Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Republika smoka by R.F. Kuang

392 reviews

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.

literaryloquacity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

supermando's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

This book was a ride! It started in the middle of action and never really let go. I was nervous as usual going into the second book when I already thought the first was great. I didn’t really see what direction the story was headed for a while that would make sense. Well, nothing to worry about there and we have clear direction going into the third

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, 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

mollyhardt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

First book took me 4 days to read - this one took 9 months. Couldn’t get into it for some reason.

The constant battles then loosing battles then being captured/finding themselves in trouble again/descriptions of Rin’s latest painful head spinning injury just became exhausting to read about. Yes this was to show the brutality and loss of war but I eventually stopped caring about the outcome or the characters.

 

As a fantasy series it still rates well above average and I’ll be reading the third. Rin is one of the most emotionally complex characters I’ve read about and her relationship with Kitay in this was nice to see. Upon reflection I think I enjoyed the 1st significantly more as there were other things going on aside from just war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

soos14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and War

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

leonief's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and War