Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

882 reviews

arielthereader's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Torture, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Bullying, Self harm, Blood, War, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

shottel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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 thought the hype over The Poppy War was probably unwarranted. I was wrong. If you can handle the visceral horror of the second half - without spoiling anything, it gets really dark - this is a must-read. Set in a fictional world heavily based on the interwar period, it takes heavily from the Second Sino-Japanese War, a topic western audiences are less likely to be familiar with. This gives it an unfamiliar, original touch even as it enjoyably uses well-established character types and tropes. It’s a great time - again, if you can get past situations that outstrip the darker parts of Game of Thrones.

The book rests on two interconnected themes. The first: The horrors that occur when humans think they are bigger and more important than they actually are. The second: The line between justice and revenge, and the consequences of pursuing the latter. These themes are explored through bigotry in the form of racism, classism, and sexism (primarily in the first half) and total war (primarily in the second half). It strikes a masterful balance between being too subtle and too outright as the story plays out and revolves around these themes. Neither preachy nor cryptic.

I recommend this book to any fiction reader who can handle the all-too-real depictions of human-inflicted atrocities. [If you’re on the edge, I attempted to be as thorough as I could with my content warnings attached to this review. This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend checking content warnings prior to reading a book.]

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Grief, Infertility, Excrement, and Pedophilia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Vomit

corrinaababee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book had a lot of information. TRIGGER WARNING: violent implications against children. The book in whole was good but as someone who is sensitive towards violence or abuse against children, the depictions in this book surrounding that subject were not only vivid but fully evil. I read the whole book because I can’t not finish a book I’ve started but, that was very hard to read about. Something to consider. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Child death, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Rape, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Children Harm/Sexual abuse was beyond sickening. The toddlers in the box are still in my mind, something I wish I never read.

kirstyn444's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Classism, Genocide, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Animal death

ghoulettev's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, and Rape

Minor: Genocide and Child abuse

cryptofauna's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

woah. such a strong story. 
the characterization and the setting are amazing especially but just everything about this is so so good. so well written with an amazing plot that had such a good mix of expected and unexpected. kept me absolutely hooked the whole time
i didn’t know Kuang’s whole thing was the opium wars (obviously this one but babel too) but i love how in depth the thoughts and research are on this time in history. by focusing on it they get such nuanced takes which then can be applied to the fantasy elements . the historical blends so well with the magic system too
will def be reading the sequels

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, War, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault

noms01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Death, Drug use, Child abuse, Blood, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Abandonment, Medical content, Slavery, and Sexism

allishortell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I respect what the author was trying to accomplish, however, it was too clunky for me. This book is extremely graphic so if you’re sensitive to triggering content, I advise you to check the tags. For clarification, the graphic nature of this book is not what pushed me to give a low rating, it had more to do with characterization, world building, and plot development. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Genocide

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Torture

Minor: Blood and Vomit

harrimyers's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual assault, Addiction, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Infertility, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

This book was so far out of my comfort zone. I don't usually go for grimdark fantasy. That being said, the Story was very well written. I did initially struggle with the world building, but it didn't take long to get a tester understanding of Kuang's world and the usual system in play.

I admit I really struggled with the content as the story does differ some dark themes in great detail and three fact that it is loosely based on historic events really impacts on the readers emotions as the journey through the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Animal death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Genocide, Violence, War, Gore, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Torture