Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-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:
Complicated
"Rage and grief were so different. Rage gave her the power to burn down countries. Grief only exhausted her."
Gods damn, I'm in so deep with this trilogy.
R F Kuang is an incredible writer, not just because it reads beautifully or poetically or whatever you want to look for. She is masterful at writing characters that are as rich, multi-faceted, complicated and fickle as the world she's created them within. As soon as you think you have a grasp on who is the Goodie and who is the Baddie, she twists the knife and lays bare the inherent selfishness and brutality of this cast of trauma-riddled characters.
But even that breakdown feels too simplistic. This isn't about Goodies and Baddies, it's not about good and evil or the deserving and undeserving. It's chaotic and forces the reader into a swirling tide of ambitions, corruptions, reactions, betrayals and motivations and holds you under until you're gasping for the normal narrative structures that would hold your hand through it and tell you who you should be rooting for and what outcome 'should' be panning out.
And ultimately, its masterful. This book is a scorching attack on power structures, hegemony, xenophobia, inequality and colonialism. In the same way the gods takeover the minds of the shamans and slowly drive them mad, it seems in this world the seeping influence of power corrupts everyone it touches.
I love the way Kuang has written Rin, she is a fucking war criminal, she has some VERY questionable views (a tame example being that stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote), but she's such a compelling character and I adore her. She isn't equipped for the world and positions she finds herself in, she makes mistakes, she is shaped by trauma and grief and pain and it makes her one of my favourite ever characters.
I feel like I could go on forever about all the elements of this book/trilogy, all the things I have sat and pondered after reading, all the parallels in our own society and the brilliance of Kuang's metaphors and plotting. But I'm not going to (because I want to get into book three immediately)
So I'll leave it at: this book is fucking incredible.
"With stars this bright, if you believed that above you lay the cosmos, then you had to construct a yurt to provide some temporary feeling of materiality. Otherwise, under the weight of swirling divinity, you might feel you had no significance at all."
Gods damn, I'm in so deep with this trilogy.
R F Kuang is an incredible writer, not just because it reads beautifully or poetically or whatever you want to look for. She is masterful at writing characters that are as rich, multi-faceted, complicated and fickle as the world she's created them within. As soon as you think you have a grasp on who is the Goodie and who is the Baddie, she twists the knife and lays bare the inherent selfishness and brutality of this cast of trauma-riddled characters.
But even that breakdown feels too simplistic. This isn't about Goodies and Baddies, it's not about good and evil or the deserving and undeserving. It's chaotic and forces the reader into a swirling tide of ambitions, corruptions, reactions, betrayals and motivations and holds you under until you're gasping for the normal narrative structures that would hold your hand through it and tell you who you should be rooting for and what outcome 'should' be panning out.
And ultimately, its masterful. This book is a scorching attack on power structures, hegemony, xenophobia, inequality and colonialism. In the same way the gods takeover the minds of the shamans and slowly drive them mad, it seems in this world the seeping influence of power corrupts everyone it touches.
I love the way Kuang has written Rin, she is a fucking war criminal, she has some VERY questionable views (a tame example being that stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote), but she's such a compelling character and I adore her. She isn't equipped for the world and positions she finds herself in, she makes mistakes, she is shaped by trauma and grief and pain and it makes her one of my favourite ever characters.
I feel like I could go on forever about all the elements of this book/trilogy, all the things I have sat and pondered after reading, all the parallels in our own society and the brilliance of Kuang's metaphors and plotting. But I'm not going to (because I want to get into book three immediately)
So I'll leave it at: this book is fucking incredible.
"With stars this bright, if you believed that above you lay the cosmos, then you had to construct a yurt to provide some temporary feeling of materiality. Otherwise, under the weight of swirling divinity, you might feel you had no significance at all."
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
i’m too numb to feel any shit of what this book has gave me bro. just why, why, why! miss r.f kuang, i love you so much but please don’t be too allergic to happiness
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated