Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

290 reviews

nikireadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

I liked this book so much more than the first one! It started slow to around 15% of the book but then when it took off, the pace never slowed down but still built up until the very last page.

This time Nezha won the award for the most annoying character, taking over Rin’s spot in the ranking. Despite the genocide in the first book, which is not excused, Rin’s had a big character development. She was still very annoying for most of the book but slowly started to make logical decisions near the end of this book. Talking about the characters I have to prize Kitay, who made some of the smartest decisions in this series. 

Overall I liked how much we learned about the world and its origins in this part. So many plot twists. We also lost so many characters. My poor cike, each one of them was so hard to say goodbye to. Thanks to all events this book didn’t feel like the almost 800 pages it was. It didn’t feel like it could be any shorter and every page felt delectable. 

This one is my favorite so far!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

berrytart's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

my girl rin just needs so much help 😔

but seriously this book was so good, i think it was equal to the first with how much i enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Cannibalism

Minor: Excrement, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

melitrophium's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I did not enjoy the first half of this book. It was just the same thing over, and over, and over. War, war, war. I was honestly confused a few times wondering “how could we possibly have moved on so fast to battle just to have the same conflict in a slightly different context” 
But for a second book, overall it was quite good. I’m feeling more & more attached to these flawed characters. Again, very Game of Thrones esque.

You also need to be careful getting attached to characters… like in Game of Thrones

There was also a kinda sorta enemies to lovers thing going on that I loved! It’s refreshing to read something where romance isn’t the primary focus, not even the secondary focus, but is still acknowledged.
I’m so interested to see how this story ends…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, and Alcohol

If you’re here, presumably you’ve read the first book. I would say this second book has moments where it is harsher than the first… more graphic. But if you were able to handle the first book, you should be fine.

adisiki's review against another edition

5.0

So good!!!!!!!!! I’m so obsessed with Rin’s journey, her friendship with Kitay is so sweet and her complicated relationship with Nezha is so well-done. The writing is so good, the pacing was great in this one, there was a never a dull moment for how long it is, and I can’t wait to see how the series wraps up. This story brings out such strong feelings in me, the racism and religious zealotry of the Hesperians is so real and parallels to our real world in a sickening, sad way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

anitaboeira's review against another edition

4.5

It's gritty. But it's also better fantasy world building and plotting and characters than Martin and Jordan could even dream of. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Suicide attempt

margarcia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

3.75

So the second book was battle after battle after battle. I really enjoyed the comedic relief parts between friends and I kind of wish this book had more of that. It seemed like this book was full throttle without a break. I would have gladly had less battle scenes for more friendship building. I honestly might feel more connected to the characters. 

However, she does have me still intrigued on how this war ends. I am glad this ended with Rin with some backbone. She got a little annoying to me throughout most of this book. But I totally get character development. 

I am looking forward to reading the last one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pettypierrot's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

noms01'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

4.75

Holy shit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Abortion, and Death of parent