Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Burning God - Sang Dewi Api by R.F. Kuang

177 reviews

lighterthaneyre's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

I don't think everything makes total complete sense logistically, but I think it comes together emotionally with the themes.

Killing the trifecta off so early, not really digging into the "Riga is what Rin could be",even Rin asking to be killed in the end. I don't think those make like, logistical sense.

The themes of the first books are brought together well.

The way the Hisperians are handled, a necessary evil, an inevitable blight, was really interesting. Their city and how our of place it felt, the racist bullshit they normalize, they're meddling, winning even when they militarily lost. Fuck, I *felt* Rin when they demanded access for their missionaries in return for grain. God I felt how infuriating it was for them to lose and still demand so much. Also sending the missionary to your evil gods rules, 10/10. Rins descent past reason, never stopping, losing everyone around her as they want to lay down their arms, it worked so well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Abortion

shaunaxx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

instalovewithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

What the actual fuck was this? Kuang. What did you do???? 

I didn't expect the ending. I'm so upset. I'm so mad. I get it, I truly do.

like she had to die there was no other way for Nikan to survive because of her fuck sakes

Fuck. Fuckily fuck. Kitay. Venka. Nezha. Rin.

I am not going to even bother with a proper review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

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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melitrophium's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Cannibalism, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, and Self harm

leaflit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Just really not into this series personally. This one felt like it dragged on even more than the others I was just waiting for it to be over. So violent. This one had cannibalism too. Just march, fight, repeat. Bunch of characters died. Not really sure about the ending. Overall this book is not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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