Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

113 reviews

thereadingmarshmallow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Slavery, Torture, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Cursing, Dysphoria, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, War, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

treestostars'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

4.0

The writing is fantastic. The storyline is heavy and complex and the flow was extremely engaging. Im docking a star for 2 reasons: 1) the relationships between characters was largely underdeveloped- more told than grown. And 2) the gore and genocide atrocities were discussed in too much detail for me. She spent pages discussing and often revisiting horrific acts of violence and rape. I had to skim over large chunks just to get through the book. And a few times i nearly tabled it because of it. Outside of those 2 things I really enjoyed this book, the culture intertwined, and the style of writing. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Torture, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Sexual violence, Genocide, Drug abuse, Child death, War, Addiction, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying

rimsha04's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gore, Genocide, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Addiction, Child abuse, Bullying, and Classism

abicaro17's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

2.0

Well I gave it the good old college try but this sucked. To give credit, the first 150-200 pages were actually good and super interesting. This is immediately thrown out the window. Rin is a poor orphan who tests into an elite training academy for the military. The school/training portion of the book was fun for the most part and the plot made sense. Then we get to the attack and everything following. Rin is 19 by the end of the book but she feels 14. She's constantly whining and flip flopping morally and emotionally. Like genocide is bad! No it's necessary! The gods will consume me! No I can control them! Also every military tactic is stupid af. There are zero likable characters and this book is so dense and slow it took me two months to read. Save yourself the time and read basically anything else not by R. F. Kuang. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Torture, Vomit, War, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

lydia203'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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Vomit, War, Violence, Cursing, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Classism, Body shaming, Torture, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Animal death, Terminal illness, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

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

---

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

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

---

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

laraamaee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.25

Wow. Ok. This was the most violent book I have ever read. I’m on a mission to read all of Kuang’s work now, and I wasn’t prepared because I thought this was fantasy. Oh no…the atrocities in this book have really happened before (Second Sino-Japanese War, Rape of Nanjing). I got nightmares when I read this before bed…

But the story is intensely gripping and Kuang’s writing is incredible as ever, even if the book’s pace speeds up Very quickly after Rin’s training. Each time I thought, No, the situation can’t get any worse… it did … and there’s 2 more books?!? How am I going to cope…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Torture, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Genocide, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Gore, Animal cruelty, War, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

scholastic_squid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

The Poppy Wars - the beginning of the story started out strong with Rin handling business as usual for her foster family when her foster mother breaks the news about her pending engagement. In a panic stricken state, Rin utilizes her connection with her tutor to take the “test” - the test that will determine her fate on whether she married a man twice her age or attends one of the military schools. Getting into the school would secure her future as a soldier not forced into marriage and birth offspring and die. She’d rather die fighting for her country. 

The beginning really took me in and I was loving it and the world building. The characters throughout the book as a whole are all memorable with unique personalities however, I began struggling with the story once the school lessons were fairly repetitive. Which fine.. I understand.. but, then when the war breaks out the book took a deep dive into darkness (again ok it’s about war and Chinese history told as fantasy) but damn.. the sudden change of tone to describe what I’m assuming was Nan King’s experience after being written almost like a YA book to incredibly descriptive language about that atrocity? Eek. This book is definitely not YA, but I would say that much of it is written in that style. I think what brought my rating down was the last 1/4th it was just a whine fest to me and didn’t really leave it as a nail biting cliff hanger so like I’m not jazzed about picking up the second book? Also, I would have loved a bibliography of sorts about all the sources she used to help tell her tale.. similar to how The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi ended. The author loaded up a chapter telling the reader many of her reference books. Also, I really feel like this book needed a trigger warning page? If I missed it that’s on me I guess but yikes haha there’s a lot that happens.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Slavery, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Drug use, Drug abuse, War, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, and Torture