Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

11 reviews

ayoung720's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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

One of the best, most-refreshingly unique fantasy stories that I've read in a long time. The Rage of Dragons is a fast-paced story that still manages to build out a well-developed world, really cool magic/power system, and characters who grip your attention with every move they make. While I am a huge fan of slow-burn fantasy world building a la Brandon Sanderson, the pacing of this story kept me hooked from beginning to end, reminding me a lot of another favorite author, John Gwynne. Can't wait to start book two! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Torture and Slavery

Minor: Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

badbadwolf's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, War, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Genocide, Child death, Gore, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Rape, and Religious bigotry

alanathehangry's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Liked it. 

This was...an interesting book. I think the first and last third were solid. I think there were way too many training sequences. But I enjoyed watching Tau's character development (if not slow and frustrating at times) and his relationships with his sword brothers grow. I loved how he was eventually able to alter the power dynamic. That was fascinating to see. Often in these epics, the main character will just be good because they were born for it. This is where Winter excels. Tau was never a great fighter, he had no passion for it, and no talent. But by pushing himself as far as he possibly could, going to new heights (and depths), he crafted and molded himself into it. That was probably the best part of this book. 

I still think at least 100 pages could be cut for the training scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Sexual content, Death, Genocide, Murder, Gore, and Racism

straw_hat_kd's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

The Rage of Dragons is incredible. From the first page to the last I found myself wanting to come back to this world and find out what's going to happen next. The world building is incredible. You understand the stakes of what's going on in this world and regardless of what's going on in the story, the looming threat is always a factor. The battles...the way Evan puts words together to describe the battles is surreal. There's one passage where he describes the sound of a weapon hitting a helmet and I could imagine it allas if I was right there. The main character, Tau, a beast. Every battle he gets in is as engaging as the next. Around Chapter 6 and 7, the book hits another gear and I was unable to stop reading. I finished the second half of the book in a few short hours. The chapters are broken down into smaller digestible chunks which made it easier to get through the longer chapters, especially in the beginning. There 's twists, betrayals, demons, dragons and so much more all set in a South African inspired fantasy world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, War, Gore, Genocide, and Death

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Rape

khorsch926's review against another edition

YA masquerading as adult fantasy. Flat characters. I didn’t like the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Violence, War, Body horror, and Torture

moberndaseball's review against another edition

• 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

4.0

only 4 stars bc it was difficult to continue at certain points since the story is told from the POV of colonizers. i really hope that later in the series there will be some sort of acknowledgement of that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Genocide

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Genocide, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Deportation, Torture, Excrement, and Misogyny

charlesrevello's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and War

knjelite's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Re-reading this series with my sister and wow, still such an amazing debut novel for Evan Winter. An expansive and diverse fantasy that does not sacrifice detail for pace. I am so excited to read the third book once it comes out this March and look forward to continuing this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, War, and Genocide

griffinthief'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, and Xenophobia