Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1434 reviews

grievous_glory's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, Racism, Death, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Murder, Torture, Sexual violence, War, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia

treestostars's review

adventurous dark 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

The writing is fantastic. The storyline is heavy and complex and the flow was extremely engaging. Im docking a star for 2 reasons: 1) the relationships between characters was largely underdeveloped- more told than grown. And 2) the gore and genocide atrocities were discussed in too much detail for me. She spent pages discussing and often revisiting horrific acts of violence and rape. I had to skim over large chunks just to get through the book. And a few times i nearly tabled it because of it. Outside of those 2 things I really enjoyed this book, the culture intertwined, and the style of writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Torture, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Sexual violence, Genocide, Drug abuse, Child death, War, Addiction, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying

adequateanja's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Not my Cup of tea. Went in with high expectations but I never got into the characters. There was just not enough life in the characters. I was supposed to be sad about a characters death who had like 3 lines? Yeah, no Sorry. Also the war crimes were just there for effect and didn‘t really feel like they had a real impact on the story. Mean girl gets to tell her story and describe the witnessed atrocities and then we never hear from her again. What a waste

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Xenophobia

rimsha04's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gore, Genocide, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Addiction, Child abuse, Bullying, and Classism

acbwalsh's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Blood, Cursing, War, Violence, Rape, and Murder

literaryloquacity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, War, Addiction, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, and Torture

thmallory's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Rape, Torture, War, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Child death, Colonisation, and Sexual assault

nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed some parts while other parts I felt like I had to slog through. I liked it enough to finish it and be happy that I did, but I didn’t like it enough to feel the need to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Death, Vomit, Drug abuse, War, Abortion, Bullying, Classism, Addiction, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

abicaro17's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

2.0

Well I gave it the good old college try but this sucked. To give credit, the first 150-200 pages were actually good and super interesting. This is immediately thrown out the window. Rin is a poor orphan who tests into an elite training academy for the military. The school/training portion of the book was fun for the most part and the plot made sense. Then we get to the attack and everything following. Rin is 19 by the end of the book but she feels 14. She's constantly whining and flip flopping morally and emotionally. Like genocide is bad! No it's necessary! The gods will consume me! No I can control them! Also every military tactic is stupid af. There are zero likable characters and this book is so dense and slow it took me two months to read. Save yourself the time and read basically anything else not by R. F. Kuang. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Torture, Vomit, War, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

4.5

Fantastic, creative and original novel. Really loved the character growth and world building. Kuang builds on pieces of real Chinese and Japanese history, and creates a real, complex world. The way she seamlessly digs into colonization, oppression, classism, racism, colorism, patriarchy, violence. Oh man! The thoughtful reflection on power structures is woven into a fantasy world that gives classic tropes a little twist. You see how cultures and people can be both oppressed and oppressor. In a single brief scene we can learn about the struggles of the world, our MC’s motivations and views of herself, the society’s values, and the abusive sacrifices they push on children. But it never reads like a lecture. RIN! Oh Rin. I cannot wait to see where she goes in the next 2 books. There were times I absolutely could not stop listening to the audiobook and had to know where it was going. A bit of warning though, there were also times in the back half I had a hard time picking it up again because of the descriptions of the horrific brutalities of war. It’s not a large part of the book, but the imagery in some of the retelling is graphic. Check all the content warnings! The violence and cruelty are purposeful though, and not played for shock factor. Really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the audiobook narrator’s voices were perfect!

TL;DR: If you liked the war college aspects of Fourth Wing but wanted a fuller, fleshed out world, with a lot less faffing around and swooning, with a true underdog story and much darker magic… you’ll love this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Genocide, War, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Gore, Body horror, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, Child death, Addiction, Infertility, Blood, Colonisation, Sexism, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, and Rape