Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

270 reviews

gracemcbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, War, Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

timtalkinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I've had issues with each book. 
I think it's mostly pacing and the fact that Rin is a cruel and genuinely insufferable person. So being in her angry head can get a bit old. 

BUT 

1. I think the fact Kuang is as old as me and she was writing something like this in her early 20s is incredible. I can't wait to see how her prose and storytelling abilities evolve as she gets older. 

2. She spent basically three books hinting at shaman battles and when we get to that it doesn't disappoint. 

3. The way this concluded was the only way I could see it conclude. It doesn't feel like she backed herself into a corner though. It feels like she had this planned from the start and I love that. 

4. Can't wait to start the next Stormlight book because hooboy this was some DARK fantasy, but I love that it takes its inspiration from Chinese history and religion. It's a really cool angle to take a fantasy book and a much needed breath of fresh air. (I'm sure I'm not the first person to say that.) 

5. Voice actor Emily Woo Zeller (Panam in Cyberpunk 2077) narrated the hell outta the audio books. I usually hate when the narrator does voices that are their opposite gender, think Jim Dale doing Hermione's voice in the Harry Potter audiobooks, but she's great with both.

Overall a great trilogy. 
Grim, brutal and violent enough that I can't think of a time where I will want to pick these up again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Child death, Murder, War, Violence, Racism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

Feels like they hint that one of the gods has basically raped the character when he gave them their powers, it's definitely meant to disturb and not treayfed lightly.

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Torture, War, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

ginalucia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 I gotta say, this book doesn't hold back - it's brutally honest and dark, making it kinda tough to fully connect with the main character, Rin.

As our main protagonist and antihero (the whole book is pretty much from her perspective), she’s hard to love. I know this was intentional. Her purpose isn’t to make us love her, it’s to teach us something about war.

While it achieves this, it does get stuck in a loop. Rin seems to be going over the same struggles and thoughts without much progress, which can feel a bit repetitive after a while. At times, I felt my brain drifting off as she came to the same conclusion over and over again.

The power dynamics in the story constantly shift, which adds to the complexity - but it can also feel messy and overwhelming at times. 

And when it comes to the big climactic moments? I gotta admit, I felt kinda detached. Like, I was expecting this big emotional punch, but it just didn't hit me the way I thought it would. But maybe that was the point - to show how you can become desensitised to war. In which case, nice work R.F. Kuang.

The Burning God, and The Poppy War series is a challenging read. It's not always easy to digest, but the honesty and depth of the storytelling are absolutely worth it. While this last book didn’t quite hit like the first two for me, I’m absolutely happy I took the time to get through it.

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Murder, Genocide, Death, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Suicide, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Vomit, Classism, Xenophobia, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Forced institutionalization

ellaxo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

ayooooosuga's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

this whole series was a rollercoaster. lots of gore, wars, blood and similar things. lots of character undevelopment, if you know what i mean. with every chapter rin was getting worse. she was getting more bitter, more egoistic, and crueler. i also kinda anticipated how it would end, but it still made me cry a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Torture, Blood, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

xveronica_fx's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Violence, Mental illness, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

kmae314's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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: Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

a_wandering_thinker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Die Trilogie ist genial, bottom line. Der zweite Teil ist mein Favorit, der dritte ging zu schnell voran und hat nicht allen Plotlines und Charaktere die Tiefe und Aufmerksamkeit gegeben, die sie verdient hätten. Aber ich habe diesen Teil dennoch verschlungen, die Story hat mich gepackt wie lange keine Buchreihe mehr. 

Das Worldbuilding und die Parallelen zur echten Welt waren gleichzeitig das beste an den Büchern als auch eine Schwachstelle. Zum einen habe ich so viel über Krieg und Staatenbildung gelernt wie bei keinem Buch zuvor. Darüber, wozu Menschen fähig sind, was Revolutionen kosten, über Religion, Kolonialismus und Abgründe der Menschlichkeit. Auf der anderen Seite musste ich mich bei jedem Element der Story fragen, welches reale Ereignis es wohl inspiriert hat, dass sich die Handlung manchmal wie eine sehr ausgeschmückte Allegorie für Real-Life-Events anfühlte, anstatt zu etwas Eigenem zu werden (was immer noch viel über unsere echte Geschichte und Kulturen aussagen kann, aber ohne davon zu dominiert zu werden). 
Ein anderer Kritikpunkt, vor allem von diesem Band, ist, wie Dialog-lastig es war. Ich hätte mir ein wenig mehr ruhige Momente gewünscht, die die Handlung nicht mit Macht vorangetrieben hätten, etwas mehr bildliche Beschreibung von Szenen. Trotzdem war die Story extrem immersive und packend. 

Insgesamt ist die Trilogie eine 4.5 ⭐️ für mich. Absolut beeindruckend, realistisch, packend, und ich liebe es, wie mit vielen Tropes gebrochen wird. Ich freue mich schon, als nächstes Babel zu lesen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Gore, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Eating disorder, Trafficking, Sexism, Death of parent, and Excrement

bookishedi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Abandonment, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Cannibalism