Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

29 reviews

xalrynne's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

The Burning God is definitely Kuang’s best work and the most well-crafted installment of the Poppy War trilogy. Fans will be excited for this conclusion full of unexpected events at every turn and a bittersweet ending that I still don’t fully understand. (This book, like both the others, gets three stars from me because I don’t particularly enjoy everything going on in the story and I had to force myself to read it at times, but each book is progressively better than the last one, but none of them reach four stars for me personally.)

The Burning God is just as dark and violent as the previous two books. War is raging in Nikan, and the Nikara are up against not only the Dragon Republic but also the foreign Hesperians with their new technologies.

This book focuses on Rin and Nezha, allies-turned-enemies on opposite sides of a war that neither of them wants to fight.

This book takes a look at what it means for invading forces to completely take over your city and your country and put you under their rule without your consent. Rin is both awed and terrified by the Hesperians’ technology and doesn’t know whether to embrace it or shun it, but ultimately the Hesperians are the colonizers, and they obviously don’t take into consideration what’s best for the people they’re colonizing because they think their own way of life is the best and the Nikara are subhuman at best. It’s interesting to see colonization from the other point of view; so often in school what we learn was written by the victor—by the people and forces who took over—but this book shows us what it’s like for all the other people on the inside.

We see new types of shamans in this book, which I loved. I won’t explain anymore so as not to spoil, but I’m super glad they were introduced so we could see wider implications of this magic than just Rin’s abilities.

This isn’t my favorite fantasy series out there but I can’t deny how well it’s written and the impact of its harrowing story. None of the characters in this series are particularly likable and there isn’t a whole lot of hope, but I still enjoyed the journey nonetheless. The Poppy War trilogy is way darker than I normally prefer my books to be, and I want to emphasize the huge amount of trigger and content warnings in this series. It is full of horrific and descriptive scenes of war and all the brutalities that happen because of that. Basically if you can imagine a trigger warning, this series probably has it, so make sure you’re in a good headspace before you start reading it.

My Book Blog: Storeys of Stories 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

maddiebusick'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

redthistle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I can't express how much I loved this book. I had really enjoyed both the Poppy War and the Dragon Republic but this one really made me adore this series as a whole even more. The lead up to this book in the other two novels was absolutely phenomenal and I tore through this one in only a few days. 

All of the characters developed in ways I had hoped and looked for in the other two books. If you liked the first two I highly recommend finishing the series with this one. 
The end absolutely devastated me but in the  best way possible. The writing was stunningly beautiful and I am in awe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book honestly felt like a step down from the last two. A small step, to be sure, but still stepping down. The first half was very repetative, just re-emphasizing the themes the first two books had already drilled into us. The plot was messy and unclear. The writing style seemed to take a bit of a hit too, being less clear and relying more on cliches and tropes than I remember. But the ending was absolutely perfect. I was wary that this wouldn't be able to bring it all together in a way that felt satisfying, yet Kuang did. She made it happen. So yeah, this book might be a bit harder than the last two to get through, but it is really, really worth it.

Characters: 10
Plot: 7
Setting: 10
General appeal: 9
Writing style: 7
Originality: 9
Ending: 10

Spoiler free, Poppy War series review: https://youtu.be/H0xdme4atzo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Cannibalism

jayisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

Wow, what a trilogy. The Burning God was so engaging, and it was clear that Kuang pulled all the stops with this one. She knew she had her readers’ full attention. Well, she certainly had mine, considering the nights I decided to forgo sleep in order to find out what’s next. I admittedly feared that it would fall short because I didn’t enjoy The Dragon Republic as much (though, reflecting on my reading history, I think it’s fair to say that there’s some bias there because I never seem to enjoy the second installment of any trilogy, haha). I’m glad it exceeded my expectations.

One of Kuang’s greatest strengths is her worldbuilding skills. She put so much thought into the lands, cultures, and peoples in The Poppy War trilogy, and that never fell short. Similarly, she has considerable skill in creating complex characters that fall everywhere across the spectrum of morality. It’s why I think Rin, the main protagonist, makes for a fascinating character because I’m not a fan of her at all. I can appreciate the deliberation in making Rin so complex, though, since it made her interactions with other characters and the world around her interesting. One criticism I do have is the dialogue. It sometimes fell flat for me which, in turn, affected the surrounding text and made the writing choppy. I also found the ending a little predictable, but that didn’t bother me at all since I was absolutely invested in the journey itself, not the destination.

Despite some shortcomings (though nothing huge), I’m fully aware that this is only the start of her already-incredible career, and there’s only room for improvement. I look forward to her next story, whatever that may be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Excrement, and Vomit

kaylamoran's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I knew R.F. Kuang wasn't going to be nice.  But I really, really hated the ending.  And not only because a couple of the plot twists at the end were predictable.  I literally had anxiety reading the last couple of chapters because I could tell where they were going and I hated it.

This sounds like a negative review.  It's not.  For a book to get me to react this strongly to it, it has to have really meant something to me.  This series is incredible, easily one of the best I've read.  I just don't know if I can bear to reread it.

I'm just so mad that Rin hated Kitay at the end.  He was always my favourite, I loved them together, and SHE was wrong.  I really wish she didn't lose it at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

jayeless's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Almost as soon as I started reading this book, I was relieved: it's much better than the last one. Where The Dragon Republic disappointed and frustrated me for depicting Rin as a hero when many of her actions (like genociding the Mugenese) are so clearly evil, The Burning God immediately makes clear that Fang Runin is a real villain-protagonist. I was so thrilled by this reframing that my renewed enthusiasm kept me going for a good long while.

To the extent that I didn't enjoy this book, it was mainly because it was very long, and there was a constant whirlwind of neverending but repetitive activity to fill the pages. I'll admit, as I said in the last review, that some of this is on me for reading a military fantasy when I'm not keen on military strategy. But then there was also – without wanting to spoil anything specific – the long, sorry situation with Nezha, multiple rounds of trusting people before inevitably being betrayed… while I was reading it (for most of the book) I was happily along for the ride, but at the end I look back and just feel overwhelmed by everything that happened. A lot of individual characters had arcs that finished unsatisfyingly. The ending also suffered a bit from pacing – there was a "fake climax" just close enough to the end that I thought it might've been the real climax, so then everything afterwards felt like a really drawn-out and overlong "falling action" section, until nearly 100 pages later it became clear there was going to be another, real climax. Then once we got there, I had very mixed feelings about that real ending. On the one hand, I think it's perfectly fitting for the character of Fang Runin that even once the war is over she can't get over her paranoia, or turn her mindset to reconstruction. On the other hand, it did make the events of nearly the entire book feel pointless, if she was just going to hand control over the country to Nezha so easily. What was all the destruction for, then?! But you know, I guess the core of the trilogy is Rin's rise and fall rather than the state of the land around her.

I want to be fair, though. Pretty much everything that I said I wanted to see in my review of the last book was, in fact, present. For the majority of the book, I was deeply engaged and clicking through pages like nobody's business. And it's also notable that this book puts a very Chinese spin on the fantasy genre, with a wonderful skewering of Western, Christian colonialism in the Hesperians, and drawing extensively on Chinese history, culture and geography. Everything to do with the setting, including the magic system and the gods, was super interesting to me. And overall, I think this has been the best-written and most enjoyable instalment of the trilogy (not quite enough for me to give it a higher rating than the three stars I gave The Poppy War, though). If you've read the first two books, you have every reason to finish the series off.

Review originally posted on my homepage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Xenophobia, Excrement, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Cannibalism

kettijane55's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma