Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

215 reviews

melitrophium's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Colonisation, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, War, Death, Medical trauma, Animal death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cannibalism, Torture, Racism, Classism, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Self harm, Alcoholism, and Incest

leaflit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Just really not into this series personally. This one felt like it dragged on even more than the others I was just waiting for it to be over. So violent. This one had cannibalism too. Just march, fight, repeat. Bunch of characters died. Not really sure about the ending. Overall this book is not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Classism, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Animal death, Child death, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, War, Gore, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, and Body horror

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

I don’t even know what to say about this book… this entire story is so sad & challenging… I’m glad that I read it. But I’m not coming away from it wanting to recommend it to people. 
Rin is such a frustrating protagonist to follow… she makes very human mistakes & I think as a reader you are not always used to your protagonist making mistake after mistake. It makes the story feel very real & raw. But I’m also upset & frustrated. 

I so badly wanted these characters to have a happy ending… and I’m sure many people would interpret that they did… just after so much suffering, all I wanted was for Rin & Nezha to come back to each other in peace & love even if it was platonic… but it wouldn’t be realistic… a girl can hope though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicide attempt, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Murder, and Animal cruelty

atlaslan's review against another edition

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

5.0

Woah, I really cannot say a thing else. Woah. I've never read a trilogy so strong. I know this trilogy will stick with me for a long time. I jsut finished it so I can't say much more than I'm in awe. R. F. Kuang will never fail to amaze me. It definetly had its slow points but kept me intrigued throughout the book. Rin is such a deliciously complex character morally black in reality but so interesting to read about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gaslighting, Violence, War, and Classism

Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Racism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Excrement, and Emotional abuse

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

timtalkinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I've had issues with each book. 
I think it's mostly pacing and the fact that Rin is a cruel and genuinely insufferable person. So being in her angry head can get a bit old. 

BUT 

1. I think the fact Kuang is as old as me and she was writing something like this in her early 20s is incredible. I can't wait to see how her prose and storytelling abilities evolve as she gets older. 

2. She spent basically three books hinting at shaman battles and when we get to that it doesn't disappoint. 

3. The way this concluded was the only way I could see it conclude. It doesn't feel like she backed herself into a corner though. It feels like she had this planned from the start and I love that. 

4. Can't wait to start the next Stormlight book because hooboy this was some DARK fantasy, but I love that it takes its inspiration from Chinese history and religion. It's a really cool angle to take a fantasy book and a much needed breath of fresh air. (I'm sure I'm not the first person to say that.) 

5. Voice actor Emily Woo Zeller (Panam in Cyberpunk 2077) narrated the hell outta the audio books. I usually hate when the narrator does voices that are their opposite gender, think Jim Dale doing Hermione's voice in the Harry Potter audiobooks, but she's great with both.

Overall a great trilogy. 
Grim, brutal and violent enough that I can't think of a time where I will want to pick these up again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Child death, Murder, War, Violence, Racism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

Feels like they hint that one of the gods has basically raped the character when he gave them their powers, it's definitely meant to disturb and not treayfed lightly.

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Torture, War, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

ginalucia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 I gotta say, this book doesn't hold back - it's brutally honest and dark, making it kinda tough to fully connect with the main character, Rin.

As our main protagonist and antihero (the whole book is pretty much from her perspective), she’s hard to love. I know this was intentional. Her purpose isn’t to make us love her, it’s to teach us something about war.

While it achieves this, it does get stuck in a loop. Rin seems to be going over the same struggles and thoughts without much progress, which can feel a bit repetitive after a while. At times, I felt my brain drifting off as she came to the same conclusion over and over again.

The power dynamics in the story constantly shift, which adds to the complexity - but it can also feel messy and overwhelming at times. 

And when it comes to the big climactic moments? I gotta admit, I felt kinda detached. Like, I was expecting this big emotional punch, but it just didn't hit me the way I thought it would. But maybe that was the point - to show how you can become desensitised to war. In which case, nice work R.F. Kuang.

The Burning God, and The Poppy War series is a challenging read. It's not always easy to digest, but the honesty and depth of the storytelling are absolutely worth it. While this last book didn’t quite hit like the first two for me, I’m absolutely happy I took the time to get through it.

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Murder, Genocide, Death, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Suicide, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Vomit, Classism, Xenophobia, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Forced institutionalization

sudden_zephyrs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Addiction

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