Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1110 reviews

rachreads97's review

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Genocide, Drug abuse, Murder, War, and Death

amalia_tealeaf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Child death, War, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use and Addiction

The massacre of Golyn Niis is based on the Nanjing Massacre which was extremely horrific. This is one of the most graphic descriptions of a massacre I’ve ever read, however, knowing that it was based in truth actually helped me a bit because it is a part of history and the people who suffered that fate deserve to be remembered. It is very difficult to read though so looking up a summary of the chapters involved and skipping it would be ok in my mind.

kirstyn444's review

dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Classism, Genocide, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Animal death

syddey_syd's review against another edition

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

4.0

Absolutely brutal. 

Fair warning: if graphic depictions of war and genocide are too much for you, then this might not be the best book to pick up. 

This book starts innocuously enough. A poor orphan studies her way into the nation’s elite military academy, and prejudice and drama ensues. All fairly predictable. 

But then the war starts and holy moly, it takes a wild turn. 

We see Rin, our main character, face the realities and brutalities of war and what it does to relationships and ourselves. Kuang doesn’t hold back on her descriptions, which made this book quite difficult to read, at times. Rin’s choices throughout the book until the end become increasingly difficult to witness, but also understandable (to a certain degree—the ending is… dark, to put it lightly). 

I’m interested to see where Kuang takes this series and where she takes Rin. I truly have no clue. She set the bar high in this first book. 

Just please be careful while reading! I think the graphic descriptions serve a wider purpose of remembering and documenting the atrocities of genocide and war, but it’s not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Genocide, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Child death, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use

rebornehero's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, War, Drug abuse, Gore, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Genocide, Rape, Death, and Child death

bobthebard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Blood, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Rape, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Self harm, Torture, and War

mirrorofneptune's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.25

This book is fantastically written and very clearly inspired by Chinese history and culture. There are parts of it that have stuck with me in a good way and parts of it that have stuck with me in a horrifying (if still well-executed) way. I can’t say it’s an enjoyable read based on the subject matter (trigger warnings for a lot, including

a fairly long and graphic scene based on the Rape of Nanking

) but it is a compelling story with a strong cast of characters, and I do want to see where they end up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Rape, Torture, and Child death

jujuleigh's review

adventurous challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Body horror, Murder, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Child death, Rape, Child abuse, Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

allishortell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.75

I respect what the author was trying to accomplish, however, it was too clunky for me. This book is extremely graphic so if you’re sensitive to triggering content, I advise you to check the tags. For clarification, the graphic nature of this book is not what pushed me to give a low rating, it had more to do with characterization, world building, and plot development. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Colonisation, Gore, Drug use, Drug abuse, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Blood

harrimyers's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual assault, Addiction, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Infertility, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit