Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Republika smoka by R.F. Kuang

226 reviews

chasespace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Murder, Racism, Torture, Toxic friendship, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Gore, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Violence

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

The last 50 pages had me absolutely breathless! I was more immersed and engaged in this sequel than with The Poppy War because I really didn’t know what was coming next. Dark, intense, and heroless as always, but a masterpiece of military and historical fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Death, Colonisation, Murder, Torture, Gun violence, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

Minor: Abortion

min_grachi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Addiction, Body horror, Abandonment, Drug use, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, War, and Racism

readingthroughthelists's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

What an odd series this is proving to be. I was enraged at the ending of The Poppy War, yet intrigued enough to pick up The Dragon Republic. It took me nearly three months to get through this book and yet when I could be bothered to read it, I didn’t want to put it down. I screamed at Rin and all her frustrating, asinine decisions and yet I cheered for Nezha and Chagan and all the other characters I have (admittedly) grown fond of. I feel I can see potential lurking in some of these scenes. There are elements of a good story here, some characters and plot points that work, and then so much that doesn’t. 

Really the only reason I keep reading is because I am writing my own (much better) fanfiction in my head and I need fodder to keep my story going. Two books into the series and I think my version is quite good now. 

Whatever its flaws, at least my version has two things The Dragon Republic lacks: characterization and theme. The lack of characterization is honestly shocking. With the exception of Kitay, Chagan, and maybe Altan, no one in these books feels like a real person. They act more like paper dolls that Kuang moves wherever the plot needs them to be. Exciting things happen around them and they respond with their limited range of simple, basic emotions, and then the plot sweeps them on to the next thing. 

I have long lost any hope that Rin is ever going to amount to anything like a good character and her suffering thus fails to move me, but I was holding out hope for Nezha and Vaisra. But both men are criminally underused here. Honestly, it’s hard to even call Vaisra a character when he is on stage for less than 10% of the book. He is talked about by other characters and we are told a good deal about him, but we are never shown anything for ourselves. Because of this, the shocking, jaw-dropping twist at the end of the book fails to be either shocking or jaw-dropping.

Wow, the obviously evil guy with nefarious plans for Rin was evil and had nefarious plans for Rin?! If only Rin had listened to the 37 other people who had already warned her about this!

Nezha certainly gets more time in the spotlight, but he too falls disappointingly flat. Really, he doesn’t even feel like the same person from The Poppy War. Gone is the meanness, the spite, the bitter edge. Now he is just a Nice Guy who is determined to be Nice to Rin (and everyone else). What sparked this total shift in personality (especially when he is home and subject to the jagged dynamics of his family? Wouldn’t we expect him to be more angry/bitter/cruel in such a place?)? Why the utter lack of insight into the complicated dynamic between Nezha, his father, and his brother? Surely this is where the meat of the story lies? 

But it doesn’t because this story has no meat. It has no heft, no weight. Some light themes float here and there about colonialism and the nature of power, but it has nothing to say, especially not when compared with something like Kuang’s far superior Babel. 

In my version, though, there are real characters! And themes! And Nezha is cool again!

And also no one is cooking their children into dumplings (though maybe I can be persuaded to leave that part in).

3 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Injury/Injury detail

potion96's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Violence, War, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Addiction, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Ableism, Colonisation, Rape, Animal death, Misogyny, Alcohol, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

danaslitlist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

"She'd seen the resentment on the faces of her people. The glare in their eyes when they dared to look up. They were not a people grasping for power. Their rebellion would not fracture over stupid personal ambitions. They were a  people who refused to be killed and that made them dangerous."

The Dragon Republic is a book that had the incredibly difficult job of coming after The Poppy Wars, which is (in my humble opinion) one of the best "first books" in a trilogy from the way the world building and politics is set up to the characterization and plot. That means that TDR was in the tricky situation of not only needing to hold my attention like The Poppy Wars, but also had to carry on from the emotional devastation that we ended with in book one. Maybe, just maybe that's why I was hesitant to pick up The Dragon Republic and why it's sat on my shelf for half a year (well that, and I was terrified of RF Kuang's ability to emotionally devastate me).

Regardless, I'm extremely happy to report that The Dragon Republic not only held up against book one, it met the challenge of being BETTER. It was an agonizing and frustrating read that had me getting up to pace angrily around my room while sending various voice memos and rants to a dear friend. And it took me twelve days of solid reading in order to finish reading because of this. And, I would've have had it any other way. The frustration with Rin and company was so GOOD it was BAD and then good again. I couldn't fault the characters because it all made sense within the book. Every time a character makes a bad decision it is in line with who they are and you can't really be upset about that. 

More than anything I truly believe that RF Kuang is incredibly talented in the way she writes about war and conflict. There are so many times throughout The Dragon Republic where she purposefully places seeds of doubt and unease about which side is truly the "heroes" regarding a civil war. Especially in discussion of class, race, religions and political power we see an exploration of the beneficiaries of war. 

I mentioned this in another review for a book I read within the last two months where I said that every book I pick up lately has me thinking back to Palestine and how reading is always a political statement. This is even more true when it comes to books that center rebellion and revolution. I was not able to separate the events in The Dragon Republic from what is currently going on in Palestine (as well as in the Sudan and the Congo). The use of political instability and war in order to ascend to power, the class and political power division, the colonization and degradation of marginalized people due to their race and religion. 

I can't wait to start Burning Gods and feel even more emotionally raw and destroyed. Thanks RF Kuang. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Addiction, Murder, Gaslighting, Rape, Emotional abuse, War, and Drug abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Self harm

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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

4.0

If the first book is about what you can do to fellow people by dehumanizing them, this is about the atrocities you can do even while you know their humanity personally. While this book didn't make me dry heave like the last, it arguably cuts deeper since it's all personal. I was extremely stressed while reading this book, which was purposeful but makes it harder to read. I did love what they did with Venka. I think she was kind of used as a prop in the last book but this book gave her something to do

and sets her up in an interesting place for the next. I do think killing off so many characters towards the end leaves us for a rough time in the beginning of the next but we'll see how that is handled.

I loved Rin's arc as well. Overall this book is a lot of horrid drudgery and darkness but used to good effect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Addiction, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, Sexual assault, Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Vomit, Death, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent and Abortion

obtoosegoose's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Drug abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child death, and Medical trauma

alex_salamander's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book but that's not a fault of the writing at all and more personal preferences on how I like character motivation set up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, War, Addiction, Body horror, Death of parent, Genocide, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Classism, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic friendship, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, and Cannibalism

kirsten1999's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Self harm

Minor: Racism