Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

742 reviews

benji_dw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

Amazing debut novel. Almost historical fiction in a  grimdark world N.K. Jemisin could have written. Know the content warnings before reading though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, Genocide, War, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Drug use, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Addiction, and Physical abuse

robinudell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

Amazing to me that Kuang wrote this at such a young age- it's dark and insightful and ambitious, and I'm excited to read the second two books to see how her writing develops!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Torture

miranda_redmond'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Torture, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

Moderate: Classism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Self harm, Colonisation, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

nestasbff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

2.0

2 ⭐️ | 
i <u>really</u> wanted to love this like everyone else, and give it 5 stars, yet i’m just unable to.

it stared out extremely promising and i actually really liked the first 100-ish pages, but after she left the Academy it just completely lost me.
the last 150 pages were interesting <i>enough</i> that i didn’t feel like i was going to either fall asleep or DNF (also because of the way too long 30-50 page chapters), however, that’s when i really started to get irritated with Rin (the MC) and started not liking her.

my favorite character (or more like the only character i actually liked in the end) was Kitay.

on top of that, i also feel like i didn’t really fully understand the gods and the magic system. it was kind of confusing to me ngl.

the ending… well. iykyk.

overall, i don’t  know how to feel, but i do want to continue with the series, as everyone seems to love it and cry by the end (and because i, as usual, bought all the books before reading the first one).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Self harm, Violence, Torture, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Addiction

markseyy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Drug abuse, Genocide, Rape, Gore, Murder, Violence, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Self harm, Addiction, Animal death, Death, and Drug use

tne_network's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book got me back into reading. I could not put it down. The author has a way of writing that sucks you into the mind of this young woman and you understand why she chooses the choices that she does. Through circumstance after circumstance that she has been thrown into, this coming of age story is less about the character's maturity developing, but finding the power inside and facing the demons within and outside herself. I have been fully consumed by the main character's emotions and it has been hard to pick up other books after finishing it, so I have decided to finish the trilogy before starting another book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: War, Gore, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Minor: Murder, Racism, Infertility, Vomit, Child abuse, Self harm, and Confinement

thehannahclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Please read about the Nanjing Massacre/ the Rape of Nanjing before reading this book. I’m so glad this book introduced me to a portion of history I was not taught, even though it is gruesome. Nevertheless, this book has one chapter that included the most horrific scenes I’ve ever read or heard of. It’s not just about checking trigger warnings because this book isn’t just triggering— it’s traumatic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gore, Child death, Grief, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, War, Hate crime, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, and Addiction

Moderate: Self harm, Cursing, Vomit, and Classism

renorsomethin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Torture, Genocide, Sexual assault, Blood, Physical abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Gore, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Self harm, Colonisation, Infertility, Cursing, Vomit, Classism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Child death, Classism, Xenophobia, Animal death, and Death of parent

arguhlincozzi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Classism, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Torture, Violence, War, Gore, Body shaming, Child abuse, Grief, Murder, Rape, and Emotional abuse

silviekg's review against another edition

dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Rape, Death, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault