Scan barcode
droggelbecher42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think I do want to read the rest of the series, but might need a breather inbetween, because this was so heavy
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, War, Classism, Violence, Xenophobia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Genocide, and Torture
Moderate: Misogyny, Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Rape, and Grief
eldritch_archivist's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Classism, Colonisation, Self harm, Gore, Murder, Bullying, Body horror, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pandemic/Epidemic, Excrement, Miscarriage, Racism, Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Pedophilia
allisonmspiers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, Classism, Violence, Cursing, Torture, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Child death, Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Drug use, Abandonment, Ableism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty
Forced marriage, human experimentation, massacres, menstruation,leighann13'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: Classism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Rape, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, War, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Gore, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Blood, Addiction, Genocide, Ableism, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma
caelinsullivan's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, Violence, Medical content, Vomit, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Physical abuse, Drug use, Colonisation, Blood, Rape, War, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny
Moderate: Ableism and Pregnancy
kat1105'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: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical content, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Excrement, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Vomit, War, Blood, Bullying, Slavery, Suicide, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty
Minor: Pregnancy
pages_with_panda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The first half seemed to have a strong start - peasant girl Rin wants to become a soldier at the Sinegard Academy to escape an arranged marriage. She beats the odds, scoring perfectly and being accepted. However, that’s only the start of her troubles. Being at the school didn’t bring her the same opportunities as the other students because she was still just a peasant girl from the south in the eyes of the other students.
That’s NOT the plot of the book though. That’s only 1 section of 3. If you just started the book and don’t like it, maybe keep reading. It gets really different from here on out.
Book 1 felt VASTLY different from the rest of the book were everything seemed to change, including the writing and descriptions and even the story. While book 1 felt very YA, the rest of the book was decidedly NOT. It was full of dark violent scenes not meant for young adults.
I liked the way Rin faced everything thrown at her during Book 1 and her time at the school, but I felt like Book 2 was full of worldbuilding where Rin was often in the background and no longer the main character. There was just a lot of information thrown at us and it didn’t feel steady enough to drag us through so much so quickly.
I also felt like some of the atrocities were mentioned in great detail as a way to shock the readers. We went from brief mentions of violence and battles, to multiple fully detailed scenes of sexual violence and horror. Nothing else seemed to be described that way in the rest of the book though, and I felt like Kuang wanted us to know that this had happened in real life and wanted to mention it here as well. It just seemed unexpected and jarring.
Overall the story was interesting and I’m definitely going to be continuing the story.
Please check the content warnings. This book gets very detailed and very dark. It talks about colonialism and the horrors of war and everything in between.
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Colonisation, Genocide, Rape, Drug abuse, War, Violence, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Ableism
Minor: Vomit
briesashes'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
4.75
Graphic: Sexual harassment, War, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Genocide, Gore, Domestic abuse, Blood, Animal death, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual assault, Murder, Grief, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Animal cruelty, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Death, Child death, Ableism, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Alcohol
overbooked207's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4th book of January 2023 and 4th of the year:
“War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.” - R.F. Kuang.
A military epic fantasy novel inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking, this book was engaging, hard to put down, and very dark and harrowing, showing how absolutely horrid war is and the trauma, horror, and destruction that comes out of it. It had absolutely amazing writing and world-building, relevant commentary, intricate, brutal, and well-written fight and battle scenes, a beautiful cover, a great audiobook, and fleshed-out/well-developed and complex characters. I love reading about complex characters who make mistakes, aren’t perfect, and/or are forced to make big and hard decisions. I especially love consuming content with angry characters in it. Characters who see or experience injustice and are fueled by their rage. Many times, I find it very cathartic because everybody reacts to trauma differently, with there being no such thing as the ‘perfect’ victim that the media/world expects and wants when horrible things happen. And anger is an essential part of healing and can be very useful when channeled toward good, and, while there are more now, I don’t see as many books/movies/shows that have a main character who expresses this understandable anger, and Rin does, so I really appreciated that. I highly recommend this. Just please be aware of all of the TWs(which I started listing alphabetically to make it easier for people) because there are many heavy things in this, and it was very hard to read at times due to them. TWs for abandonment, ableism, abuse(child, domestic, physical, and sexual), addiction, alcoholism, animal cruelty/death, blood, body horror, body shaming, bullying, child death, classism, colonization, confinement, cursing, death, drugs/drug use, excrement, fatphobia, fire/fire injury, forced institutionalization, gaslighting, genocide, gore, grief, gun violence, hate crime, infertility, injuries/injury detail, kidnapping, medical content/trauma, menstruation, mental illness, mention of forced marriage and prostitution, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, pedophilia, police brutality, pregnancy, PTSD, racism, rape(mentioned a few times throughout and described in detail by a survivor toward the end of chapter 21(80% through the book and at around 14:57:35 to around 15:03:58 in the audiobook)), religious bigotry, self-harm, sexism, sexual assault/violence, slavery, slurs, stalking, suicidal thoughts, suicide, torture, trafficking, violence, vomit, war, and xenophobia.🎧⚔️🏹
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Classism, Excrement, Kidnapping, Self harm, War, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
cristina_margarita's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ll be starting the second book immediately.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Abortion, Vomit, Rape, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Excrement, Self harm, and Medical trauma