Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

283 reviews

syddey_syd's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFF

That was a RIDE. 

I had a feeling the book would end as it did. This is a fitting—if brutal, sad, and heart wrenching—ending to the Poppy War trilogy. Never before have I read such a complex and anti-hero character. So many times I wished things (by things I mean EVERY part of the series) could have turned out differently, but it wouldn’t have been true to the character. 

I’ll need time to digest the series as a whole. I can’t say it was my favourite to read. I truly disliked Rin about 90% of the time. Her motivations, decisions, and morals were so foreign and distasteful to my own. She had a chance for redemption in the first book and she didn’t take it. If anything, this series is a warning against letting rage and vengeance drive you. It destroyed her relationships, her family, and ever her country. There were so many times I wanted to scream at her to STOP and think, but she never did. 

My biggest critique of this book is the inconsistency in Rin’s character. She’s supposedly incredibly smart and capable—that’s set up in the first few chapters of the first book. But as the story goes on, she seems to have no smarts at all and no ability to strategize (when she was at the top of her strategy class at Sinegard). Perhaps that shift initially comes from her opium addiction, but after she was clean the backsliding continued. I found it hard to believe that someone who was so smart could oftentimes act so stupid, even if she was driven by rage.

For the absolute chaotic mess that this character was, Kuang did a great job at portraying her. I never want to enter that mind again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

mandywoah's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Please read tigger warning before going into this series. Rebecca is a very talent writer and her descriptions are very vivid. 

While the subject matter of this series is hard to handle and difficult to digest, the writing itself isn’t. I had been hooked on these books since page one of The Poppy War. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, War, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Genocide, Gore, Child death, and Colonisation

gracemcbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Cannibalism, Violence, War, Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

hoshishyoid's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide, Cannibalism, Vomit, War, Violence, and Suicide attempt

ellaxo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

ayooooosuga's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this whole series was a rollercoaster. lots of gore, wars, blood and similar things. lots of character undevelopment, if you know what i mean. with every chapter rin was getting worse. she was getting more bitter, more egoistic, and crueler. i also kinda anticipated how it would end, but it still made me cry a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Torture, Blood, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

xveronica_fx's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Violence, Mental illness, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

a_wandering_thinker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Die Trilogie ist genial, bottom line. Der zweite Teil ist mein Favorit, der dritte ging zu schnell voran und hat nicht allen Plotlines und Charaktere die Tiefe und Aufmerksamkeit gegeben, die sie verdient hätten. Aber ich habe diesen Teil dennoch verschlungen, die Story hat mich gepackt wie lange keine Buchreihe mehr. 

Das Worldbuilding und die Parallelen zur echten Welt waren gleichzeitig das beste an den Büchern als auch eine Schwachstelle. Zum einen habe ich so viel über Krieg und Staatenbildung gelernt wie bei keinem Buch zuvor. Darüber, wozu Menschen fähig sind, was Revolutionen kosten, über Religion, Kolonialismus und Abgründe der Menschlichkeit. Auf der anderen Seite musste ich mich bei jedem Element der Story fragen, welches reale Ereignis es wohl inspiriert hat, dass sich die Handlung manchmal wie eine sehr ausgeschmückte Allegorie für Real-Life-Events anfühlte, anstatt zu etwas Eigenem zu werden (was immer noch viel über unsere echte Geschichte und Kulturen aussagen kann, aber ohne davon zu dominiert zu werden). 
Ein anderer Kritikpunkt, vor allem von diesem Band, ist, wie Dialog-lastig es war. Ich hätte mir ein wenig mehr ruhige Momente gewünscht, die die Handlung nicht mit Macht vorangetrieben hätten, etwas mehr bildliche Beschreibung von Szenen. Trotzdem war die Story extrem immersive und packend. 

Insgesamt ist die Trilogie eine 4.5 ⭐️ für mich. Absolut beeindruckend, realistisch, packend, und ich liebe es, wie mit vielen Tropes gebrochen wird. Ich freue mich schon, als nächstes Babel zu lesen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Gore, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Eating disorder, Trafficking, Sexism, Death of parent, and Excrement

andellabella's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Im distraught.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

bookishedi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Abandonment, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Cannibalism