Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

98 reviews

hanz's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and War

book_sense's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 
I have zero sanity left after reading this.. this series. These characters. I have so much love for them. They are so real to me.. the ending. The fucking ending broke me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

mazomazli's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective 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

Make no mistake in assuming a happy ending for this very realistic and grounded in Chinese history book. Kuang shows the brutality of war and what happens after the revolution ends. Most fantasy books call it a day and everyone gets to go home and be happy. In reality, that’s the furtherest from the truth. There’s a lot to think about coming away from this book when you’re done crying. Seriously, you’ll probably cry a lot. There’s no answers or good choices and that’s the point. Part of me wishes the author decided “hey it’s fantasy I can do whatever I want” and wrap it up nicely in a way that brings closure. That wasn’t the point and I respect that. 

5/5 tissue boxes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

violaceae's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Drug use, Murder, Child death, Genocide, Torture, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Racism, Grief, Animal death, Body horror, Addiction, Rape, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Cursing, Self harm, Confinement, Animal cruelty, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

ibazelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and War

xalrynne's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

The Burning God is definitely Kuang’s best work and the most well-crafted installment of the Poppy War trilogy. Fans will be excited for this conclusion full of unexpected events at every turn and a bittersweet ending that I still don’t fully understand. (This book, like both the others, gets three stars from me because I don’t particularly enjoy everything going on in the story and I had to force myself to read it at times, but each book is progressively better than the last one, but none of them reach four stars for me personally.)

The Burning God is just as dark and violent as the previous two books. War is raging in Nikan, and the Nikara are up against not only the Dragon Republic but also the foreign Hesperians with their new technologies.

This book focuses on Rin and Nezha, allies-turned-enemies on opposite sides of a war that neither of them wants to fight.

This book takes a look at what it means for invading forces to completely take over your city and your country and put you under their rule without your consent. Rin is both awed and terrified by the Hesperians’ technology and doesn’t know whether to embrace it or shun it, but ultimately the Hesperians are the colonizers, and they obviously don’t take into consideration what’s best for the people they’re colonizing because they think their own way of life is the best and the Nikara are subhuman at best. It’s interesting to see colonization from the other point of view; so often in school what we learn was written by the victor—by the people and forces who took over—but this book shows us what it’s like for all the other people on the inside.

We see new types of shamans in this book, which I loved. I won’t explain anymore so as not to spoil, but I’m super glad they were introduced so we could see wider implications of this magic than just Rin’s abilities.

This isn’t my favorite fantasy series out there but I can’t deny how well it’s written and the impact of its harrowing story. None of the characters in this series are particularly likable and there isn’t a whole lot of hope, but I still enjoyed the journey nonetheless. The Poppy War trilogy is way darker than I normally prefer my books to be, and I want to emphasize the huge amount of trigger and content warnings in this series. It is full of horrific and descriptive scenes of war and all the brutalities that happen because of that. Basically if you can imagine a trigger warning, this series probably has it, so make sure you’re in a good headspace before you start reading it.

My Book Blog: Storeys of Stories 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

racheldoesthings's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Drug use and Emotional abuse

blynecessity's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Gah, my hearttt 😭😭 Such a good conclusion

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence

andromeda_1998'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

4.75

The burning god is the third installment of the amazing poppy war trilogy. It isn’t easy to review a series so raw and honest as this one. The poppy war has some amazing story, world and character building. Feats that I’ve already explained in my earlier reviews. 

The trilogy as a whole is really strong and it’s a big rollercoaster ride that I would recommend to everyone. In some ways these books still have some points of criticism that in my opinion could have made the books better. But the critics are really minor and not even really worth mentioning. It’s just that I would have enjoyed some more character interaction between the fighting. For me it would have explained more the love the characters feel for eachother. 

My favorite quote from the trilogy: 
“They believe in a singular and all-powerful deity, which means they cannot accept the truth of other gods. And when nations start to believe that other beliefs lead to damnation, violence becomes inevitable.” 

I would recommend these books to every fantasy and history fan but make sure to read the trigger warnings. These books describe a lot of gruesome things in a lot of detail so make sure these books are the right fit for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

ellaensorcelee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

Overall this was a good conclusion to the trilogy!  I really liked seeing Rin's development and seeing the moment when she realizes what she's become.  There were some parts in the middle and towards the end that dragged a bit, and I would have liked to have seen some loose ends tied up a bit more neatly.  But in general it was still a satisfying end to Rin's story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Child death, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Genocide

Minor: Suicide attempt, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Abortion, and Alcohol

Frequent mentions of atrocities committed in the first two books (Golyn Niis, what happened to the Speerlies, what Rin did to the Federation), but they are not described in explicit detail. Frequent mention of human experimentation on the Speerlies by the Gray Company. Some moderately graphic description of starvation and mutilation of corpses.