Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

76 reviews

bookishjd's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, and Cursing

totallyshelfaware's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Sexual violence

hanarama'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Good:
Powerful and natural character development.
Strong world building.
Lots of action.

The Bad:
Skips around a bit, some telling rather than showing.
Little chance to relax between emotional highs and lows.

You'll Like This Book If:
You like Daenerys' story in A Song of Ice and Fire.
If you like morally gray characters.
Stories about the horrors of war and the dangers of power.

The final book of the Poppy War trilogy is one emotional gut-punch after the next. Having broken away from the Republic, Rin is building up forces of her own and she is willing to do anything and everything to win this war for herself and the people of Nikan.

Through all of this she struggles against the allure of the Phoenix and its power. If she gives herself over to it, she will become a goddess of war and retribution, but she will lose humanity in the process. At times it is only Kitay keeping her anchored. With the war against the Republic and Hesperians dragging on and the number of betrayals increasing, Rin's sanity is fraying and it seems only a matter of time before she is lost to the Phoenix. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

plumpaperbacks's review

challenging dark emotional 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

An immersive, clever, and heartbreaking conclusion to a brilliant series. I love Rin and Kitay. I can’t wait to see what Kuang does next.

Representation

• amputee protagonist of color
• side characters of color

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Trafficking

ireadinbed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

I don't know if I have ever been filled with such a mix of love and hate for the ending of a series. 

It's simply awful. But it cuts to the heart of things. 

I honestly would rate this particular book in the series a 5 if it wasn't for the fact that I think the relationship between Rin and Nezha needed more exploration. She's such an unreliable narrator that I honestly felt like they barely knew each other and even with the end of the last book I found their opposition frustrating to try and understand. 

But there's so much else. It can't be perfect but it's got an amazing arc. Easily the best of the trilogy. In every aspect. Absolutely amazing journey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Chronic illness, and Miscarriage

samusc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

It's a great achievement that Kuang has wrapped up this trilogy, in such a heart wrenching and satisfying manner. These characters are going to stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Murder, Medical trauma, Genocide, and Confinement

goldengirlbookclub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I’m deceased. This series broke my heart. Please read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

jayisreading's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

Wow, what a trilogy. The Burning God was so engaging, and it was clear that Kuang pulled all the stops with this one. She knew she had her readers’ full attention. Well, she certainly had mine, considering the nights I decided to forgo sleep in order to find out what’s next. I admittedly feared that it would fall short because I didn’t enjoy The Dragon Republic as much (though, reflecting on my reading history, I think it’s fair to say that there’s some bias there because I never seem to enjoy the second installment of any trilogy, haha). I’m glad it exceeded my expectations.

One of Kuang’s greatest strengths is her worldbuilding skills. She put so much thought into the lands, cultures, and peoples in The Poppy War trilogy, and that never fell short. Similarly, she has considerable skill in creating complex characters that fall everywhere across the spectrum of morality. It’s why I think Rin, the main protagonist, makes for a fascinating character because I’m not a fan of her at all. I can appreciate the deliberation in making Rin so complex, though, since it made her interactions with other characters and the world around her interesting. One criticism I do have is the dialogue. It sometimes fell flat for me which, in turn, affected the surrounding text and made the writing choppy. I also found the ending a little predictable, but that didn’t bother me at all since I was absolutely invested in the journey itself, not the destination.

Despite some shortcomings (though nothing huge), I’m fully aware that this is only the start of her already-incredible career, and there’s only room for improvement. I look forward to her next story, whatever that may be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Excrement, Racism, Rape, and Vomit

kaylamoran's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I knew R.F. Kuang wasn't going to be nice.  But I really, really hated the ending.  And not only because a couple of the plot twists at the end were predictable.  I literally had anxiety reading the last couple of chapters because I could tell where they were going and I hated it.

This sounds like a negative review.  It's not.  For a book to get me to react this strongly to it, it has to have really meant something to me.  This series is incredible, easily one of the best I've read.  I just don't know if I can bear to reread it.

I'm just so mad that Rin hated Kitay at the end.  He was always my favourite, I loved them together, and SHE was wrong.  I really wish she didn't lose it at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Trafficking

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cannibalism, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Vomit, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement