Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

544 reviews

thevietvegan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

It went from being War College vibes with rivalry and special powers to real war shit real fast. Whats worse is a lot of the horrible stuff is based on history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, War, Cursing, Child death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Violence, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Body horror, Addiction, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Torture

jpshell's review against another edition

dark

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

3.75

Very graphic. I went in blind and I wish I had known how graphic it was going in. Good book but go in prepared. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Gore, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Torture, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Trafficking, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Self harm

tinyplanet's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexism, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Drug use

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Rape, Child death, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Sexual violence, Cursing, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Excrement, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Classism, Death, Addiction, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Xenophobia, Torture, Medical content, Drug use, Confinement, and Racism

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Child abuse, Rape, Suicide, Colonisation, Animal death, Grief, Slavery, Child death, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Self harm, Alcohol, Infertility, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Excrement

princemackerel's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

a good book that is hard to digest 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

coffeeandcrafts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, War, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual violence, Addiction, Classism, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, and Gore

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

adequateanja's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

Not my Cup of tea. Went in with high expectations but I never got into the characters. There was just not enough life in the characters. I was supposed to be sad about a characters death who had like 3 lines? Yeah, no Sorry. Also the war crimes were just there for effect and didn‘t really feel like they had a real impact on the story. Mean girl gets to tell her story and describe the witnessed atrocities and then we never hear from her again. What a waste

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Xenophobia

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

Fantastic, creative and original novel. Really loved the character growth and world building. Kuang builds on pieces of real Chinese and Japanese history, and creates a real, complex world. The way she seamlessly digs into colonization, oppression, classism, racism, colorism, patriarchy, violence. Oh man! The thoughtful reflection on power structures is woven into a fantasy world that gives classic tropes a little twist. You see how cultures and people can be both oppressed and oppressor. In a single brief scene we can learn about the struggles of the world, our MC’s motivations and views of herself, the society’s values, and the abusive sacrifices they push on children. But it never reads like a lecture. RIN! Oh Rin. I cannot wait to see where she goes in the next 2 books. There were times I absolutely could not stop listening to the audiobook and had to know where it was going. A bit of warning though, there were also times in the back half I had a hard time picking it up again because of the descriptions of the horrific brutalities of war. It’s not a large part of the book, but the imagery in some of the retelling is graphic. Check all the content warnings! The violence and cruelty are purposeful though, and not played for shock factor. Really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the audiobook narrator’s voices were perfect!

TL;DR: If you liked the war college aspects of Fourth Wing but wanted a fuller, fleshed out world, with a lot less faffing around and swooning, with a true underdog story and much darker magic… you’ll love this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Genocide, War, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Gore, Body horror, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, Child death, Addiction, Infertility, Blood, Colonisation, Sexism, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, and Rape

lemo_n's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, War, Genocide, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm, Racism, Xenophobia, and Drug abuse

Minor: Kidnapping

f_m_12's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Genocide, and Trafficking