Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

211 reviews

rdawnl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-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? No

3.5

This book was stretched out about 20% longer than necessary. There are portions that even felt like filler. The ending was decent and wrapped up the series well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Murder, Child death, Cannibalism, and War

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Cursing, Violence, Torture, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

nataaaliya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Addiction, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, War, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Cursing

lglais's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 Essa trilogia é, acima de tudo, uma tragédia realística - mesmo que temos uma personagem principal que consegue produzir fogo do nada, porque está ligada a deusa Fênix.
R. F. Kuang, assim como em Babel, sustenta um personagens que desejam o melhor para o mundo, que almejam uma revolução humanitária. O problema é que, assim como no mundo real, o futuro do mundo está na mão dos seres humanos, pessoas egoístas que desejam apenas o bem para si e a sustentação de seus desejos e confortos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Body horror, Xenophobia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Blood, Grief, Racism, Sexism, War, Murder, and Violence

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I had a really hard time with this book, the last in the Poppy War trilogy. I loved the first, did not like the second, and was overwhelmed and exhausted by the third. Every time I put it down, it was harder to pick it up again. It’s rarely taken me so long to finish a book but I refused to give up. 

The good part was that Rin was powerful again, not whiny and miserable as she’d been in the second book. The battle scenes were gripping, and the strategy sessions were fascinating. But the periods in between battles felt like slogs. 

As a whole, the trilogy is incredible. It amazes me that the author wrote these books between ages 19-23. Her skill at research and writing is unparalleled. You feel the mud and the rain, you smell the filth of the army, you know that weariness and hunger. But after 1600 pages,  I, for one, didn’t want to be there. 

I hope Kuang keeps writing - she’s just astonishing. These last two books were just too difficult for me to experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Gore, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, Violence, Mental illness, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Torture

haleymk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

REBECCA !!! WHEN I CATCH YOU REBECCA!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Drug use, Violence, Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, and Vomit

mfrichter10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Child death, Rape, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Addiction, Slavery, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Self harm

icy_queen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Classism, Torture, Addiction, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abortion and Infertility

chasinggrace'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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Excrement, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Stalking, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, War, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit

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