Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

76 reviews

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

adventurous 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: War, Animal death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

starrysteph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

A breathtaking end to the series. I felt every loss in my bones. A brutal depiction of war with a deeply compelling set of characters. 

"I am the force of creation. I am the end and the beginning. The world is a painting and I hold the brush. I
am a god.”

R.F. Kuang is SO gifted.

This whole series is incredibly dark; please check content warnings.

CW: murder, death (including child death), blood, violence, war, genocide, drug use, fire, animal death, animal cruelty, colonisation, addiction, body horror, cannibalism, grief, racism, rape, religious bigotry, vomit, confinement, alcohol, suicide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexism, Torture, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

opossumom's review

dark slow-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: Cannibalism, War, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

livreads16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

4.5

This was a great series. The characters were great. Rin is a fucking masterpiece. The plot was amazing. The pace was good. 

I did not love the ending. I just really didn’t like how

bitch boy Nezha brought down the god that is Rin. It wasn’t fair. Like everyone fucking died??!? … I get it, it’s poetic: fire and water don’t mix, but like either have them end up together or have Rin kill Nezha. He deserved to die for stabbing her in the back (litterally). Also like then I have to read a chapter at the end from his POV about how much he loved her and how much it hurt him to destroy her like bitch?!? Then don’t do it ?!?! Wow if only there was an easy solution like ughhhh. Usually I’m a sucker for enemies to lover but this was not it.

this book really was amazing. Like my real only problem was the ending. Also I wanted more of the found family Cike thing. I absolutely loved that in the first book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Genocide, Xenophobia, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, Drug use, Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Infertility

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

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Self harm, Murder, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Violence, Confinement, Death, War, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Child death, Child abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Trafficking

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Vomit, Trafficking, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Addiction

yavin_iv's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Colonisation, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Religious bigotry, Torture, and War

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

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 .

katiemcgregor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

On one hand, I think this was a brilliant and satisfying conclusion to, what I imagine to be, an extremely difficult series to wrap up. On the other hand I think some of the pacing and character build up could have been taken a step further. This doesn't really hinder my overall enjoyment of The Burning God or the overall series, but there are just things I wanted more of. More madness, more development for minor characters, more drama to the fated confrontations that could only end in blood. But at the same time I think most of how things are handled is fitting for both the chaos of war and Rin's character. (view spoiler). I actually like the final ending of this book, but I think some of the things that are wrapped up in the middle may have felt a little anti-climactic (view spoiler)

What this book did really well is evoke intense emotions and instill an overall feeling of impending doom due to enemies that our main characters potentially can't even compete with. They're battling the colonization and "natural progression" of the world and it's hard to imagine that being a fight that can be won under these circumstances. Throughout the whole book it just doesn't feel like things can end well. No matter how many victories Rin achieves, the writing does a really good job of conveying her hollow feelings associated with them.

I think the other thing I maybe wanted a little more of was action between the original trio. It was obvious that everything was going to come down to them in the end, but The Dragon Republic was filled with more collaboration, fighting, and tension between them. Since they're all spread out, especially Nezha, throughout this book it just didn't lend itself to the type of interaction I would have loved more of.

All that being, said, I'm kind of nitpicking here because it's been a long time since I've been this invested in a series. This book really is very good and I understand why this has already become such a renowned trilogy. It is an experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Death, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcohol, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, War, Animal death, Colonisation, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism