Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Dragon Republic - Republik Naga by R.F. Kuang

59 reviews

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-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

Not as good as the first one, but it's difficult to top perfection. Kind of found myself drifting away during the fight scenes cause they're not my jam, but I loved the character development, I loved the big focus on Rin's friends, I love how human she continues to be. Can't wait to read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, War, Xenophobia, Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Racism

jackie_recommends's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Drug use, War, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Torture, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

jazzzzzis's review against another edition

The writing is very good but the vivid violence and hopelessness is quite extreme. I am certainly not in the right headspace to read over and over again about human brutalization and violence. I know it is probably the point but Rin is barely likable and it makes it hard to read as I find it hard to like any character in the story at this point. And I fear the next book will be much of the same. I know violence and brutalization is a part of our history, particularly in East Asia, which the story is obviously trying to parallel, but I think a compelling and honest story can be told without such graphic violence. Also, being Asian makes reading this story harder. Although not a real story, it still feels hard to read about such brutal Asian-coded trauma. For example, a brutal rape scene happened in the first book and that character is cast aside and largely ignored in this book despite the graphic description of her abuse. I may return to this book/series in the future but certainly not anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Classism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Slavery, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, War, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, and Violence

obrooke1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

• 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: Violence, Vomit, Torture, Racism, Gun violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Colonisation, Addiction, War, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

justlilah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

Disturbing. I cant stop reading. So many amazing story lines

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, War, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

doodeedoda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Grief, Drug abuse, Gore, Religious bigotry, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Addiction, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Abandonment, Miscarriage, and Panic attacks/disorders

katiemcgregor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

To put it lightly, this book destroyed me. The highs were high and the lows were low and the adrenaline was never ending. The audiobook is fantastic, and I think hearing everything out loud really allowed me to visualize (plus it was nice to hear all the names properly pronounced).

I can't even count the number of times I changed my perception of who the enemy was, who was in there right or wrong, and what the solution to this all is. So it goes with war. Much like The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic takes inspiration from real life examples and I think Kuang's background in history is really what grounds this series. I don't know if I can think of any other books that so perfectly encapsulate war and the cause and effect that surround it. It's not a simple subject so I appreciate that she isn't throwing a simple solution at it.

Rin is so ridiculously cool. I love her and I hate her but regardless of how I feel about her at any given moment, she's undeniably powerful and slightly crazy. I love it. I think The Dragon Republic really gave me a chance to become attached to the characters (which made the pain so much worse). There was so much world building and so many introductions in The Poppy War that this book is when everything started to set in for me. Just as much happened, but I wasn't spending as much time trying to understand the fundamentals of this fantasy world and was able to direct my brain capacity elsewhere.

Anyway, I have a feeling The Burning God will destroy me even more. I don't have a good feeling about it. But I'm sure it will be an incredible read. Honestly, if I didn't reserve 5 star ratings for my very favorite books this would easily be deserving of the rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Abortion, and Vomit

whirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

blazing_orchids'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ging090803's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Hum, what can I say? The world building is extraordinary. I really like it, everything is just so well-described. The war is fine. I mean, yeah, we needed a war to continue. It's okay. But Rin? For real, I can't. I like her, but I hate her at the same time. She is just so powerful yet so weak. She can't make decisions for shit. She is too stubborn. She is blind.

Everyone is betraying her and she still can't learn from her mistake

Sometimes, I liked her. She is powerful, had some good ideas. Sometimes, she was kind of human. Otherwise... no. I do like the fact that she is morally gray though.
Yeah, it's complicated. Rin is just... Rin. 
Honestly, I took a pretty long break while reading this book just because of Rin. The only thing keeping me read is the world building I guess. It's the plot. I just want to know how it's going to end, but I do not care if it turns out bad for Rin or not.   

Like, die or live, I don't care. I just want to know if Nikara will survive

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Addiction, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Racism, Gun violence, Infertility, Abortion, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Genocide, Rape, Cannibalism, and Vomit