Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

168 reviews

imds's review

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Abortion and Suicide attempt

jackclemens's review

adventurous challenging dark 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, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

periodblood's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Alas I have finished this book. I believe this book was paced muches better than the poppy war, lost however certain shock value as the plot was always moving on a similar scale. The characters were abled to be further fleshed out (

albeit most are dead now

) And I believe

through the bonding of Rin and Kitay

we as readers were further able to understand the dynamics of their friendships. Generally Rin's emotions throughout the book were handled in more variety and more vulnerableness was shown from her. Plot wise I was bored sometimes as it felt rather repetitive in the middle. I also believe the foreshadowing was handled very outright (not necessarily bad, just took away any shock), because of this the plot points revealed by the end just weren't surprising. The writing was handled beautifully, as expected. 

The handling of European colonisation was shown very well in my opinion. So was the religious propaganda of sorts from the Hesperians. The addition of Augus was also very well put.

I am also very satisfied with the discussions of rape in this book once again. Venka's character now also having an identity as an ally and friend is so good. Daji's also strongly being influenced by rape by a Westerner also helped give a very direct understable reason of her hate.

I all in all enjoyed this book a lot but it doesn't quite top in ratings for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

chris_reads'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Excrement, Abortion, and Alcohol

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gigglesigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I should've been to bed hours ago but those last hundred pages wouldn't let me go. The political detail is impressive and the constant reconstruction of the truth has me on my tiptoes all the time, I love it so much. I spent half this book thinking "no, no, no, please, no" and the other half wishing she would just kill one of the various people I hate, and yet it was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

erton's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ellenwm'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“…They cannot accept the truth of other gods. And when nations start to believe that other beliefs lead to damnation, violence becomes inevitable.”

The world building and cadence of Kuang’s writing is mesmerizing. I’m not normally one for war-focused literature but it’s very compelling. The moral quandaries pondered in this book overtly and through the plot and character growth are weighty. Who is responsible for a society’s violence and inhumanity? What do we owe other humans? What is actual kindness? Like the first in this series, it covers colonization, war, violence, white supremacy, religion as weapon. So it’s a little difficult to continue at times when you’re not up to being emotionally slayed. All the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

lreadss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail