Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

63 reviews

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, War, Kidnapping, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Confinement, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Excrement, and Cannibalism

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

3.75

The book is quite strong for much of it. However, in the tail end with excessive large battle scenes you lose a lot of the excellent character dynamics of more one on one battles, conversations and interrogation scenes that are Kuang’s strong suit. The Dragon Republic is strongest when focused on character dynamics in the face of the greater war politics. The inequalities and bigotries shown by different groups is quite prevalent throughout the book. Rin’s self hate toward her ethnicity is quite apparent through the narrative too. The book does a really good job of showing that all supposed great leaders ultimately have selfish interests. Some of the added backstory elements are really intriguing. The real life historical background references are very apparent if you know your stuff but it’s also got enough of a veneer of fictionalizing if you don’t. This middle book is a slight step back from “The Poppy War” but not by much and it’s mostly due to pacing hiccups. Please note the role that alcohol and drug use plays in the narrative if you are sensitive to such content. There’s a lot of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and War

fedekanejbrainrot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

my favourite book in the series, loved the plot, the themes, the characters and relationships growth, and that last 3 chapters?  illegal

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Abandonment, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

being_stupid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I have a love hate relationship with Rin, she's really well written. Like she has some kind of growth but refuse to reflect and stay really easy to manipulate due to her stubbornness. She's so full of herself that she refuses to believe she's wrong while simultaneously hating every part of her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual assault, War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Sexism

Moderate: Xenophobia and Slavery

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

cemeterygay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Torture, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Cannibalism

Additional CW: Scientific racism, Christian imperialism, and colorism

natnat_7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Rape, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Kidnapping, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Vomit, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, and Abortion

sunsetcity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, Vomit, War, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

lstout04's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

bisexualwentworth's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

This book is dark, and it is complicated. It picks up where The Poppy War left off and continues to explore power, addiction, and the horrors of war.

The politics of this book are wonderfully complex. There are multiple different political factions, and they are all at odds with each other in different ways. Daji, Vaisra, and the Hesperians are a fascinating triad of competing villains. R. F. Kuang’s skill at depicting the horrors of war and of religious colonization is unmatched.

No scene in The Dragon Republic matches the utter horror of the massacre at Golyn Niis in The Poppy War, but this book simply never lets up on the way that it discusses and shows atrocities. You will not have a single moment while reading this book where you feel good about anything.

The pieces of the story didn’t fit together quite as well as in the first one. I think it’s just a second-book problem, but there were a few too many moving parts.

People who recommend this series for the “romance” are vile and irresponsible. The relationship between Rin and Nezha is tortured and complicated and deeply compelling. It is one of the most fascinatingly toxic relationships I’ve ever encountered. But it is less than a subplot, and if you go into these books expecting romance, you will be much worse than disappointed.

I’m probably going to need to wait another three months before I read book three.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Violence, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Abortion, and Cannibalism