Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

26 reviews

ladynocturnal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.0

 Very heavy on war strategy and political affairs. I wish there was more character development for Rin and the Cike. The main character makes silly decisions, I understand why, but it was so frustrating. War, war never changes. 

Rin loses her powers for a large chunk of the book. The writing is still good, but I didn't pick up this book to read about a regular person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Drug use, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Minor: Chronic illness and Self harm

pagesihavenotyetread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abortion, Confinement, Suicide, Colonisation, Rape, Animal cruelty, Child death, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Cursing, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, War, Classism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Torture

min_grachi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Addiction, Body horror, Abandonment, Drug use, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, War, and Racism

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Pedophilia, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Classism, Excrement, Misogyny, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Torture, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, and Slavery

_justjess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Gore, Addiction, War, Classism, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Abortion, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

lizziaha's review against another edition

dark

4.25

oh I feel sick to my stomach finishing this book. It’s an interesting and depressing and unfortunately accurate view of power and the things people do to acquire and keep power. I was happy that we got to see more of Venka in this one, although I understand that the overwhelming amount of male characters is a statement in and of itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, War, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Classism, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Vomit

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I am immediately starting The Burning God.

Talk about character development, complex relationships, both with family, friends, and even enemies! Twists? Check! Reveals? Check! Incredible suffering? Absolutely. 

I said it in my thoughts about the previous book, if you can't read about war and horrible violence, don't even try this one. 

While some stories that have military tactics and such aren't my thing, I was on board with this one. I needed to know exactly what and why certain things needed to happen. I was intrigued from the first page since we do get more backstory on characters from the first book while continuing with Rin's story. Rin... oh Rin, where will you end up? I'm terrified for her and also cheering for her to no end. 

Now, I could go to bed, but I'm starting the next one now. Wish me luck. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Child death, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Torture, and War

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Gore, Classism, War, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Genocide, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Medical content, Colonisation, and Blood

euclids_5th's review

challenging dark emotional 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’m writing this review minutes after I finished the book. This review is written without having read the third book, and will evaluate the book not as a standalone novel, but as a text that functions as the second piece of a trilogy.

Second books in any series have the very difficult task of keeping the reader interested, especially after a well done first book (like the Poppy War). Especially in trilogies, they don’t have the excitement of beginning the story or the satisfaction of ending it. In my experience, most second books fail to deliver. The pacing is off, or it’s a shaky transition, or they re-open questions that were already answered.

The Dragon Republic is not like that. Kuang performs a seamless transition from one book to the next, making it almost difficult to believe that it’s a separate text. She maintains a consistently captivating narrative flow, one that kept my heart thudding the entire way through. Y’all I finished this book in the span of 12 hours. At the same time, Kuang manages to gracefully pivot to different thematic inquiries, interrogating different sides of the topics she discussed in the first book while simultaneously introducing new ones.

Read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Violence, Vomit, War, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Classism

hailsatan's review

• 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 death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Child death, Gun violence, Incest, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting