Skip to main content

Featured

Series Review - Teeth: The Complete Meal by Chele Cooke

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. I'd like to thank longtime Patron Case Aiken, who receives a monthly shoutout, as well as returning patron Chris Alvarado. Full Audio Here   Teeth: The Complete Meal by Chele Cooke TEETH: The First Bite Being dead just got complicated.   Spencer’s life began after his death. Being a vampire is better than any teen flick made it out to be. After all, what’s not to like? He’s stronger, faster, and deadlier than any predator. He has a job, a home, and he’ll be young and pretty forever. When Thomas wakes up in the throes of transitioning, Spencer is assigned to train the newly sired vampire. He thinks it’ll be fun, but it could turn the afterlife upside down for everyone, even the people Spencer didn’t know existed. Spencer is about to learn that the rules he ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War #2)

The war is over.

The war has just begun.

Three times throughout its history, Nikan has fought for its survival in the bloody Poppy Wars. Though the third battle has just ended, shaman and warrior Rin cannot forget the atrocity she committed to save her people. Now she is on the run from her guilt, the opium addiction that holds her like a vice, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix--the vengeful god who has blessed Rin with her fearsome power.

Though she does not want to live, she refuses to die until she avenges the traitorous Empress who betrayed Rin's homeland to its enemies. Her only hope is to join forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who plots to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new republic.

But neither the Empress nor the Dragon Warlord are what they seem. The more Rin witnesses, the more she fears her love for Nikan will force her to use the Phoenix's deadly power once more.

Because there is nothing Rin won't sacrifice to save her country . . . and exact her vengeance.

TITLE: The Dragon Republic
AUTHOR: R.F. Kuang
PUBLISHER: HarperVoyager
YEAR: 2020
LENGTH: 672 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Historical
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Partial Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

DNF 217 pages in (32%).

I tried for months to make it through this and I just can't do it. I don't like Rin, and I don't dislike her in an interesting way. The plot feels meandering and I don't want to read a book where I'm just trying to make it through. 

My understanding is that the arc of the trilogy is about how someone becomes terrible and willing to commit atrocities after having experienced them herself, but apparently that's not actually a story I want to read right now.

Partial CW for cursing, grief (graphic), panic attacks (graphic), abortion (not depicted), pregnancy (brief), fire/fire injury (graphic), drug use (graphic), drug abuse (graphic), vomit (graphic), blood, gore, violence, rape (not depicted), self harm (graphic), suicide attempt, genocide, murder, cannibalism (not depicted), child death, death (graphic). 

Bookshop Affiliate Buy Link

Add this on TheStoryGraph

Black ink with light brushstrokes forms the image of a person leaping with a large tail and a pair of wings trailing behind them like smoke


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment