Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Burning God

this book had me sobbing FOR HOURSSS. it was literally so bad 😭 my heart was hurting during the entire book, but i loved it. it’s definitely my favorite out of the trilogy. and that ending???? it was honestly a perfect ending. r.f. kuang ATE.

Content Warnings

lollyr's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The weakest book in a fantastic series. Still a great book with great strong characters and interesting world.

Content Warnings

nicksalex's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-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

4.25

Content Warnings

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

holy shit im so emotionally spent. like its predecessors, the burning god was quite a ride, one that elicited very strong reactions--the whole range of the emotional spectrum--from me, but the last 2 chapters and epilogue...tbh im still reeling from those. whats more incredible is that while my prediction of the ending was wayyy off the mark, the series conclusion seemed inevitable in hindsight, and im a lil astonished at how it was the perfect balance of satisfying and dizzying possibilities. but i digress...

honestly this book had too many logical lapses for my liking, hence the not-5 stars. they werent anything major but were still perplexing. for instance, why did rin have to go up mt. tianshan, considering riga's hatred for speerlies and the fact that it wasnt imperative for her to be there at all; daji and jiang couldve managed it just fine w/o her? the price of calling the gods also seemed greatly diminished compared to book 1; there wasnt rly any consequences in the form of resulting events, the stakes werent high save for insanity. the full reveal of the trifecta's shady history was predictable as well, and fell a lil flat for me. also, considering rin and kitay were bonded, why didnt the latter have any inkling on the former's decision in ch.33?

my other main misgiving is the fact that i feel like rin couldve utilized the countryside population more. their huge numbers were emphasized, yet the size of rin's southern army and conquests felt so small, and the army actually struggled w/ their small numbers throughout the book. the "throwing bodies at her enemies" preluded in book 2 didnt happen either. and the book would've benefited more from depicting how the southern civilians truly supported rin.

it's a testament to kuang, her story, and her storytelling, therefore, that the book still got nearly perfect stars. burning god was intense, brutal, and adeptly wrestled w/ thought-provoking themes of power, war, history, cycles of violence, and colonization (once again, yts rly ain shit but wbk). despite the overwhelming deaths present, they never felt gratuitous and were instead a powerful, realistic depiction of the destructive impact of war and the impossible choices it wielded. another thing i loved was the complexity and...sheer messiness of feelings and ppl: the rin-kitay-nezha trio was a perfect example of this (and rin & kitay...i shed a tear fck def my most fav m/f friendship ever).

sth i feel this book did best from all the fiction ive read is creating and exploring morally grey things, both in its characters and ideas. u couldnt completely hate anyone + everything had both pros and cons. it made us question: who's right or wrong? is anything or anyone completely evil or good? there were no easy answers here and kuang challenged her readers to ponder, and even to question not only history but also the present. all in all, this was a satisfying conclusion to one of the best (and def the most bl**d-soaked) series ive ever read. what a fcking ride.

Content Warnings

kirbylover16's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The story starts strongly in part one, flops in part two, and is salvaged but rushes in part three. I love that women are at the forefront of this series and the focus on the East. All of it is super refreshing. The narrator in the audiobook is great. Rin's speech about ignorance and slavery was exemplary. But her continued growth from a naive child to a war commander feels unfinished. She never gets over the loss of her arm or Alton. It's only because of others that Rin lives (Jiang/Kitay/Souji/etc.)

If she had practiced with her arm as Kitay told her over and over when they were traveling the entire book, she could have won the sword fight against the weakened dragon emperor. She could have confronted Jiang and Daji about how they let Riga bully them and about not learning their lesson. Tell Jiang he can't forget Hanelai or what he's done but, he could do something now. Then go into a fight against the airships. Then have the Trifecta die. Instead, Jiang must save her again. They never fought anyone as the whole Trifecta and, Riga's only there for one scene." in one blow, she rid herself of the Trifecta ... two of the greatest forces the empire had ever seen, gone" Rin wasn't even the one to kill them. How anti-climactic! Then part three starts with another flashback and talks about silicones in the shadows like maybe they're not dead after all? I kept hoping they would show up, but no, they're gone. I thought Jiang's mental fight was one of the better subplots and the theory of him being Rin's father interesting, so his death was even more disappointing.

She squandered the Trifecta, especially Riga. It feels like the whole book was pointless or, the subplots overtook the main plot. The inconsistencies/plot holes/pacing makes this an annoying read that drags.

Why is Alton in this book at all! With everyone who died in these books, Rin never shows any emotion besides Alton and maybe Kitay. Which really shouldn't count. Kitay isn't even his person in this book as he's just her Horcrux.

half of the book Kitay isn't even with Rin. Nezha had him but, that doesn't make sense. Kitay refused to work for him, and they didn't know Kitay was her anchor, so why did they keep him alive? They knew Kitay was clever and would betray them.

Her blood family? her adopted family, the fate of the Speerly or the Cike? Nope, she doesn't care.
What was Nezha doing? His motives make no sense and, Rin's motives keep switching. I shouldn't need to read a different book to understand the main character's motives. None of the relationships are healthy or wholesome. In general, there are too many characters to keep track of and, it feels like this book could have cut down and got to the point a lot faster. Why didn't she start teaching shamans at the beginning instead of at the very end? You can't introduce new characters so late in the story that only makes the ending feel even more rushed. Overall this was disappointing and, I don't understand how anyone can say this is five stars.
Poppy War 5/5
The Dragon Republic 3.75/5

Content Warnings

violaceae's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Content Warnings

More...