Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Republika smoka by R.F. Kuang

271 reviews

nikireadss's review

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

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

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

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Excrement, and Pregnancy

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

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

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

Moderate: Slavery, Alcohol, and Vomit

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

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

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

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

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Abortion