Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

165 reviews

hamstringy's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Jesus fucking Christ. This is a deeply intricate trainwreck of a book that actively raised my heart rate. 

At times it’s a little hard to understand the emotional back-and-forths that Rin goes through with regards to opium, her power, and her relation to power, but I also think that kuang does an uncomfortably good job of describing the ways that war can affect people, so what do I know?  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Self harm

potion96's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Colonisation

alex_greenleaf_'s review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book but that's not a fault of the writing at all and more personal preferences on how I like character motivation set up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement

Minor: Cannibalism, Abortion, Pregnancy

brynalexa's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It was an odd experience to want to know what’s going to happen next but also despise almost every decision made by every character. There were SO many battles that it got muddy in the middle.  Trying to remember which battle they were referring to later made the book tricky to follow at times. I think that experience would be different reading it in print. I’m excited to see where the third book takes the story… hopefully to some moral evolution but also revolution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Abortion

joepyeweed's review against another edition

5.0

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Hard to read but hard to stop. I don’t always enjoy politics, but here it worked for me because you don’t know who to trust or which side should win. 

Rin is frustratingly rash and impulsive, but there are consequences for her actions every time (even when I might expect another book to let her off easy). She’s the main character, but is not a hero. I like that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture

sannesbooks's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Alcohol, War

becausebrenna's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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AHHHHHHHHH 
I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to finish this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Violence, War

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

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

bacook0403's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War

kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Coming straight out of the first book and into this one was very interesting. After the first book’s rather awe-inducing end (

Rin’s use of the Phoenix to completely level an entire country

) I already anticipated that Kuang would have to find a way to “nerf” Rin in the second book. After all, if it was all just easy wins, nothing would feel very climactic, would it? So, with that in mind, it’s safe to say that the first half of this book was exceedingly frustrating. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but rather, that Kuang found the bruise that conjoined both Rin and the reader and she pushed down, hard. It thoroughly sucked for awhile there, especially considering my standing-critique of Kuang’s writing style that she tends to sum up Rin’s various relationships with a handful of informative scenes but too little transition in-between (imho). This occasionally made those relationships and characters feel a little flat in comparison to the rich intimacy we have within Rin’s character and arc. However, I think that particular flaw took a hard turn for the better around 2/3 through the book (

Rin and Kitay’s bond

). After that point, the emotions, stakes, and overall well-roundedness of every character beside Rin felt much more vivid than before, and Kuang even delved a little deeper in adding casual exchanges here and there that really enriched the dynamics. By the end, I truly felt immersed in this world and found myself longing for exactly what Rin herself is headed towards: purpose. I’m going right into the third and final book now, and hope this journey finds a satisfying end!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Self harm, Grief, Abortion, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism

As with the first book, please check trigger/content warnings before reading.

There is an incident involving a woman being r*ped in the second half of the book that is moderately graphic and could definitely be triggering for some.