Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - The Burning God

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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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meganpbell's review

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adventurous dark informative 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

The Poppy War trilogy is a masterpiece and a modern classic of both military and grimdark fantasy—and every single book will leave you breathless, punched in the gut, in awe and in pain. Follow Fang Runin from poor scholar to powerful shaman, from war orphan to war criminal, as she takes vengeance on the rulers who’ve abused her, on a war path inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, and delve into war and trauma, rage and revolution, in detail not only horrific, but historic. I’ll read anything R. F. Kuang writes, even if (and it definitely will) hurts me. Check content warnings before reading this series!

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liianowaty's review

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

3.5

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wytherwytch's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

The twists and turns of this are exceptional

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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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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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

4.0

Let them think of us as dirt, Rin thought. She was dirt. Her army was dirt. But dirt was common, ubiquitous, patient, and necessary. The soil gave life to the country. And the earth always reclaimed what it was owed.

I don't know what it is about Kuang's writing, but she makes books of 600+ pages just fly by. I had a really hard time putting this down, and it's not because it was particularly fast-paced. I just really love Kuang's writing that much, and I will honestly read anything she publishes in the future.

I'm going to structure this a bit differently, because there are a couple of specific things I want to talk about.

Rin & Kitay

She no longer fought from pure rage. She fought to protect him—and that, she had discovered, changed everything.

I already loved their dynamic in The Dragon Republic, but The Burning God was even better. Their friendship is everything. The love they have for each other, the way they care, the way Kitay is Rin's anchor in every sense of the word and not just to help her access the Phoenix.

"I don't mean to call you stupid, because I love you, but that plan is so stupid."

That moment towards the end, where she accuses him of turning on her, absolutely broke my heart. Nothing in this book is really okay, but I wanted this one thing to be the exception. As Rin loses her grip on her humanity more and more, Kitay staunchly continues to remind her of the difference between right and wrong. He refuses to compromise his principles, even when he knows he can't stop her, and that this will break them apart.

Nezha

"You can't do this for me," he said. "I won't let you."
"It's not for you. It's not a favor. It's the cruelest thing I could do."

What I was hoping for didn't happen, because this is R.F. Kuang, so of course it didn't, and what we did get makes a lot more sense anyway—the kind of betrayal that Nezha committed against Rin isn't something you just forgive and forget. Because everything is from Rin's perspective, Nezha's motivations remain opaque, which makes some of his contrary behaviour hard to understand. But it also adds a complexity to his relationship with Rin & Kitay—more than once, he says something that clearly expresses that he never wanted their trio to break the way it did. But even though he has a tactical mind, there's a naivety to his interactions with Rin, especially when they have a chance to actually talk. He expects (or rather, wishes) her to act in a way that doesn't align with who Rin is as a person. But I can't really blame him—I had naïve wishes going in, too.

The plot
The book spends a lot of time on armies travelling, political backstabbing, developing strategies, and, of course, the battles themselves. I thought it made for a cohesive story, but I can understand that people might be bored by the cycle Rin falls into. The Trifecta was definitely one of the more interesting parts, but I was disappointed by how that plotline ended because it felt too easy considering all the build-up.

That said, I thought the ending was absolutely perfect for the series, and it's exactly what I would expect from this author.

This was never going to end with the three of them once again on the same side. Rin was too far gone for that, and Nezha too resigned to an alliance with Hesperia. And with Rin acting the way she was, the only possible ending was for her to die, so that the world might live. I thought it made sense, considering her journey and who she is.

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hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

God forbid a woman do anything (or I suppose god bidden and human decency is forbidding it). Really interesting book but it is just so bleak. I loved Venka and how she developed in this book rather than being used as a trauma prop. It was a really interesting arc for Rin, even if it was horrible to read.

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