Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Haşhaş Savaşı by R.F. Kuang

484 reviews

mmyup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ll never skip a read from R.F Kuang, not only is her worldbuilding insane, but the characters have so much depth to them. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that establishes characters and their motivations to the extent Kuang does. She covers war SO well, if you read this trust you will be hurting by the end of it, but it’s so worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ashdawn's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Infertility, Racism, Self harm, Violence, and Classism

kmart_ceo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

How far would you go for revenge?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Kidnapping, Abortion, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

I would look up the warnings yourself. There are a lot, and I likely missed a couple.

jaxistired's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

kp_reads_in_the_dark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

On the whole, a good read. I felt pulled along with the protagonist, and appreciated that the author doesn't shy away from difficult or complex topics. Definitely some particularly sad and shocking moments, so be mindful of the content warnings from this and other reviews. Interesting intersection between historical fiction (ish) and fantasy action genres.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I felt the end coming and still somehow felt surprised and dismayed when Rin essentially nuked the entirety of Mugen. I'm really interested to see what comes next, but also anxious about how dark things had become by the end. I almost don't want to consider how much worse it can get in the rest of the trilogy, especially considering how all? descriptions of violence (minus the magically inflicted kind) are based on actual war crimes. It's definitely sobering.

notsamwilson'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

5.0

No book has ever made such an impact on my brain chemistry as this one has. Sure it was a slow start, but it turned into a cascade of very descriptive and unimaginable things. I cannot fathom, even though I read it, what these characters went through. I cannot fathom the suffering any of them had to endure. And I cannot bring myself to hate them for the decisions they made. This book is such a great window into how situations can break a person. It is a window into how holding onto trauma can influence decisions. I am anxious to finish the series because I struggled getting through one particular part of the book. But I know the next two will be just as altering to my brain chemistry as this. I truly believe this series will be a favorite of mine for quite a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Torture, Excrement, Colonisation, and Classism

maddiiec's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

3.0

Honestly… it was fine. I liked the beginning a lot, I love a strong FMC, a boarding school/training arc, and the magic system is unique and thoughtful - more than just “hooray! you have magic!”. I like magic systems with balance and consequences to the magic. 

The amount of suffering and trigger warnings in this book was a little much (see content warning list below) - although I know that it’s the point of the book and important to the world and characters. 

RF Kuang has made strides in her prose and writing since The Poppy War (I adore Babel). I’m going to finish this series but I don’t think I would reach for this book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

kris_tea516's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

 

Synopsis: Rin is a poor, foster child to a drug-dealing foster mother & opium-addicted foster father. However, she is incredibly intelligent and convinces a local teacher to teach her before a big exam that lands her a place in a prestigious school. During her training, Rin discovers she can commune with gods and access powers other humans cannot. A quirky professor takes her under his wing to train her privately. Soon war breaks out and Rin joins a special team of mercenaries to battle the evil Federation of Mugen. 

 

Review: There were times when I genuinely liked this book and others when I absolutely hated it. What I hate about the book outweighs what I enjoyed so I’m giving it 2 stars. So many people love this book so I had high hopes for it but, sadly, I was disappointed. I will also add that, even though I would not recommend this to anyone under 17 or 18 years old, it felt like & has been classified as a Young Adult novel. That is a genre that I cannot honestly say I’ve ever found anything that I enjoy; so, my dislike of this book might be partly due to the genre style. 

 

This audiobook is almost 20 hrs long. I think it could have been half that and been a better book. I don’t mind long, epic sagas but they need to draw me in so much to the story that I don’t want to leave that world. This book just wanted me to escape as soon as possible. It's a book about war & has many unnecessarily graphic & horrific descriptions of child abuse (physical & sexual), rape, torture, and violent death. I know war is horrible but I really couldn’t figure out what was so great about this nation that made these people want to fight so hard for it. None of the descriptions about the world made me want to be there. 

 

This book is also about a group of humans who can call upon their gods to give them supernatural powers. I like that idea but the motivations and how this magic worked were very confusing to me & I still cannot explain it. I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy and that most of my questions and confusion may be answered in subsequent books but I felt like the direction of how the magic worked in this world changed so much that I wasn’t sure if even the author knew where she was going with it all. There was one part that really got me interested in the history of these gods & what their motivations were but it never came up again. In my opinion, that was probably the most interesting moment of the book & it was just dropped in at a weird moment and then never to be revisited or tied into the rest of the story. I would also say that this book felt like it really should have been divided into 2, possibly 3, books. It felt like such distinct stories being told that it was almost unsettling. By the time I finished, I had forgotten about so much of the beginning that it felt like it had been an entirely different book. 

 

I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy but I don’t feel like I was given enough information in this first book to draw me into the next. And, so much of this book was so disgusting and horrific that I don’t have any desire to return to the story anytime soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kingspite618's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

potatolord's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism