Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

507 reviews

mrmikelynch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

The triggering content is really limited to only about 2-3 chapters but hoooooooly hell is it graphic. Really tough to get through

raissasreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

this is devastating. i needed

nezha altan rin

banding together like i needed air but this book said no we're actually taking the most depressing route u can think of and making it WORSE

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Self harm

queenofthenightdreams's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

3.0

The Poppy War was averagely average.

I struggle to understand how so many people found it innovative and “not like other BookTok books” because it had the same formula, wrapped up in adult or new adult packaging.

Rin didn’t feel like a morally grey character throughout the book. She was good for 95% of the book and then evil

when she burned Mugen to ashes

. It also felt like Kuang was trying to hit people on the head with her personal opinions, which is fine. Every author does that to varying degrees, but there was zero subtlety and nuance. Every Mugenese (with the exception of that one guy who lasted a page and a half) was evil and every Westerner (they never make an appearance and are called something else) is bad. There aren’t even nuances between the two Speerlies. They’re both violent and become addicted to Poppy. 

I also don’t see what people like between Nezha and Rin, they have few interactions in the book, with half of them being less than favourable.

It’s never mentioned in the book that Nezha has powers. Rin’s friend tells her so casually and then she forgets it within the span of 5 pages

Plus, the monsters that Rin’s master unleashed are forgotten about until around 200 pages later which is disappointing and even then, we don’t see another.

I didn’t hate this book, but I went into it with such high expectations, that it fell flat for me when it didn’t reach them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Grief

missdrmuffin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

grandiose_r's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

This book really gripped me and shook me to my core. I recognized so many things from what my father told me from his time growing in immediate post WW2 China (born on the exact day of Japan's official surrender), and his growing up hearing first hand accounts of the Nanjing Massacre as well as further atrocities commit by remaining soldiers even after the official surrender.

On a different note, I loved the novel's approach to drugs and gods and hope it's explored further in the following parts of the series.

R.F. Kuang did an amazing job with this debut novel and I will definitely be returning to this series, but I'm gonna have to take a break from this kind of war literature that hits a bit too close to home for a while. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, and Excrement

xx_salem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I liked the book and loved the main character and how far she was willing to take it. However I slowly began to dislike how she took over the motives of others and lost her own motives, I couldn’t understand her stake in anything or why she cared that much. The ending left a little to be desired, like it was brushed over, but I hope to see more consequences in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thelilithjames's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

77mimi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

[reread]
when i first attempted to read this book i had gotten 60% in and fully realised the route it was taking and paused; i returned to the book as i had a sudden thought about altan trengsin and wanted to pour over every sliver i got of him from kuang

historical context will be your best friend in order to understand the full depth of this story, but even with just surface level knowledge, i feel most readers will be able to grasp the significance of each moment
kuang’s writing and exposition of the story is very accessible despite the heavy and difficult topics; character complexities, flaws, greyness — all depicted so well, even in just tiny snippets, without also being condescending to the reader

(i’ll come back to this review once i can fully articulate my thoughts)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cyndaliu's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Colonisation

amira_42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery