A review by jazzzzzis
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

Did not finish book. Stopped at 56%.
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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