Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

272 reviews

theoceanrose's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, War, Genocide, Blood, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Torture

emrosch's review

dark 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? It's complicated

4.75

That was so fucking good. Holy shit. Brilliant continuation of the first part. The world building is insane, the characters feel so real. The terror and evilness feels real. Can't wait to read the third part. 

R. F. Kuang is a (cruel) mastermind.

Spoiler

I though after Babel I'd be prepared for all of the emotional pain R. F. Kuang could inflict but damn. She went all out with this one.

  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Murder, Body horror, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts

Spoiler

I thought reading Babel would prepare me for emotional pain from R. F. Kuang but damn. Suni, Baji and Ramsa HURT like a mf.

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

broccoli_j's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Grief, Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Rape, Torture, Sexual content, Murder, Death of parent, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

felrah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense fast-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: Genocide, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, War, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Torture

bacook0403's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexism, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gore, Addiction, War, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Child death, and Drug use

kc_mellow's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

While I preferred the first book, I thorougly enjoyed the slow-burn aspect of The Dragon Republic. I dropped my rating because some of the sections of the book seem to drag out for way too long. I also didn't like how

Spoiler

Faylen's plot point wasn't mentioned at all up until hundreds of pages later into the book. He was introduced at the end of the first book, but it's as if he didn't exist until a third of the way through the second book.

While there could have been more foreshadowing there, it got really intense and fast-paced toward the end, with some great plot twists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Self harm

flamesocks's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Classism, Vomit, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Colonisation, Rape, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, War, Death, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Xenophobia

kaylaswhitmore'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

4.0

Coming straight out of the first book and into this one was very interesting. After the first book’s rather awe-inducing end (

Spoiler

Rin’s use of the Phoenix to completely level an entire curry

) I already anticipated that Kuang would have to find a way to “nerf” Rin in the second book. After all, if it was all just easy wins, nothing would feel very climactic, would it? So, with that in mind, it’s safe to say that the first half of this book was exceedingly frustrating. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but rather, that Kuang found the bruise that conjoined both Rin and the reader and she pushed down, hard. It thoroughly sucked for awhile there, especially considering my standing-critique of Kuang’s writing style that she tends to sum up Rin’s various relationships with a handful of informative scenes but too little transition in-between (imho). This occasionally made those relationships and characters feel a little flat in comparison to the rich intimacy we have within Rin’s character and arc. However, I think that particular flaw took a hard turn for the better around 2/3 through the book (

Spoiler

Rin and Kitay’s bond

). After that point, the emotions, stakes, and overall well-roundedness of every character beside Rin felt much more vivid than before, and Kuang even delved a little deeper in adding casual exchanges here and there that really enriched the dynamics. By the end, I truly felt immersed in this world and found myself longing for exactly what Rin herself is headed towards: purpose. I’m going right into the third and final book now, and hope this journey finds a satisfying end!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Genocide, Gore, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, Self harm, Abortion, Alcohol, Cursing, Ableism, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Cannibalism

As with the first book, please check trigger/content warnings before reading.

Spoiler

There is an incident involving a woman being r*ped in the second half of the book that is moderately graphic and could definitely be triggering for some.

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