Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

92 reviews

violetlunablossom's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

I really enjoyed The Poppy War but The Dragon Republic made me love the world and characters that R.F Kuang created even more. It was a little slow for me at the beginning, but it wasn't an absolute slog. Things quickly picked up towards the middle and by the end, I felt like I had ran a marathon because of how fast my heart was beating. Seeing Rin's growth was really rewarding, and while it felt like she was taking one step forward and two steps back most of the time, when she became more level headed and knowledgable of the political games being played, it was fantastic to see. I also developed a newfound love for Kitay! He wasn't really someone who I was that invested in back in The Poppy War, but now that he has a much more prominent role in the storyline, I've come to love him and his sweet demeanor. It really balances out Rin's more fiery temperament.

Su Daji gets a section of her own because my god, she's such an amazingly complex character. She had only two scenes in this book but they were spectacular. Even when she wasn't physically there, her presence took up space in every chapter. You understand why she did the things she did but you also kind of hate her because of all the brutality we saw back in The Poppy War. Out of all the shamans, her powers are definitely the most interesting to me and they really suit her well. I'm so excited to see what kind of role she plays in the final book.

The brutality was definitely upped in this book too. There were multiple scenes that had me setting down my book because of how upset I was, and with the introduction of the Hesperians (who are a fill in for the British), both the racism and physical violence had another layer of grossness. Kuang did a really good job of getting me to hate them, even if it was pretty easy for me to dislike them from the get go.

I'm very excited to tear into The Burning God soon. I've been told to save my tears for that one so I'll be buying a box of tissues before I start reading it.

REBECCA HOW DARE YOU MAKE THE CIKE SUFFER. YOU TORE MY HEART OUT WITH QARA'S DEATH BUT BAJI AND SUNI TOO??? I had to take a snack break because of how upset I was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Addiction, Classism, War, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Genocide

Minor: Abortion

jakepasseri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

Even more enjoyable than the first! Enthralling and dark. The character development, twists and action were amazing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Miscarriage, Murder, Torture, Violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Abortion and Genocide

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Omg. I can’t imagine this series ending with the next book. The Dragon Republic is a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute Rin is in desperate need of rehab, the next, she’s all powerful. Then she’s not and so on. Also… what the fuck Nezha?!!? 

The world building continues to amaze as R.F. Kuang weaves a politically and socially devastating tale of colonialism, war and peace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Rape, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Abandonment, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Genocide, Abortion, and Excrement

Minor: Dysphoria, Deportation, and Ableism

csmall73's review against another edition

dark slow-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

5.0

Run continuously seems to fall prey to a new master. She’s flawed and broken, slowly realizing how everything fits together and the true motives fueling the utter bloodbath that is brewing between the empire, the republic and its allies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, War, Murder, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Vomit, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

kimmag92's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The Dragon Republic is the second book in the Poppy War series and I thought the first book was brutal but the second was even more so.  I felt so incredibly bad for Rin the whole time as nearly every single person wanted to use her in some capacity.  This book really explores the effects of war on the mind and for most of it we are seeing how PTSD effects Rin and her fellow soldiers and how all consuming it is.  Also, implicitly throughout the book we see how Sinegard did not prepare any of them for how conflict would impact them mentally or how to deal with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Death

marah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I loved this book!! Rin’s character development was so satisfying to see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Addiction, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Abortion, Self harm, Slavery, Vomit, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, Police brutality, Bullying, Cursing, and Death of parent

I think that because of these topics, this book had potential to fall into trauma-porn territory but it definitely did not. R.F. Kuang writes about this material very well.

BUT ALSO THE DUMPLINGS PART WAS SO FUCKED UP

jules44's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

4.0

This sequel starts slow but builds into a war epic that rivals the first book in this series. The rich lore, conflicted character motivations, and the horrifying historical recounts of war made this story difficult to put down. Grotesque and hopeless, but an incredibly important work of fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Rape

clalaure's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Torture, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

ejs2000's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Classism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture

coolfool_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

 This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I knew from the first book that this book wouldn’t take a happy turn but nothing would prepare me for what would happen. It had plot twists that I wasn’t expecting and character deaths that I would never imagine to happen. Rin struggled in this book as she did in the first book. Her opium addiction is explicitly mentioned during the first part of the book and was a major downfall for her.  In this book, we follow her as she tries to summon the fire back and overturn Daji’s empire. I think what was most difficult about this book was how insufferable the characters are. How nothing ever seems to lighten the mood and how it’s just a constant misery to read. The only character that I seemed to slightly root for was Rin when she got the fire back. I don’t think the characters are complex but just hard to read about. Their motivations are all over the place and it was disappointing to read about how Rin was set up for a constant downfall. But, I still found this book intriguing to read. I always thought that both books were such an immersive read because of how plot heavy it is. The page count doesn’t bother me because of how quickly it captures you. So, even though this book isn’t perfect I still found it to be interesting and I will be reading The Burning God. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Blood, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy