Reviews with content warning for Death - The Burning God

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Burning God, by R.F. Kuang

206 reviews

lua_'s review

dark emotional 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

4.0

Honestly I had a really hard time choosing a rating for this book, because it has a lot of strong and a lot o weak points. But over all it would stay between 3.8 and 4

Just like the rest of the series this book is very dark and heavy, but to me the ending made so much of the story just a bleak, meaningless, hopeless sequence of happenings that I found hard to give it a fair rating (since sad and tragic books are not usually my thing). My review will have spoilers, but mostly on the part I talk about the weak point that I felt.

Good things first: The character development (which doesn't mean specifically morally good development) was done in SUCH a good, subtle and patient way that you can clearly see the author had already planned everything from the very start. One of the central themes of this book is racism, and is amazing to see how well done RF Kuang wrote Rins journey with it, from facing racism in the first book to developing a lot of internalized racism to then realizing and battling it, it was done amazingly well. Her writing is of course another strong point, with descriptions that easily pull you into the books world. The historic knowledge and the realistic attention she put into the overall war and battles also hammered in her intention on depicting power dynamics and specially the many affects of racism inside and outside a society. Rin and Kitays relationship, not many authors write platonic soulmate relationships, and specially not ones this deep and meaningful, it definitely brought a lot of relief from the constant tragedies, and really made an amazing connection and show of love. It made for an amazing relationship to read, from how they complete and how they balance each other, and to me it carried a lot of the impact and sadness of the ending. They were more connected then ever in this book, and it was incredible to read and see it (specially considering the end). Things finally start working out for Rin (at least more than before). To me this is a weak and strong point of the book, on the good side Rin finally starts growing into herself, taking her destiny on her own hands, breaking free from her internalized racism and creating a bond with her people. All of these made for a really strong book about war, racism and the people fighting inside it.

Now the bad things: Although you can really feel the attention RF Kuang puts into her characters and world, a lot of this last book felt more like she was trying to show her knowledge of war rather than build a story about war. Yes she did want to make a story precisely about that, the horrors of war, but after hundreds of pages (2 whole books!) already depicting that, the last book in the trilogy should be a lot more focused in the characters and their stories than in the social economic affects that the war had in Nikara. And continuing on that, the last book, had so. Much walking. At least a third of the book was just Rin walking to places, and of course things happened during these walks, but they mostly focused on characters just now introduced and it's the last book! Stop explaining me in painful details how much Rin is walking and use that time to round up the characters that we've been introduced since the beginning! Because this is the conclusion of their stories, it needs to be taken as a main point. The conclusion to almost every single character felt rushed and/or without a payoff. With this I specially mean the Trifecta and Venka. First, the trifecta, we've spent a lot of the last books talking about, and getting to know Daji and Jiang, (in the first book he was one of the most important characters!) And in this book We spend so much time waiting and creating expectations for Riga, and when we finally get them together, when we finally see this man that has been talked about for the last 2 books and a half, he dies off screen???? The THREE of them die off screen? It feels SO disappointing and empty, to me it made the entire scene just feel extremely convenient (which surprised me considering the series) and cheap. A quick and disappointing way of taking these characters and "defeating" the hesperians out of the way. And oh god, Venka?? You're telling me this girl we've been rooting for and getting to know more and more, this character that was basically one of the main characters, dies by a miss fire of a random spy we never get to know anything about? No, it felt so disappointing, and rushed, and made just for the sake of not knowing how to take the trifecta out of the way and making the ending more sad. Some parts and plots felt very repetitive, I'm not even talking about the constant gruesome descriptions about how the people are suffering with the war (because I get it, it's a book about war after all). But about the "Rin frees and unfathomable force without understanding it, fears it, fails to defeat it, and it conveniently let's her live/goes away". I get it happening once or twice, to show Rin not learning from her mistakes, but come onn. First the Pheonix, than the wind God, then Riga, Then the Dragon, after all of Rins development during this book, at some point it just starts to feel like a recycled plot point rather than a show of Rin's mentality. And the bad side of things finally working out for Rin is because it highlights how nothing ever works out for Rin to a point that feels absurd, she mentions at some point how she should stop trusting people with more power than her, and at that point every single thing that could possibly and impossibly go wrong has gone SO wrong that you don't even think "oh no you need to start trusting people Rin" because you know without fail (to a point that to me felt almost predictable ) that people really were going to betray her, and she really shouldn't trust anyone or that at least some thing out of her control will go insanely wrong. Some of the characters would've benefited a lot from more on screen time, some one mentioned that a lot of the relationships felt off screen, and that made it hard to care about it or feel its depth and I really agree. To me this was felt specially with Rin and Nezha's relationship, it felt like their relationship and specially Nezhas personality wasnt explored or shown enough for some of their scenes to make sense or even evoke feelings in this last book. Nezha as a character really benefits from the book RF Kuang wrote from his perspective, and I think that if he is one of the main characters of your main series, that time of developing and fleshing out the character should be on it, instead of on a extra 15 page long book. I also felt this a lot about Kitay, although his relationship with Rin was really well done, and I love him and what he said very much, I wish we had gotten more of his thoughts, and actions outside of Rin.

Over all I think as the last book of a long series, the Burning God would've benefitted a LOT from RF Kuang focusing more on the characters than on the intricacies of the war. Specially considering she already explored that on the other books (and I dont mean she shouldn't focus on it at all, just that it felt like the moment for the characters to take more space to be fleshed out ant taken to the conclusion of their stories.)

Now to me the point that depends the most on personal taste, I found the book terribly Hopless and almost pointless. Which to be fair, mas partially what I think RF khang was trying to do, but to me it felt like a waste.
After all this is a book, people spend time and money on this story. And to finish the story of every single character in a tragic, and meaningless way to me felt like a very unfortunate and unsatisfying choice. Rin lost all she ever fought for (Southern freedom from racist systems, and survival), Kitay died in the same way, without the peace and justice he fought for. Venka died for literally no reason by some random guy. The trifecta died Off screen. The characters presented in the book (the shaman kids) died with no conclusion (what about the sister? And the girl with healing powers?). Nezha survived only to face alone a future of constant humiliation and pain, being basically collared like a dog by a racist nation. And even Nikan survived to a future of horrible famine and colonization by a nation that barely even saw them as humans.

I mean I get giving some characters sad and tragic endings, in this story that was unavoidable (like rin, and even the trifecta or Kitay) but ALL of them?? Even the country?? Leaving only the privileged, light skinned, character that was constantly shown to not understand the social racist structure that afflicted the south (that Rin fought so. Much. For.) Alive?? (I'm not saying his end was positive either lol) To me it just made the series unreasonably hopless, and honestly most of the book (where Rin and Kitay fought for the south, that is now again under the republic and a pale imperial blooded boy and the Hesperians) pointless. Almost all that Rin fought for was "erased" at the end.

After all these pages, to have ALL of the characters end up like that felt disappointing and a little like a betrayal, it made the ending not bittersweet, but just bitter. (I did still cry a lot lol)

And you could make a point that that was Rins purpose as the pheonix, to destroy everything so it could come back, or that RF Kuang wanted to show that colonizers win (?) Or that at least Rins sacrifice "saved" the nation. But the fact that every character (including the nation dude) had an tragic or unfinished ending really overpowered that for me, and made for an ending that although not completely disappointing, still felt like a bit of a waste.

BUT as you can see I still gave the book a pretty High score lol, and that was definitely because despite everything, this book made me feel more than any other book, I felt relief, anger and I sobbed during it, I loved the depth of Rins character, I loved her flames, I loved how she slowly gets taken over by the pheonix, I loved her love for Kitay, I loved a lot of this book. And it gets a high score specially because of how well it is written.

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foxmulders's review

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dark tense medium-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

4.0

i’ll hate you for it, but i’ll love you forever. i can’t help but love you.

Content Warnings

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Holy smokes, what a trilogy ending.

I spent most of this book on an emotional rollercoaster. All... weird feelings, too. Angry and nervous, mostly. There were scenes that made me uncomfortable and when I wanted to throw the book across the room. It was really really good. I was fully engaged at all time. I'm still reeling, though. The Burning God is a unique take on a fantasy war story with intense, disturbing images and a not-exactly-happy ending. Read at your own risk.

That said, I can't recommend this trilogy and The Burning God enough. Absolutely astounding writing, strong characters, heart-wrenching scenes, and thrilling action. It's wonderful.

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amyyy1's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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madisonbell_'s review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

1.5

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ashmo69's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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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francestea's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

This book was the most challenging for me in that I was getting so exhausted by the warfare that I want a break for me and our characters. There was very little reprieve from the devastation and I desperately clung to every last shred of Rin’s dwindling good sense. A truly impressive trilogy- gut wrenching, complex, unique, and enthralling. As much as I wanted to war to end I was sorry to leave the characters at the end.

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killjoycatlady's review

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dark 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

5.0

This book is the culmination of a heartwrenching tale of a country ravaged by war told through the eyes of a desperate young girl. It’s morally grey and there’s no true right or wrong. The author creates a rich and complex world and while the countries are analogs of real world cultures, it’s not cliched or stereotypical or even a 1:1 comparison. It is depicts nuanced perspectives of xenophobia, racism, and imperialism. The plot is full of political maneuvering and military strategy, and it’s extremely grounded, gritty, and realistic even when dealing with topics like ancient gods and magic. There are no real winners here. I’d recommend this book to anyone who can deal with its brutal violence.

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zharaa13's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

<Spoiler>

So this book was amazing. Especially the ending, I was wondering how R.F. Kuang would finish a series like this as I always hate when things just are okay and fine once "the good guys" won the war and then everyone is happy and as someone came from a war stricken country I know that isn't the case. I loved the fact that Rin was a bad leader she couldn't possibly be a queen or empress, she was a soldier and soldiers don't stop fighting and turning Rin into a better show Daenerys Targaryen was the best decision.
I was a bit bored midway through but things started escalating fast and towards the end I was on the edge of my seat.
I really wish we knew what happened to kesgi I really felt sorry for him and Kittay deserved better.

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sonias's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I am upset

Spoiler

fucking main character death in the end, wtf!?

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