Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1414 reviews

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

bibi_lotta101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Gore, Genocide, Drug use, Violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Animal death, Torture, Rape, Murder, and Drug abuse

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

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

danielflynn's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

1.5

Confusing and lazy copy of Sino-Japanese war, through the lens of a schizophrenic time period so much so that I’m still unsure the technology level. With truly one of the most unlovable protagonists I’ve ever read. Rin's total lack of ideology is bizarre and makes her reasoning unclear, she is told to be a genius of strategy and out side the box thinking but then falls for every trap and first and only ever plan is violence. Great ideas badly executed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Genocide, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

shottel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

I thought the hype over The Poppy War was probably unwarranted. I was wrong. If you can handle the visceral horror of the second half - without spoiling anything, it gets really dark - this is a must-read. Set in a fictional world heavily based on the interwar period, it takes heavily from the Second Sino-Japanese War, a topic western audiences are less likely to be familiar with. This gives it an unfamiliar, original touch even as it enjoyably uses well-established character types and tropes. It’s a great time - again, if you can get past situations that outstrip the darker parts of Game of Thrones.

The book rests on two interconnected themes. The first: The horrors that occur when humans think they are bigger and more important than they actually are. The second: The line between justice and revenge, and the consequences of pursuing the latter. These themes are explored through bigotry in the form of racism, classism, and sexism (primarily in the first half) and total war (primarily in the second half). It strikes a masterful balance between being too subtle and too outright as the story plays out and revolves around these themes. Neither preachy nor cryptic.

I recommend this book to any fiction reader who can handle the all-too-real depictions of human-inflicted atrocities. [If you’re on the edge, I attempted to be as thorough as I could with my content warnings attached to this review. This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend checking content warnings prior to reading a book.]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Genocide, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Classism, Body horror, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Grief, Infertility, Excrement, and Pedophilia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Vomit

corrinaababee's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book had a lot of information. TRIGGER WARNING: violent implications against children. The book in whole was good but as someone who is sensitive towards violence or abuse against children, the depictions in this book surrounding that subject were not only vivid but fully evil. I read the whole book because I can’t not finish a book I’ve started but, that was very hard to read about. Something to consider. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Child death, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Rape, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Children Harm/Sexual abuse was beyond sickening. The toddlers in the box are still in my mind, something I wish I never read.

kmae314's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Blood, Genocide, Drug abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Classism, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, and Grief

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

megshughes_13's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Colonisation, and Genocide