Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

507 reviews

linus_rieper's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a really hard book to get through.

This is not a book one should go into blindly. It is rough, and terrible. Well written, but heartbreaking in a way I have not experienced in a book before this. 

I cannot stress it enough, read the trigger warnings before reading this, and prepare for the unfiltered horrors of war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Colonisation, and Classism

weareinheritors's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

1.0

Hoo boy, this book.

Hated the first half. I don't like academy/school fiction. This book had most of the tropes (plain girl good at everything, abusive curriculum, shitty teachers, two gorgeous boys (a rich Malfoy and a dark stranger)—thank goodness there was no romance, goofy best guy friend, etc). It was a slog and I nearly DNFd it, if not for the supposed promise of the better second half...

Which. My goodness, the whiplash. 

The second half is not for the faint of heart, from the (TW)

Rape of Nanjing sequence to the descriptions of actual rape to full-on genocide

. 

It's an okay book, but Rin is so damn unlikeable. The surrounding cast are decent at their best, but Rin is so detestable that she drags them all down with her. The ending feels like she's gonna

start a revolution

or something, but I don't see anybody rallying behind her for any reason other than maybe fear.

I'll get to the sequel eventually. Maybe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

squiggly_cj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book deals very explicitly with a lot of heavy themes around genocide, (sometimes forced) drug addiction, child abuse, colonisation, and war, and it bordered on getting too shockingly violent for me (particularly with the descriptions of physical violence and mutilations). Although I felt the main character's journey was predictable, and that her relationships weren't as nuanced as they could have been, I found the plot and worldbuilding compelling. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the trilogy given the graphic violence, but I overall enjoyed the experience of reading this! I read this after Babel, and am enjoying seeing Kuang explore some similar themes in new contexts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical trauma

taemd58's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nclausel25's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

I crushed this book in just over a week. So hard to put it down, even when you're being traumatised and having your heart torn out. What I'd give to have recorded my face journey during... that chapter... A whole lot of trigger warnings, some are just mentions but R F Kuang just went down the list and said "all of it." And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse and Rape

roisin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Blood, and Death of parent

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Slavery and Toxic friendship

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

yyooh17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

I literally wanna cry everytime I think of this book. I settled on giving it a 5* over a 4.75 because of how much it has impacted me emotionally. 

The characters aren’t likeable at all but they aren’t meant to be, their choices are often questionable at best but honestly all the options are bad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Casual war crimes