Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

279 reviews

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence, Murder, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

min_grachi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Addiction, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Violence

lizziaha's review against another edition

dark

3.75

This final book in the poppy war trilogy tastes bitter. Rin’s ascent into godhood (because that’s what it is ultimately, the making of a legend, something bigger than life) twists her humanity. It’s a logical progression, an examination of how supernatural power twists the wielder’s humanity. The problem is that in her godhood, Rin is alone. Her power, her ambition, her trust and her betrayals, they’ve all warped her. Her superiority separates her, even her closest relationships become strained. She stops seeing people as human. It’s painfully realistic, and hard to read. It’s a point that needs to be made, and it’s sickening because you (the reader) stop seeing these people as human too. I couldn’t feel anything over the many deaths in this book because I was so stuck in Rin’s head. Characters pop in and out of her warpath so quickly that it’s impossible to connect with them, or even see Rin connect with them. Most of the time, she doesn’t even try. It’s horrifying to realize the conclusion that this book is spiraling towards, tighter and tighter until you feel suffocated by the weight of it. Vicious circles, indeed. Rin doesn’t, can’t, come to this conclusion until the end of the book, thinking, “history moved in such vicious circles.” And I’ll admit, it did take me a bit aback to recognize some of the parallels between Rin & co and the Trifecta. It’s a tough book to rate, because the very things that made me dislike it are the things that make it masterful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Xenophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

nadia's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

I think this was a solid, clever resolution to the trilogy! There were parts of this I really enjoyed and parts I never fully grokked — mainly around character alliances, motivations, and some of the fantasy elements — but just went with!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Murder, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Suicide, and Colonisation

emrosch's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Not as good as the first two books, but still a great conclusion to one of the best – if not the best – historical fantasy book series I've ever read.

It took me a long time to get through it. It started off great and then became SOOOO slow, I honestly just wanted to be done with it after reading about 75%. It felt repetitive and really frustrating (and not in the good way). But that changed with the last couple of chapters, made everything SO worth it. Totally changed my entire opinion about book #3. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Colonisation, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Rape, Cannibalism, and Torture

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Racism

winter2001's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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: Child death, Xenophobia, War, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Cursing, Cannibalism, Genocide, and Torture

loup'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Cannibalism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Torture, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, War, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Gore, Excrement, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Slavery

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

5.0

The ending was perfect for this amazing series and I loved everything about it.
The character work is immaculate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Genocide, Murder, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Child death, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Trafficking, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Self harm, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Vomit, and War

raiimundo97's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Torture, Death, War, and Sexual assault

teleporting_pickle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

Wow… just wow. Like every other review I’m gonna say it was such a good series and it will be in my mind always. The final book was a perfect chapter that came to a close.

The shear destruction the country has been through is crazy. 

The city that the Hespaeians made in such a short time is double crazy especially how much they changed towards their ideals. And it’s weird thing because on one hand their improving some aspects of life there but on the other hand erasing the culture that was there to start

Now on to the ending I knew it wasn’t over with those 50pages left and the footnote for the author saying I was going to cry. 

She was correct last pages took me😪 Rin was constantly someone who thought fighting was the only option but I’m glad in that moment she saw clarity that she could give her country that fighting chance but it didn’t include her or Kitay.

Favorite part was Sister Petra’s meet and greet with the gods.

 
And lastly Nezhas pov at the end and also in the bonus section got me torn to pieces. Their relationship was a twisted one like fire and water. I was they could’ve found happiness but I don’t think it was in their fates.

Fav quote of many~
“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”
Bonus
“He knew exactly what choice she’d made and what she’d intended. And that made everything—hating her, loving her, surviving her—so much harder.
Fix this”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, War, Blood, and Violence