books_with_ola's review against another edition
5.0
To była najlepsza seria jaką w życiu przeczytałam. Końcówka totalnie mnie rozwaliła i dalej po niej ryczę.
lotties_booked's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
krobi32's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.0
laylacarstairs's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars
“Everyone vying for this country is insane, but none of them have skin as dark as ours.”
This was hands down the best book in the trilogy for me. The Burning God is a book for angry women, it is quite literally fuel for rage. I adored everything about this book; the story, the pacing, everything was done perfectly, in my opinion. Even the ending felt right, it felt like the only possible ending, even though it hurt. This book showed me that there are no happy endings in war, only survival. There is no such thing as good and evil, only sides and motivations, anything can be framed differently.
Kuang wrote a heartbreaking, vengeful finale and I have no other words. All I can do is urge you to read it and truly read beyond the fictional story to discover the messaging behind it all.
“Everyone vying for this country is insane, but none of them have skin as dark as ours.”
This was hands down the best book in the trilogy for me. The Burning God is a book for angry women, it is quite literally fuel for rage. I adored everything about this book; the story, the pacing, everything was done perfectly, in my opinion. Even the ending felt right, it felt like the only possible ending, even though it hurt. This book showed me that there are no happy endings in war, only survival. There is no such thing as good and evil, only sides and motivations, anything can be framed differently.
Kuang wrote a heartbreaking, vengeful finale and I have no other words. All I can do is urge you to read it and truly read beyond the fictional story to discover the messaging behind it all.
oldmansimms's review against another edition
2.0
Once again we return to a Fake China in turmoil at the tail end of a Fake Opium War/Sino-Japanese War type situation, except there's gods (but only Chinese gods) and magic and so forth. Our hero, Rin, faces challenges as she tries to rally her Southern Coalition against the Dragon Republic and its Fake British allies, as well as the last vestiges of Fake Japanese armies roaming the countryside. Fun!
Except, let's cut right to the chase here: Rin is an AWFUL character. She spends the entire book demonstrating her unfitness to be in charge of anything -- she's paranoid, vindictive, bloodthirsty, and has no grasp of statecraft or command -- and treats anyone criticizing or questioning her on that front to be a TRAITOR and for the most part kills them. To a certain point it's clear the author intends her to be unlikeable and a morally questionable character, since she keeps having other characters criticize and question (and betray) Rin for these problems. So the author isn't entirely unaware. To be fair, it is a skillfully drawn portrait of a deeply unpleasant character. But this is a LONG book, and a long series, to spend entirely inside the head of such an unpleasant character. And there are aspects that I'm not sure if we're supposed to treat as mistakes or flaws because they DO go unremarked-upon: as one example, later in the book Rin realizes that the only chance she has to tilt the scales in her favor is to train more shamans (magic is a great force multiplier!). She gets dozens of volunteers and decides to train ... three. I understand this from a storytelling perspective -- Kuang wanted to keep the number of new characters low so they can actually have some development or identity (not that they really do, but that was probably the goal). But from an in-story perspective that's a huge strategic liability, and naturally ends up with the only two of them with offensive capabilities getting killed and leaving Rin without any shamans to fight when she needs them most.
And, let's focus on this specifically: Rin committed genocide at the end of the first book. Full stop. She destroyed the entire population of this universe's Japan-analogue in the climax of that book, except for the armies still in the field. This is never addressed from a moral perspective. Rin eventually shows the barest self-awareness of her failings as a ruler, in addition to all the criticisms from other people. But her genocide is never treated as a crime or failing in either of the subsequent two books. The implication that everybody else in the world, and by extension the author, is like "oh yeah totally all the Japanese deserved to die" is VERY troubling.
I also had some issues with the pacing. The chief offender is the major arc of the middle of the book, where Rin has the great idea of reassembling the Trifecta, the three most powerful shamans in history--the Vipress, the Gatekeeper, and the Dragon Emperor. The first (who is also the ex-Empress Rin helped depose in previous books) she finds living in the woods, the second is imprisoned in Magic Stasis Prison, and the last is in an enchanted sleep up on a mountain. The emperor is widely considered to be a monster and everybody thinks this is a bad idea, just another instance of Rin ignoring everyone who has smart things to say, and when they finally arrive and awaken him he is a very bad person and tries to kill Rin and the other two members of the Trifecta and everybody else, basically. Rin runs away and instigates a fight between a fleet of Fake British dirigibles and the Trifecta, resulting in their deaths (but not before they destroy most of the dirigibles). So, the upshot is that we have spent a long arc of the book collecting Big Bad Shamans who immediately die, off-camera and so quickly that I was certain that they'd show up again later because of how unsatisfying that is. This entire arc could easily have been cut, which would not have been missed in a 640 page book.
All in all, I suppose the series is worth reading, if for no other reason than the non-Western-inspired setting. It's certainly an achievement for such a young author. But it's disappointing that it ends on such a down note.
Except, let's cut right to the chase here: Rin is an AWFUL character. She spends the entire book demonstrating her unfitness to be in charge of anything -- she's paranoid, vindictive, bloodthirsty, and has no grasp of statecraft or command -- and treats anyone criticizing or questioning her on that front to be a TRAITOR and for the most part kills them. To a certain point it's clear the author intends her to be unlikeable and a morally questionable character, since she keeps having other characters criticize and question (and betray) Rin for these problems. So the author isn't entirely unaware. To be fair, it is a skillfully drawn portrait of a deeply unpleasant character. But this is a LONG book, and a long series, to spend entirely inside the head of such an unpleasant character. And there are aspects that I'm not sure if we're supposed to treat as mistakes or flaws because they DO go unremarked-upon: as one example, later in the book Rin realizes that the only chance she has to tilt the scales in her favor is to train more shamans (magic is a great force multiplier!). She gets dozens of volunteers and decides to train ... three. I understand this from a storytelling perspective -- Kuang wanted to keep the number of new characters low so they can actually have some development or identity (not that they really do, but that was probably the goal). But from an in-story perspective that's a huge strategic liability, and naturally ends up with the only two of them with offensive capabilities getting killed and leaving Rin without any shamans to fight when she needs them most.
And, let's focus on this specifically: Rin committed genocide at the end of the first book. Full stop. She destroyed the entire population of this universe's Japan-analogue in the climax of that book, except for the armies still in the field. This is never addressed from a moral perspective. Rin eventually shows the barest self-awareness of her failings as a ruler, in addition to all the criticisms from other people. But her genocide is never treated as a crime or failing in either of the subsequent two books. The implication that everybody else in the world, and by extension the author, is like "oh yeah totally all the Japanese deserved to die" is VERY troubling.
I also had some issues with the pacing. The chief offender is the major arc of the middle of the book, where Rin has the great idea of reassembling the Trifecta, the three most powerful shamans in history--the Vipress, the Gatekeeper, and the Dragon Emperor. The first (who is also the ex-Empress Rin helped depose in previous books) she finds living in the woods, the second is imprisoned in Magic Stasis Prison, and the last is in an enchanted sleep up on a mountain. The emperor is widely considered to be a monster and everybody thinks this is a bad idea, just another instance of Rin ignoring everyone who has smart things to say, and when they finally arrive and awaken him he is a very bad person and tries to kill Rin and the other two members of the Trifecta and everybody else, basically. Rin runs away and instigates a fight between a fleet of Fake British dirigibles and the Trifecta, resulting in their deaths (but not before they destroy most of the dirigibles). So, the upshot is that we have spent a long arc of the book collecting Big Bad Shamans who immediately die, off-camera and so quickly that I was certain that they'd show up again later because of how unsatisfying that is. This entire arc could easily have been cut, which would not have been missed in a 640 page book.
All in all, I suppose the series is worth reading, if for no other reason than the non-Western-inspired setting. It's certainly an achievement for such a young author. But it's disappointing that it ends on such a down note.
alymosh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
matzstars's review against another edition
5.0
i....i need a moment. the ending killed me, but when i think about it, i don't think it could have ended any other way. kuang is so smart and i admire her so much for this book and this series. all of these characters and their struggles are visceral, and readers aren't spared the horror of this war. it's ugly and real. rin is such a great protagonist, and her conflicts with kitay, nezha, venka, and everyone are so amazing. the writing is amazing, the characters and plot are indescribably real, and the research and love that went in to this are evident.
jeetjeet's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
5.0
grapie_deltaco's review against another edition
5.0
A realistic and honest ending that I hate so much. I'll never recover.
CW: plot centering war, genocide, mass murder, murder, death, grief, violence, PTSD, self harm, references to rape and sex slavery, blood, gore, colonialism, colorism, racism, manipulation, white supremacy
CW: plot centering war, genocide, mass murder, murder, death, grief, violence, PTSD, self harm, references to rape and sex slavery, blood, gore, colonialism, colorism, racism, manipulation, white supremacy
iamblob's review against another edition
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0