Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

384 reviews

ghost_rider's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I feel unwell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Grief, Death, Genocide, Violence, Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Self harm, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Torture, Confinement, War, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

nithyuh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Crying

I feel like I saw some part of the ending coming, but not to this extent. 

R.F. Kuang’s writing and The Poppy War is forever ingrained in my brain. I’ll miss all these characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Gore, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Racism, Animal cruelty, and Xenophobia

Minor: Torture and Trafficking

hyithia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

• a very morally ambiguous main character that I loved/hated and I can't be mad at her for it
• overall interesting plot
• all characters had their complicated motives - no character seemed flat and all main characters developed well
• pacing was okay, but the ending felt very rushed compared to the rest of the book
• the parallel to colonization was clear and it made for a more emotional and intense narrative
• I loved the shamanism concept. I liked that the gods are to be feared, especially as a conduit, allowing them to inflict their will on the world
• I wish that we could have learned more about all 64 deities
• Disabled representation is present, which cannot be said of many books
• Rin raising an army of shamans makes a lot of sense for her character and the war - desperate times call for desperate measures
• Rin's manic episode at the end was a fascinating character arc. at first, she refused to bend the knee, then realized her mistake, sacrificing herself and Kitay to Nezha for the greater good of her people. I found this arc so captivating because it illustrated the war-inflicted paranoia on Rin, especially after accusing Venka of being a traitor (but who knows, maybe she was... I enjoyed Rin and Venka's comradery though, so I hope not...)
• wasn't too much of a fan of the dragon arc - it didn't make much sense to me why the dragon would attack the city rather than try to capture Nezha and Rin. I did like that the dragon was more powerful than the phoenix and that the dragon was unbeatable because I think that is "realistic".
• the torture that both Rin and Nezha endured by the Hesperians was disgusting but was analogous to how colonizers treated those whom they were colonizing. it is an important narrative to show. similarly, I found the mindset that the Hesperians had towards the Nikara revolting. again, however, the mindset that a certain race is inherently better than another is one that people have had and have used to justify irreparable harm to those groups that they have decided are somehow lesser than.
  I hope that those who read this series notice, appreciate, and internalize the historical parallels, as to me, the historical parallels are core to this series. R.F. Kuang has done something truly amazing with this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Blood, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicide, War, Colonisation, and Death

strawhat_kd's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Rin. Rin. Rin. Rin. I followed Rin through 3 books and this one brings everything full circle. If you've followed Rin's adventure since the Poppy Wars then you've followed her journey from young girl refusing to be an arranged bride to the general of her own army. A fitting end to the trilogy. You get to see how war affects everything and everyone and how the people involved make their decisons based on what war presents. I was shocked to learn that R. F. Kuang was super young when she started thid series, but she did a masterful job with it. I'll definitely revisit this series again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Violence, War, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

potion96's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Classism, Murder, War, Cannibalism, Addiction, Child death, Colonisation, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Genocide, and Blood

hades_astor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The characters in this book are truly feel like unique people, they all have flaws that make you dislike them at times or disagree with them. This made me love the cast even more! If you studied polisci/IR (or anything in that realm) this book looks at those theories from the perspective of the colonized/reified other in such an honest and intelligent way its was *chefs kiss*.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal death, Drug abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

It’s death or Chuluu Korikh for the Cike didn’t really, really hit me until the end

faythfarrar's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Sexual harassment, Grief, Addiction, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Death

wiktoria_bojda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Violence, Drug use, Colonisation, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Racism

flamesocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Classism, Gore, Physical abuse, Addiction, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Blood, Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, War, Xenophobia, Racism, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Genocide, Kidnapping, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Child death, Colonisation, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Grief, and Mental illness

emilymax21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.0

Compared to the other books in the series, I liked it better than the second book, but not more than the first. My biggest complaint was the pacing felt a little off throughout the book. Some plot points felt unnecessarily drawn out and others gone took quickly. 

Besides the pacing, the writing was amazing and this book truly makes you think. It was well established in the last book and this one that Rin is a complex person who is not necessarily a good or moral character, but it was so much so that in some moments it just felt excessive. That said, I do love a story where the main character is not a perfect hero as it makes for a much more intriguing read, and this accomplishes that. 

This series as a whole is a great reflection of what war, trauma, betrayal, and most importantly, power can do to people. It is an amazing showcase of how much wrong you can do in the name of a cause you believe to be right, and how easily you can lose yourself in the fight to save yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, War, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment