Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

242 reviews

r_snail52's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

w-o-w R F Kuang does it time and time again, this series truly ripped me to shreds, might i be spoiled now for any revenge arc book because of this beautifully and intricately constructed epic, yes. Do i care, nope. I absolutely adore this i’ve never read anything like it, well except maybe for babel. READ THIS SERIES RIGHT NOW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Drug use, and Murder

jessicaludden's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

“She was a goddess. She was a monster. She’d nearly destroyed this country. And then she’d given it one last, gasping chance to live.”

There’s so much to unpack in this book. It so vividly portrayed this endless cycle of war and the impacts of constant oppression not just to our main character and her surroundings but to the entire country and its people. Rin makes the same mistakes over and over again and while some people could be annoyed by that, I loved it. She’s far from perfect. She’s almost villainous and it was the most interesting concept to read. I love how every relationship revolves around such a deep sense of love and hatred. Her friendships are full of so much history making betrayals and deaths and battles hurt that much more. This book gives a bleak and realistic ending that left me feeling hollow inside but I can’t see it ending any other way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Murder, Racism, War, Cannibalism, Child death, and Drug use

wanderingdeviant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

this was such a beautiful and devastating ending to the poppy war trilogy. r. f. kuang has officially stolen the top spot for my favourite author. i sensed this ending coming from the first book, but still- it was still so, so, so painful. i loved that this series didn’t centre on romance and more so the friendships rin had, especially with kitay- i think their bond was so lovely to see. this series in general was amazing and i will definitely be rereading this. it’s extremely heavy so i think looking at the trigger warnings is a priority, though! anyway, this was the best, i loved it so much, now i have to go cry :,)

i thought maybe rin and kitay would die, but i can’t believe venka died, too- she was definitely my favourite.

though, i’m definitely disappointed about how easy the trifecta were killed- i don’t know, i feel like they should’ve been more impactful; especially since riga was apparently the most powerful of them all. that’s probably the only reason why this one doesn’t get a five star. and because it went on a little too long, in my opinion.

“now here they were again: three people--children, really; too young and inexperienced for the roles they'd inherited-holding the fate of nikan in their hands.” the ending was soul-destroying but honestly so well done. i don’t think rin could exist in a world without war, but she also couldn’t exist in a world without kitay. :(

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Violence, and War

marinasjd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty

charlottesreadingweb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

A brutal ending to this bleak trilogy- a scathing critique on the corruption of power, the brutality of war, the insidiousness of colonialism, and what to do when someone is presented with no good choices.  There are no winners here. What I can say is this book felt a bit rushed & scattered to me. I think some of the world building was left hanging, namely the Hinderlands and the lore behind their tribes, the roots of shamanism, etc. I also felt

how the Trifecta's story line ended was a bit haphazard

. Ultimately, I thought this was an appropriate end to the unflinching violence of the Poppy War. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Xenophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

moonlitreading_'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

“Take what you want, it said. I’ll hate you for it. But I’ll love you forever. I can’t help but love you.

Ruin me, ruin us, and I’ll let you.”

this book feels like getting stabbed a million times but you can’t die

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Death, Drug use, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Murder, Racism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cannibalism

brianneh's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Genocide, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, War, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Classism, Drug use, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, Rape, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

0shelfcontrol's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

What an epic end to an epic series. Read this series if you want the characters to feel real to you. I say this because they are all extremely morally grey; sometimes driven by ego and other times duty. I am heartbroken by the series end as well as how it ended, however, I also know that this is the only way it makes sense. It was inevitable, but still there’s that part of me that wishes there was some sort of miracle. I’m still processing, and probably will always be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Colonisation, Addiction, War, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Child death, Child abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Animal death, Gore, Drug use, Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Infertility

decie's review against another edition

5.0

rin. what the fuck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and War

stitchof's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Abortion, Addiction, Antisemitism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, and Xenophobia