Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

213 reviews

lydia203's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Vomit, War, Violence, Cursing, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Classism, Body shaming, Torture, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Animal death, Terminal illness, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

alyxbeau's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm having a hard time goving this a rating.

The sheer brutality of the second half of this book is nuts. Im not sure if I'm really up for a series that is bound to have increasing levels of this kind of horrific war atrocities. 
There were parts of this book that I loved, and characters that I loved. I thought it was well written and so well done, but whether I want to actually spend my time reading about what I think is coming is a whole seperate question.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Bullying, Body horror, Sexual violence, War, Toxic friendship, Torture, Xenophobia, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Child death, Addiction, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Sexual assault, Death, Rape, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Infertility, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

naemi_wn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Slavery, Transphobia, Drug use, Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Addiction, Gaslighting, Ableism, Racism, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Abortion, Death, Sexual assault, War, Physical abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Genocide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

jukebox1168's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-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

3.75

The book was somewhat dry. Run sees some terrible things and I never felt like she connected emotionally with what was happening. At times it felt like a list of things instead of the terrible things she witnessed. As this was a debut novel and Babel was so good, I will be reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Gore, Addiction, Body horror, Classism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Suicide, Drug abuse, Genocide, Murder, Sexual violence, Self harm, Blood, and War

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

noms01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Death, Drug use, Child abuse, Blood, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Abandonment, Medical content, Slavery, and Sexism

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

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad 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

3.75

This book was so far out of my comfort zone. I don't usually go for grimdark fantasy. That being said, the Story was very well written. I did initially struggle with the world building, but it didn't take long to get a tester understanding of Kuang's world and the usual system in play.

I admit I really struggled with the content as the story does differ some dark themes in great detail and three fact that it is loosely based on historic events really impacts on the readers emotions as the journey through the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Animal death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Genocide, Violence, War, Gore, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Torture

infinitezest's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Addiction, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Mental illness, Grief, Sexual assault, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Drug abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty and Blood

laraamaee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Wow. Ok. This was the most violent book I have ever read. I’m on a mission to read all of Kuang’s work now, and I wasn’t prepared because I thought this was fantasy. Oh no…the atrocities in this book have really happened before (Second Sino-Japanese War, Rape of Nanjing). I got nightmares when I read this before bed…

But the story is intensely gripping and Kuang’s writing is incredible as ever, even if the book’s pace speeds up Very quickly after Rin’s training. Each time I thought, No, the situation can’t get any worse… it did … and there’s 2 more books?!? How am I going to cope…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Torture, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Genocide, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Gore, Animal cruelty, War, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic