A review by hyithia
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

  • a very morally ambiguous main character that I loved/hated and I can't be mad at her for it
  • overall interesting plot
  • all characters had their complicated motives - no character seemed flat and all main characters developed well
  • pacing was okay, but the ending felt very rushed compared to the rest of the book
  • the parallel to colonization was clear and it made for a more emotional and intense narrative
  • I loved the shamanism concept. I liked that the gods are to be feared, especially as a conduit, allowing them to inflict their will on the world
  • I wish that we could have learned more about all 64 deities
  • Disabled representation is present, which cannot be said of many books
  • Rin raising an army of shamans makes a lot of sense for her character and the war - desperate times call for desperate measures
  • Rin's manic episode at the end was a fascinating character arc. at first, she refused to bend the knee, then realized her mistake, sacrificing herself and Kitay to Nezha for the greater good of her people. I found this arc so captivating because it illustrated the war-inflicted paranoia on Rin, especially after accusing Venka of being a traitor (but who knows, maybe she was... I enjoyed Rin and Venka's comradery though, so I hope not...)
  • wasn't too much of a fan of the dragon arc - it didn't make much sense to me why the dragon would attack the city rather than try to capture Nezha and Rin. I did like that the dragon was more powerful than the phoenix and that the dragon was unbeatable because I think that is "realistic".
  • the torture that both Rin and Nezha endured by the Hesperians was disgusting but was analogous to how colonizers treated those whom they were colonizing. it is an important narrative to show. similarly, I found the mindset that the Hesperians had towards the Nikara revolting. again, however, the mindset that a certain race is inherently better than another is one that people have had and have used to justify irreparable harm to those groups that they have decided are somehow lesser than.
    I hope that those who read this series notice, appreciate, and internalize the historical parallels, as to me, the historical parallels are core to this series. R.F. Kuang has done something truly amazing with this series.
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