Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

172 reviews

haylee_t's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a beautiful, but sad piece of literature. I absolutely loved it. Currently crying. The bond of Rin and Kitay was beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Kidnapping

chlschn's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

imds's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

lucas_warm's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Self harm, and Sexism

lighterthaneyre's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

I don't think everything makes total complete sense logistically, but I think it comes together emotionally with the themes.

Killing the trifecta off so early, not really digging into the "Riga is what Rin could be",even Rin asking to be killed in the end. I don't think those make like, logistical sense.

The themes of the first books are brought together well.

The way the Hisperians are handled, a necessary evil, an inevitable blight, was really interesting. Their city and how our of place it felt, the racist bullshit they normalize, they're meddling, winning even when they militarily lost. Fuck, I *felt* Rin when they demanded access for their missionaries in return for grain. God I felt how infuriating it was for them to lose and still demand so much. Also sending the missionary to your evil gods rules, 10/10. Rins descent past reason, never stopping, losing everyone around her as they want to lay down their arms, it worked so well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Abortion

zoelufoel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I saw this one girl on tiktok saying one should not pick up this book and should rather experience joy because this book series is literally gonna mess with one’s emotions and there are so many ”joyful“ books out there… 
Well I agree! This entire series ripped my heart, brain and soul apart and then tried to plaster the pieces back together. If you can’t stand frustration, hard-emotional-breakdowns as well as anger, disappointment and disgust all at once don’t pick up this series. If you can, I’ll gladly welcome you to this new chapter of your life. I promise you’ll be a different person after reading this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

mlthomas_books's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

drjoannehill's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

Can I read something else now please?

I powered through The Dragon Republic and The Burning God in 2 weeks for Close Encounters Book Club. It should have been on Thursday but was pushed back to next Wednesday... and I needed it, because this one was a slog in the middle and my reading pace dropped.

Like Rin herself, this book is relentless and single-minded in burning through the country in civil war. Yet it remains focused only on Rin - she is the only person who matters to herself and to the story arc. Anyone else can die or just disappear out of the story, and it's Oh well, carry on burning it all down. There's nothing else for her to do. It's desperate and hopeless. I did not enjoy it as much as The Dragon Republic, but this is not really a story to enjoy - it's about how revenge and anger keep going until: Now what? What is left afterwards? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief

instalovewithbooks's review

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

4.5

What the actual fuck was this? Kuang. What did you do???? 

I didn't expect the ending. I'm so upset. I'm so mad. I get it, I truly do.

like she had to die there was no other way for Nikan to survive because of her fuck sakes

Fuck. Fuckily fuck. Kitay. Venka. Nezha. Rin.

I am not going to even bother with a proper review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

elizabeth_helmer'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic