Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

91 reviews

nataaaliya's review

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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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eloisereading's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense
  • 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

4.75


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ladynocturnal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A book that is famed for having an unhinged, violent, and badass female character. This is what drew me to the series. Rin is not a good person. She is cruel, egotisical, and her anger controls nearly all her actions. She is in dire need of some more character development. She constantly makes foolish decisions that had me screaming at her since book one. I understand that her anger is a major flaw that sabotages her, but she never learns from her mistakes. I can recommend this book if you enjoy military and grimdark fantasy and can tolerate a stagnant main character. This book does not shy away from the horrors of war and how there are truly no "good guys" to be found. There are very poignant points on colonialism and the reality of war. Another flaw in R.F. Kuang's writing is that everything is spelled out for you. There were many times when lines, concepts, and major themes were drilled into your head out of fear that the reader might miss the point. This was hard to ignore. While I enjoyed this series I can't ignore the fact that this final book was a bit of a letdown.

The way the Trifecta was killed off was so anti-climatic

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icy_queen's review

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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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chasinggrace's review against another edition

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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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hyithia's review

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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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potion96's review against another edition

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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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flamesocks's review against another edition

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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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pagesihavenotyetread's review

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

3.75


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izzywoo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0


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