Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Republika Smoka by R.F. Kuang

118 reviews

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

finn_1312's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Torture, Alcohol, War, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cannibalism

becausebrenna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

AHHHHHHHHH 
I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to finish this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Drug use, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Pedophilia, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Classism, Excrement, Misogyny, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Torture, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, and Slavery

e_lace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

Rebecca never disappoints

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Rape, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Torture

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

cort_03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Genocide, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Hate crime

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