Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

168 reviews

finn_1312's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Torture, Alcohol, War, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cannibalism

sannesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, War, Rape, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Pedophilia, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Classism, Excrement, Misogyny, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Torture, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, and Slavery

bacook0403's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexism, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gore, Addiction, War, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Child death, and Drug use

kc_mellow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

While I preferred the first book, I thorougly enjoyed the slow-burn aspect of The Dragon Republic. I dropped my rating because some of the sections of the book seem to drag out for way too long. I also didn't like how

Spoiler

Faylen's plot point wasn't mentioned at all up until hundreds of pages later into the book. He was introduced at the end of the first book, but it's as if he didn't exist until a third of the way through the second book.

While there could have been more foreshadowing there, it got really intense and fast-paced toward the end, with some great plot twists. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Self harm

flamesocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Classism, Vomit, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Colonisation, Rape, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, War, Death, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Xenophobia

geminireader's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Ha! I’m back. You might be thinking “3 stars? That’s an improvement”. Yes and no. The plot interests me, especially with the historical aspect. So was I at least entertained during this book? Yes. But as for the characters… this is the first time I’ve ever rooted for a main character to die. I wish I could bring Rin to life just so I could slap her across the face. She is quite literally the worst person. The only thing she hasn’t done yet is rape someone which by my standards, does not absolve her the least bit from being objectively terrible. Like no one in this series is even remotely good? Or neutral? Or minor oh bad? Everyone is undeniably evil and then turns to the next person and says they are evil. I suppose this is life and historically accurate, but damn. I started to enjoy this book when I pretended there were no characters and I was just reading about historical events. 

What it comes down to, is if you are going to successfully write a morally gray/villainous main character, you should be offering the reader perspective. I like reading those type of characters to learn from different perspectives. But there are some perspectives that truly do not need to be heard or even matter. I do not need to know nor do I have anything to learn from a serial killer other than grotesque fascination. And Rin isn’t even real so nothing of her perspective or truth can be translated to life. She truly just sucks. And I really cannot tell whether the author is doing this intentionally. I guess if this is intentional, pat on the back Kuang. Cause you truly created the worst, most despicable character I’ve ever encountered. 

And *spoiler* can we just talk about how Rin disowns the South to poise as elitest trash when really the South didn’t do anything to her. Her caretaker sucked but that was about it. And then when it conveniences her to start another war, suddenly she going to fight for the South. But actually, she literally said she’s going to send tens of thousands of “bodies” just to basically get back at Nezha. Oh my god, just thinking about that again, I really hope she dies in the next book. Everyone else sucks too but she is truly just garbage. I have nothing to root for. Also, her whole thing with Altan. Weird. Just weird. So anyway, see you after the third book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Racism, Animal death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Death, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Blood, Gore, and Body horror

laughingkatana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The Dragon Republic takes the amazing world, culture, and pantheon of The Poppy War and expands on every subject. You get to see more of the world, more defining features of the different cultures and how they interacr, and a better understanding of the gods and how the affect/are viewed by society. This book is arguably even heavier than the first one, and the subject of war and the atrocities that come with it are the main plot of the entire book. That being said, it's written very well and it never feels like horrible things are happening for no reason. It paints a beautiful picture that just happens to be very hard to look at. The thing that surprised me the most while reading was the fact that even the segments of war planning and political nonsense did not slow the pace that much and I was never bored of it. So far it's the best series I've read this year and I can't wait to start the 3rd book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Colonisation, Confinement, Rape, Violence, War, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders

brainrot_197's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Drug use, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Drug abuse

_justjess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Gore, Addiction, War, Classism, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Abortion, Alcohol, and Cannibalism