Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

144 reviews

laughingkatana'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I simply couldn't give it 4 stars. This book was truly great. It was fully immersive, incredibly detailed, and told an wonderful story (wonderful isn't the right word, it's an incredibly dark story). While reading the biggest issue was the pacing.

Spoiler

the marching and travel of war troops was clearly established in all three books, but this one took it to another level and it dragged on and on at times.

(Next spoiler is very light)

Spoiler

In other moments it felt like large climactic moments were brushed quickly to the side and made me question their importance to the story entirely.

After finishing the book my biggest issue is simply how much is left to question, and how the characters justified the ending. I'm very curious if R.F. Kuang will ever publish anything based in the same world and taking place after this trilogy. It's odd, I'm disappointed and wanting more of the story simultaneously. I think I just want to know if/how the characters in this story will affect the world long term.

Spoiler

It honestly feels like if Rin, Nezha, and a large majority of the main chracters never existed the story would've ended the same way. It doesn't feel like they had any impact in the long run.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Addiction, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Torture, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, War, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Religious bigotry

ewinnk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Body horror, Cannibalism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

mpbookreviews's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Alcohol, Grief, War, Blood, Violence, Genocide, Medical content, Animal death, Child death, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Vomit, Gore, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

_justjess's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Sexual assault, Addiction, Murder, Rape, Violence, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Torture, Racism, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and Vomit

caelinsullivan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Cannibalism, Violence, Animal death, Addiction, Self harm, Murder, Suicide, and Colonisation

quill88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Classism, Murder, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic friendship, War, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Cursing, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Slavery, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cassmreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Death, Racism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Murder, Torture, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Classism, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Rape

r_snail52's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

w-o-w R F Kuang does it time and time again, this series truly ripped me to shreds, might i be spoiled now for any revenge arc book because of this beautifully and intricately constructed epic, yes. Do i care, nope. I absolutely adore this i’ve never read anything like it, well except maybe for babel. READ THIS SERIES RIGHT NOW

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Drug use, and Murder

jessicaludden's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

“She was a goddess. She was a monster. She’d nearly destroyed this country. And then she’d given it one last, gasping chance to live.”

There’s so much to unpack in this book. It so vividly portrayed this endless cycle of war and the impacts of constant oppression not just to our main character and her surroundings but to the entire country and its people. Rin makes the same mistakes over and over again and while some people could be annoyed by that, I loved it. She’s far from perfect. She’s almost villainous and it was the most interesting concept to read. I love how every relationship revolves around such a deep sense of love and hatred. Her friendships are full of so much history making betrayals and deaths and battles hurt that much more. This book gives a bleak and realistic ending that left me feeling hollow inside but I can’t see it ending any other way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Murder, Racism, War, Cannibalism, Child death, and Drug use

thebookaholic's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

WOW what a conclusion to this series!! I'm surprised to say that this was my least favourite of the three books, but it's still a solid 4 star read which imo, says a lot about the series as a whole and Kuang's insane writing abilities.

This book felt so much bigger that the others did, with the plot zooming out in a way that was more distant from the characters and comprehensive of Nikara, and yet I don't think it lost any of the character depth and development. I felt that overall, this book had a few pacing struggles comparatively, especially in the middle section of the book with

Spoiler

the Trifecta

specifically, but I think this conclusion was so so fitting for the story that Kuang was trying to tell. 

After all,

Spoiler

The first rule of the Cike is that they cull, and Rin had already been to the Chuluu Korith...

Would I recommend? ABSOLUTELY

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, Racism, Animal death, Death, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury