Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Dragon Republic, by R.F. Kuang

31 reviews

shainalite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

The Dragon Republic mengeksplor lebih banyak mengenai kedua belas provinsi yang sempat disinggung di buku pertama, mulai dari karakteristik, sumber daya, hasil bumi, peran mereka dalam peperangan, panglima perang, hingga kondisi mereka setelah buku pertama. Menurut aku buku ini langsung bisa menunjukkan kenapa judulnya The Dragon Republic sebelum mencapai 100 halaman, yang menurut aku pas dan tidak berbelit-belit. Di bagian awal terasa lebih santai, lebih banyak obrolan dan rencana-rencana dan dampak yang dialami Rin setelah buku pertama. 
Kengerian, ketakutan dan trauma yang dirasakan Rin bisa ikut aku rasakan namun ga sampai bikin aku berhenti baca buku ini. Seperti buku pertama, gaya penulisan buku ini mudah diikuti dan engaging, sehingga sejauh ini aku bisa bilang (gaya penulisan) R.F. Kuang adalah jodohku 🤭
Muncul karakter-karakter baik baru maupun karakter yang sempat muncul di buku pertama, dan ketika aku menyelesaikan buku ini rasanya R.F. Kuang kayak menggambarkan kehidupan nyata dalam bentuk buku fiksi di mana kita tidak pernah benar-benar tahu mana pihak yang ingin kita dukung (misalnya dalam politik atau dalam kasus tertentu yang muncul di media sosial) karena masing-masing pihak bisa menyajikan fakta mereka masing-masing. Penggambaran apa yang dilakukan Rin dalam buku ini, pihak-pihak mana saja yang dia dukung dan gimana dia akhirnya memutuskan menurut aku bukan sesuatu yang ga ada artinya karena itu merupakan pembelajaran juga.
Oke, kemudian Nezha, aku hanya ingin masukin dia ke dalam tong, bertahun-tahun, siapa tau dia bisa jadi tape.
Sejujurnya aku belum pernah baca buku military fantasy sebelumnya, jadi buku ini sudah detail namun masih bisa aku pahami sebagai manusia awam yang tidak tahu apa-apa mengenai militer, terutama penyusunan strategi dan ide-ide yang dimunculkan seputar peperangan. Perdebatan yang dimunculkan di buku ini juga menarik baik yang membahas agama, strategi perang maupun gimana menjalani kehidupan dengan kondisi saat ini. Suka banget kalau ada buku yang ditulis dengan membuat beberapa opini berkonflik dengan cara yang masuk akal mulai dari konflik semacam perdebatan hingga sebesar peperangan yang melibatkan beberapa negara di dunia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Medical content, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Body shaming, Torture, Vomit, Blood, Deadnaming, War, Grief, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/injury detail, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion

marah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I loved this book!! Rin’s character development was so satisfying to see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Addiction, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Injury/injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Abortion, Self harm, Slavery, Vomit, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, Police brutality, Bullying, Cursing, and Death of parent

I think that because of these topics, this book had potential to fall into trauma-porn territory but it definitely did not. R.F. Kuang writes about this material very well.

Spoiler

BUT ALSO THE DUMPLINGS PART WAS SO FUCKED UP

annindo_underthesun's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

The plot was more drawn out than book one making it a very long read for a short series of events. However, the short battle scenes in the middle made it easier to consume

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

fedekanejbrainrot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

my favourite book in the series, loved the plot, the themes, the characters and relationships growth, and that last 3 chapters?  illegal

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Abandonment, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

being_stupid's review against another edition

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

4.5

I have a love hate relationship with Rin, she's really well written. Like she has some kind of growth but refuse to reflect and stay really easy to manipulate due to her stubbornness. She's so full of herself that she refuses to believe she's wrong while simultaneously hating every part of her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual assault, War, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Sexism

Moderate: Xenophobia and Slavery

bblanka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and War

Minor: Rape, Abortion, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

cemeterygay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Torture, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Cannibalism

Additional CW: Scientific racism, Christian imperialism, and colorism

theastj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Injury/injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Blood, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Addiction, War, Violence, and Suicide