Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Poppy War - Perang Opium by R.F. Kuang

274 reviews

hannahjoanx7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

Such a strong book for a first time writer. Had me hooked from the very start. This is a book about war and as such there us a lot of triggering content but it was handled well. The age of the writer is evident in the entire book in the best possible way
(Check the tws theres a lot)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

faythfarrar's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

Powerful concepts and moral questioning. Rin is highly unlikable (in a not fun way) and, at best, can be viewed as a good example of a morally gray protagonist. Story felt a little slow and bogged down. The characters mostly lacked an emotional power and  definitely could've been fleshed out more. Character relationships needed more work. I found it hard to believe any of them gave the vaguest fuck about each other except for Kitay and Rin. Rin's relationship with Altan specifically needed more and the intensity of how she viewed him felt very random and weird. So much of the plot feels like it just sort of happens and only exists to propel us the the main horrors that come toward the end of the book. My rating would have been a lot lower if the pace and power of the story hadn't picked up so much in the last 100ish pages. Actually, if the rest of the book had the punch of those last 100 pages this might have been a 5 star read for me. Worth checking the content warnings for this one. Some of this stuff is brutal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

crinkledmochi's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I should’ve read this years ago!!! This was truly a wild ride with very complex characters. 

Definitely not gonna cry… yet. I’m just gonna be delusional as hell; pretend like what happened didn’t and all is well. 😀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

droggelbecher42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Very good book, but I didn't know what I was getting into. The beginning reads so much like a classic coming-of-age (gifted kid goes to academy) book that I didn't expect the graphic violence later on. But even the beginning, slow parts with lots of common tropes was very well written and I honestly wouldn't have minded reading a whole book about only Sinegard.
I think I do want to read the rest of the series, but might need a breather inbetween, because this was so heavy

The description of the massacre Golyn Niis genuinely made me feel sick, because it was so well written. Also Kitay is my favourite character and I don't care that he might have betrayed Rin & Atlan to the federation (let's be honest, he knew where they were going and that last conversation on the ship was very sus)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

raalux's review against another edition

dark reflective tense

4.0

An excellent debut from R. F. Kuang. Rich world-building, profound and provocative themes and complex characters with interesting motivations. 

The writing was at times juvenile, and the exploration of the themes a little heavy-handed, but overall this was a fascinating read and I am excited to see where the story goes from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

karol99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious relaxing sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

nat_kiverse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

five_rats_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.25

As much as I wanted to like this book it just wasn't for me.

The pacing was somehow both achingly slow and way to fast, the many timeskips didn't leave time for relationships or characters to develop properly.

Reading the book felt more like the author giving me a summary. It was also like being told that Character A has this and that trait and has feelings foe this and that character instead of showing me, if that makes sense?

In addition to that the plot was very predictable and the writing style felt like the novel was supposed to be a YA fantasy instead of an adult fantasy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Excrement, and Vomit