Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

500 reviews

janiceinwonderland's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this was a fantastic read, but my GOD girlie was girlbossing too close to the sun. i liked jiang more than anyone else in this book. i wished so desperately that someone would listen to him

i’ll probably still read the sequel though lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual assault, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Addiction and Genocide

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

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

cryptofauna's review

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

woah. such a strong story. 
the characterization and the setting are amazing especially but just everything about this is so so good. so well written with an amazing plot that had such a good mix of expected and unexpected. kept me absolutely hooked the whole time
i didn’t know Kuang’s whole thing was the opium wars (obviously this one but babel too) but i love how in depth the thoughts and research are on this time in history. by focusing on it they get such nuanced takes which then can be applied to the fantasy elements . the historical blends so well with the magic system too
will def be reading the sequels

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, War, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault

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

lilyruby's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Rape, and Xenophobia

lilyruby's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

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

mushroombeep's review

dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Racism, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence

kitten_nugget's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Sexual violence, and Rape

Moderate: Xenophobia