauma in this book as there were in others but it was mentioned several times and (to me) clearly informs character's actions (as do many of these tags). theres a scene where the characters visit a town that has been taken over by the west/Hesperians .

doodeedoda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Addiction, Cannibalism, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Genocide, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

pagesofash's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

griffinthief's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Excrement

Minor: Abortion

mazomazli's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Make no mistake in assuming a happy ending for this very realistic and grounded in Chinese history book. Kuang shows the brutality of war and what happens after the revolution ends. Most fantasy books call it a day and everyone gets to go home and be happy. In reality, that’s the furtherest from the truth. There’s a lot to think about coming away from this book when you’re done crying. Seriously, you’ll probably cry a lot. There’s no answers or good choices and that’s the point. Part of me wishes the author decided “hey it’s fantasy I can do whatever I want” and wrap it up nicely in a way that brings closure. That wasn’t the point and I respect that. 

5/5 tissue boxes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, and Cannibalism