Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Dragon Republic, by R.F. Kuang

37 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

faroroshae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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

Loved this book. It tore my emotionless heart into pieces, just what I needed. An all nighter well spent. Now I will sleep.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Confinement, Vomit, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Murder, Classism, Gaslighting, Blood, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Child death, Violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Addiction, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Miscarriage

major_tom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

Haha, I didn't expect this. Maybe I haven't read that many books of this sort, but I found it AMAZING. Yes, I was sad A LOT, but I just loved how Rin developed as a character. It felt natural, realistic even. She's not some ideal smartass, she's an arrogant, wild and impulsive girl full of PTSD and trauma. 

I am scared and excited for the journey ahead!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Drug use, Death, Addiction, War, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Confinement, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Self harm, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

amyp3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

COULD NOT PUT DOWN

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Torture, Blood, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Self harm, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Body horror, Drug abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, War, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Addiction

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, War, Kidnapping, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Confinement, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Excrement, and Cannibalism

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

3.75

The book is quite strong for much of it. However, in the tail end with excessive large battle scenes you lose a lot of the excellent character dynamics of more one on one battles, conversations and interrogation scenes that are Kuang’s strong suit. The Dragon Republic is strongest when focused on character dynamics in the face of the greater war politics. The inequalities and bigotries shown by different groups is quite prevalent throughout the book. Rin’s self hate toward her ethnicity is quite apparent through the narrative too. The book does a really good job of showing that all supposed great leaders ultimately have selfish interests. Some of the added backstory elements are really intriguing. The real life historical background references are very apparent if you know your stuff but it’s also got enough of a veneer of fictionalizing if you don’t. This middle book is a slight step back from “The Poppy War” but not by much and it’s mostly due to pacing hiccups. Please note the role that alcohol and drug use plays in the narrative if you are sensitive to such content. There’s a lot of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and War

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

coolfool_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I knew from the first book that this book wouldn’t take a happy turn but nothing would prepare me for what would happen. It had plot twists that I wasn’t expecting and character deaths that I would never imagine to happen. Rin struggled in this book as she did in the first book. Her opium addiction is explicitly mentioned during the first part of the book and was a major downfall for her.  In this book, we follow her as she tries to summon the fire back and overturn Daji’s empire. I think what was most difficult about this book was how insufferable the characters are. How nothing ever seems to lighten the mood and how it’s just a constant misery to read. The only character that I seemed to slightly root for was Rin when she got the fire back. I don’t think the characters are complex but just hard to read about. Their motivations are all over the place and it was disappointing to read about how Rin was set up for a constant downfall. But, I still found this book intriguing to read. I always thought that both books were such an immersive read because of how plot heavy it is. The page count doesn’t bother me because of how quickly it captures you. So, even though this book isn’t perfect I still found it to be interesting and I will be reading The Burning God. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Blood, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Injury/injury detail, and Pregnancy

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