Reviews with content warning for War - The Burning God

It’s been a long time since a piece of media has made me this emotional. Reading the ending of this book was so gut wrenching and devastating it made me sob. Don’t pick up this series unless you enjoy torturing yourself lmfao. But in all seriousness, it was SO worth it. R.F. Kuang had such a talent for creating characters that I can’t help but fall in love with and burn with anger for. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hate Runin. She’s an antihero, but her rage and conviction are so justifiable I can’t say for certain I wouldn’t have acted in the same accord. Most would want to say they could never succumb to such violence, so it takes real talent to almost make the genocide Runin enacted seem fair. I adored this series even though I could hardly stand the way it made me feel at points. I look forward to reading more books from this author. Kudos!

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carriehaley89's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.5

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noura's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.5

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lighterthaneyre's review against another edition

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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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clight's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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hex_agon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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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mmccombs's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Immediately after finishing this my only real thought is that I’m glad it’s over… which seems to be an unpopular opinion but it’s my truth! This was a really well done series, but I simply couldn’t stand much more marching. The ending was thrilling, and I loved how Rin reached the fallout of all of her previous actions. I would have enjoyed seeing a bit more of the “post-war” stuff, though I understand why we didn’t. As always, super compelling themes around power and corruption and religion and colorism and grief. While I’m leaving this book a bit fatigued by the story, ultimately I think I will look back at the entire trilogy as a masterful portrayal of power.

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wyabook234's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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