Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Płonący bóg by R.F. Kuang

39 reviews

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is without a doubt the best book in the series. R.F. Kuang finally found the perfect balance between the battles and character dynamics between each other. The pacing in this one was extremely well done. Compared to the last book this one seemed to read so much easier. This book had highs and lows and it wasn’t just extreme intensity on every page. Don’t get me wrong final book definitely had it a twists and turns, but it just felt way more settled. 

What an amazing ride! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Body horror, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Self harm, Bullying, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Classism, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture

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

kmae314's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

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

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

Ended the only way it could. In tears.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Colonisation, Torture, Animal death, Grief, Murder, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Kidnapping, Slavery, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cursing

chasinggrace's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Excrement, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Stalking, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, War, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit

wytherwytch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

The twists and turns of this are exceptional

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief, Classism, Suicide, Mental illness, Rape, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

izzywoo'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, War, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Animal death, Grief, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm

Moderate: Cannibalism

brynalexa'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

For context, I do not normally read war books and this series did not convince me to. That being said, this book was the most compelling. There was not enough evidence to justify a lot of the decisions the characters made about each other. Part one was more of the same of the last two books: a violent, repetitive drag. Part two was just confusion. 

Part three was very fast paced. 

The ending was satisfying and also infuriating. A story about the horror and hopelessness that colonialism is.  Devastating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Drug use, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Animal death, Child death, Grief, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, War, Abortion, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Torture, and Violence

kesreads13's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This series was painful and had my least favorite trope of

my dies at the end < / spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Death, Racism, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Miscarriage