Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

295 reviews

nicolebcook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Minor: Drug use and Gore

meggspence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This was my first adult fantasy series that I've read in years and man I ate it up. Once I was 150 pages from the end I plopped on a couch and finished it in a sitting. This trilogy taught me so much about the history of China from WW2 - Cultural revolution and British colonization. 

I loved Nezha and Kitay, and as complicated as Rin was, I still loved following this story through her perspective. I will also say (spoiler free) the ending somehow brought me an unexpected relief despite such a disastrous situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

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sierraclimbs's review against another edition

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

4.0

I don’t even know what to say about this book… this entire story is so sad & challenging… I’m glad that I read it. But I’m not coming away from it wanting to recommend it to people. 
Rin is such a frustrating protagonist to follow… she makes very human mistakes & I think as a reader you are not always used to your protagonist making mistake after mistake. It makes the story feel very real & raw. But I’m also upset & frustrated. 

I so badly wanted these characters to have a happy ending… and I’m sure many people would interpret that they did… just after so much suffering, all I wanted was for Rin & Nezha to come back to each other in peace & love even if it was platonic… but it wouldn’t be realistic… a girl can hope though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Murder

bootrat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and War

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is without a doubt the best book in the series. R.F. Kuang finally found the perfect balance between the battles and character dynamics between each other. The pacing in this one was extremely well done. Compared to the last book this one seemed to read so much easier. This book had highs and lows and it wasn’t just extreme intensity on every page. Don’t get me wrong final book definitely had it a twists and turns, but it just felt way more settled. 

What an amazing ride! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

marx_marvelous's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

BRUTAL read Loved it but hated the experience of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism

gracemcbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

timtalkinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I've had issues with each book. 
I think it's mostly pacing and the fact that Rin is a cruel and genuinely insufferable person. So being in her angry head can get a bit old. 

BUT 

1. I think the fact Kuang is as old as me and she was writing something like this in her early 20s is incredible. I can't wait to see how her prose and storytelling abilities evolve as she gets older. 

2. She spent basically three books hinting at shaman battles and when we get to that it doesn't disappoint. 

3. The way this concluded was the only way I could see it conclude. It doesn't feel like she backed herself into a corner though. It feels like she had this planned from the start and I love that. 

4. Can't wait to start the next Stormlight book because hooboy this was some DARK fantasy, but I love that it takes its inspiration from Chinese history and religion. It's a really cool angle to take a fantasy book and a much needed breath of fresh air. (I'm sure I'm not the first person to say that.) 

5. Voice actor Emily Woo Zeller (Panam in Cyberpunk 2077) narrated the hell outta the audio books. I usually hate when the narrator does voices that are their opposite gender, think Jim Dale doing Hermione's voice in the Harry Potter audiobooks, but she's great with both.

Overall a great trilogy. 
Grim, brutal and violent enough that I can't think of a time where I will want to pick these up again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

Feels like they hint that one of the gods has basically raped the character when he gave them their powers, it's definitely meant to disturb and not treayfed lightly.

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

ginalucia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

 I gotta say, this book doesn't hold back - it's brutally honest and dark, making it kinda tough to fully connect with the main character, Rin.

As our main protagonist and antihero (the whole book is pretty much from her perspective), she’s hard to love. I know this was intentional. Her purpose isn’t to make us love her, it’s to teach us something about war.

While it achieves this, it does get stuck in a loop. Rin seems to be going over the same struggles and thoughts without much progress, which can feel a bit repetitive after a while. At times, I felt my brain drifting off as she came to the same conclusion over and over again.

The power dynamics in the story constantly shift, which adds to the complexity - but it can also feel messy and overwhelming at times. 

And when it comes to the big climactic moments? I gotta admit, I felt kinda detached. Like, I was expecting this big emotional punch, but it just didn't hit me the way I thought it would. But maybe that was the point - to show how you can become desensitised to war. In which case, nice work R.F. Kuang.

The Burning God, and The Poppy War series is a challenging read. It's not always easy to digest, but the honesty and depth of the storytelling are absolutely worth it. While this last book didn’t quite hit like the first two for me, I’m absolutely happy I took the time to get through it.

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Classism