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malwa's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Genocide, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Body horror
matcha_pages's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Religious bigotry, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use
brianneh's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gun violence, Genocide, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, War, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Classism, Drug use, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, Rape, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault
rinakei's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Racism, Religious bigotry, War, and Blood
sun_ie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Drug use and Genocide
Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, and Addiction
decie's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and War
stitchof's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Abortion, Addiction, Antisemitism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, and Xenophobia
linneak's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Death, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Classism, and Suicide
Moderate: Gun violence, Confinement, Eating disorder, Medical content, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcohol, and Medical trauma
Minor: Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Child death, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Panic attacks/disorders
meat_muffin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, War, Addiction, Blood, Child death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Rape, Abortion, and Cannibalism
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- 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
R. F. Kuang's knowledge of colonial history is on full display here, as are her thoughts about colonialism, and those commentaries are a strong and often heartbreaking part of The Burning God.
I will say, however, that I wish that the world had felt larger. It's small in book one because Rin's knowledge of the world is small. It expands in book two. It fails to expand again here. I think there could have been more of a sense of the wider world (or just a sense that more than three countries had ever existed in it, honestly) without cheapening the ending. In fact, I think that the inevitable and heartbreaking ending would have felt even MORE inevitable and even MORE heartbreaking had there been other countries out there somewhere that simply would not or could not get involved in the Nikaran/Hesperian conflict.
Everything is so desperate here, and it somehow keeps getting more so. The problem is that after Golyn Niis and the end of The Poppy War, and after the utter, unending misery of so much of The Dragon Republic, neither the tone nor the content have the capacity to get much darker, and so they kind of don't.
Rin and Kitay's relationship continues to be my favorite thing, and the thing that fascinates me most. Kitay is a character who gives me so much hope, and Rin is a character who gives me so little, and I love how Kuang plays with that dynamic, especially given the nature of their relationship by this point.
Rin and Nezha are of course compelling as well, and in many ways their conflict and their complex feelings about each other form the centerpoint of the entire series. We certainly get the most of Nezha's perspective here, but I still find their dynamic in The Dragon Republic the most compelling out of the three installments.
I think that the character work and the writing are very strong here, and I'm rating it extremely highly because it did what it set out to do and affected me deeply, but there were just a few things that did not totally work for me, and the experience of reading it was more exhausting than anything else.
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Suicide, Death, War, Gore, Drug use, Torture, Rape, Addiction, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Genocide, Child death, Religious bigotry, Cannibalism, Self harm, Colonisation, and Racism