Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

320 reviews

ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Pain. 
All the trigger warnings. 
And pain 😭😭😭😭😭

Always a ride with my girl Rin. 
I’ll get to book 3 next year. I can only take one book per year from this series. 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Addiction, Death, Blood, Child death, Genocide, and Child abuse

Minor: Confinement

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. 

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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

maria_15's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Genocide, Addiction, Blood, Rape, Religious bigotry, Vomit, War, Murder, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, and Emotional abuse

darkclouds's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

Now, how does one go about in suing Rebecca Kuang for emotional and mental damages?

Being my 100th book of the year, I'm feeling quite the swarming tidal of harrowing sensations. I've read an exceedingly well written book, two in fact within the space of a month and reached a milestone I thought I'd never hit again, all at once.

The Poppy War had brought me to my knees and extracted the tightly bound tears that I caged so well with it's vengeful, and riveting appeal and war conflicted trauma. It took me a year to find my footing and any semblance of recovery to continue this series.

There's a sense of loss, perhaps grief, a kind of hollow feeling of emptiness but fulfilment as well - once you complete reading one of these. Anyone seen/read Attack on Titan? If you can withstand *that* abomination of a series then you absolutely have enough gall to pick up Poppy War and face it's events headstrong. There's almost a deep guilty pleasure in facing one tragic loss after another, of chasing a cast of characters with complex arcs and a ghost inkling of found family trope. You cannot stop pushing forward and experience the absolute brutality that these characters face one chapter after another. The way Kuang has readers ensnared within an endless loop of gaining some hope, she just as quickly tears it away. Even though you can expect this when going into the series, it's never quite so black and white. There'll be elements of surprise.

Whilst Poppy War had shaken me to my very core with it being so incredibly unforgiving, Dragon Republic truly throws you into a position of complete helplessness. It's truly frustrating and compulsive and I absolutely devoured every page. Every word. Rin is every part the fearsome, yet fragile protagonist with compelling characteristics that can really irk a reader. But her unlikeable traits doesn't stop us from wanting to root for her and I think that's true power in writing.

Rebecca Kuang continues to devastate and bind us readers with her incredible prose and impactful storytelling. I fear for my sanity when I eventually read Burning Gods. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Colonisation, and Rape

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

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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

ewinnk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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: Cannibalism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Torture, War, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Addiction, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

nadia's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

So, I enjoyed this more than The Poppy War, but it was still a lil' struggle to keep on top of all of the different characters' histories, loyalties, motives, motivations, etc. But it felt like this one had a better pace on the whole and if I sat and thought through most of things I was presented with I could piece them together enough.

Much more intrigued to continue on to the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Blood, Death, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Self harm

_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

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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

loup's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Sexual violence, Animal death, Alcohol, War, Violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Gore, Vomit, Genocide, and Police brutality

greciamj1958's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.5

I really like the way Kuang handles topics like grief and depression, I love her writing and how that it was the main focus of the story. It was fun to revisit certain characters and some really grow on me like Kitay. However, I felt that in the middle was very repetitive on Rin's obsession with Altan, and I guess that’s the point of it, but it was hard to care lol. I really love the ending, it made me tear up and almost throw the book across the room, but it’s fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Addiction, Classism, War, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Racism, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Murder