Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

182 reviews

natnat_7's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Abortion, and Pregnancy

exorbts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

shakespeareantragedy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

REBECCA F KUANG FUCK YOU!!! I LOVE YOU

rin my love please kill nezha soon and violently god bless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

thebookworm777's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Once again Kuang does not shy away from the horrors of war in the second installment of this trilogy. Kuang does an excellent job creating characters you hate but can't stop reading about because of how invested in their lives you become. At times this book is a bit more repetitive than I felt it needed to be and Rin felt like she stagnated as a character a bit. I enjoyed though seeing how all the characters around her developed and the unflinching examination of the brutalities of trading one oppressor for another. 


CW: ptsd, sexual assualt, blood, graphic violence, war, torture, self harm, racism, religious trauma

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

maira_h's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Yup, I'm neutral, I think. I did not hate this book nor did I like it very much. I feel like I'm in the minority with my rating but I already promised myself that I won't be swayed by the hype.

This book was very focused on the civil war. There were a lot of strategizing and talk about politics etc. We spent a lot of the first half of the book following this military campaign that was led by the Dragon Warlord against the Empire. If I'm being completely honest, the first half fell a bit flat for me. It was smooth sailing (literally) to the point of boredom (at least for me). Not to mention, Rin was barely functional during this first half with her non-existent fire power. She was literally a foot soldier at one point. 

The second half of the book was when things got interesting. Rin finally, FINALLY managed to call for the Phoenix by making Kitay her anchor. Then that revelation about Nezha also being a shaman (I kind of predicted this but interesting nonetheless). And then, Rin finally learning how to control her fire (some development, at least).

My biggest problem with this series so far is how underdeveloped the cast of characters are. The Cike especially. Rin is badass, I'll admit that. But she is also 1) childish (if she decided not to listen, she would literally say "fuck off" to that person) 2) no impulse control (can't remember who said this about Rin but it was either Kitay or Nezha) 3) contradictory (one minute she's suggesting mass execution, the next minute when Kitay asked her if she could repeat what she did to Mugen to their enemies, she hesitated).

The Cike are forgettable. When one by one left/ got killed, I felt nothing. I did not grew attached to them at all, which was honestly sad.

The most interesting characters to me was probably Kitay and Nezha. The platonic love and bond between Kitay and Rin is kinda cute, I'll admit. That romance (?) between Rin and Nezha was weird (?) but cute at the same time. I cringed when Nezha stabbed Rin in the back (literally) because of course. Even I almost fell for it.

Overall, 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is dark, and it is complicated. It picks up where The Poppy War left off and continues to explore power, addiction, and the horrors of war.

The politics of this book are wonderfully complex. There are multiple different political factions, and they are all at odds with each other in different ways. Daji, Vaisra, and the Hesperians are a fascinating triad of competing villains. R. F. Kuang’s skill at depicting the horrors of war and of religious colonization is unmatched.

No scene in The Dragon Republic matches the utter horror of the massacre at Golyn Niis in The Poppy War, but this book simply never lets up on the way that it discusses and shows atrocities. You will not have a single moment while reading this book where you feel good about anything.

The pieces of the story didn’t fit together quite as well as in the first one. I think it’s just a second-book problem, but there were a few too many moving parts.

People who recommend this series for the “romance” are vile and irresponsible. The relationship between Rin and Nezha is tortured and complicated and deeply compelling. It is one of the most fascinatingly toxic relationships I’ve ever encountered. But it is less than a subplot, and if you go into these books expecting romance, you will be much worse than disappointed.

I’m probably going to need to wait another three months before I read book three.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cannibalism, Abortion, and Classism

juhpiter_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

lauramparis's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage

opossumom's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

miavlb's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I still enjoyed this book, but it was a little more difficult to have motivation to get through this book. It's not because it was bad, but because the story felt like it was going nowhere in like the first 2/3 of the book. The first book followed Rin's journey to Sinegard and her discovering her Speerly powers. But in the second book, it doesn't feel like much happens. I understand Rin is recovering from using her powers and grieving over Altan, but the events that happen during their time at sea wasn't very interesting. And on top of that, Su Daji blocks Rin's access to her powers, so a lot of the book is just Rin sad about not having her powers. It's not until the last third of the book when she can use her powers again and the story actually picks up. Rin finally has closure with Altan's death and so much gets revealed in the end that I finally got interested in the book again. Another thing I liked was seeing Rin's relationships with Kitay, Venka, and especially Nezha. Overall, I think this is still a great book, especially if you like reading more about the political side of wars, but I liked the first book more. I am excited to read the third book but I am also worried about who else is going to die lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism