Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

95 reviews

allisonmspiers'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, Classism, Violence, Cursing, Torture, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Child death, Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Drug use, Abandonment, Ableism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty

Forced marriage, human experimentation, massacres, menstruation,

euclids_5th's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Holy. Fucking. Shit. I have not read a book that has made my heart pound like this in a very, very long time. I recommend going in blind, and then re-reading after you do some historical research. And for the love of God, READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. It’s graphic. It’s sickening. And it is incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Mental illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and War

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pregnancy

hailsatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Abortion, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Deportation, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Infertility, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

maricasement's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-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

4.0

I'd heard great things about The Poppy War in the high fantasy bubble of booktube, so I was excited to read it. It is a story that takes place in a fantastical China, in a period in between wars. Our main character, Rin, is a war orphan and she has grown up working for opium smugglers in a little town. When she discovers that she is going to be sold into marriage, she decides to try and get in to the most prestigious military academy in the country so that she can run away from this fate. You can probably already tell from that description, but please check the content warning for this if you want o read it, it does get quite heavy and graphic at times.
I won't get into many detail, but I thought it was only ok at the beginning. Rin was someone I could sympathise with, but her temperament and attitude were hard for me to connect with. Because of this, some of her choices frustrated me immensely. Unfortunately, this just got worse as I approached the end of Part 1 and started Part 2, and I decided to stop reading the book for a while. After I had let it stew in my mind, I finally got back to it, and my goodness did it pay off!
Some of the discussions and themes at the start of the book were very good and set some of the scene for the rest of the book, but they truly hit hard as the book progressed. (Spoilers ahead, maybe?) Lots of the themes relate to

how we see other humans and how that influences how we treat them (basically what leads people to kill and commit genocide), what pain and suffering makes people do, what war can do to people, fate and free will and how present choices affect the future

. What I thought was particularly interesting was how Kuang explored these themes from the perspective of different character's and leaves it up o the reader to decide who we think is right. She has the characters discuss these things and you can see Rin's and other character's opinions change and develop. As this happens and we accompany the characters' journeys, our thoughts change and Kuang makes this natural thing explicit on the page.
The end of the book is a culmination of all these themes and it is devastating, but you can't help wanting more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child death, Sexism, Genocide, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Drug use, Racism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Blood, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Medical content, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Rape, and Addiction

thienly's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: War, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault, Addiction, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, Murder, Vomit, Classism, Colonisation, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

praaliine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

this book…i mean wow. i have so many thoughts but i’ll cut it short, it was everything they said it would be but at the same time it wasn’t. the book was so incredibly written and the plot and characters were so intricately developed, the story unfolded in a way i didn’t expect. i honestly don’t think i’ve ever had such an immersive reading experience before. yes it was as dark and violent and gory as they said, i was warned but i didn’t listen (i beg you, heed the tws, especially for the infamous chapter 21). now this is what it wasn’t: they love to rave about how rin is such a badass etc. but this is not what this book is about, it’s nothing short of a TRAGEDY! the heaviness of this makes my head swirl with a million thoughts.
so much for keeping of short lol.

i actually mourn for rin the most, i feel like she’s turned into something from a nightmare, sigh

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

thiskelsey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Death, Murder, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, War, Kidnapping, Torture, Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

lexihworth's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Murder, Drug use, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Addiction, Torture, Rape, and War

rejena's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Infertility, Murder, Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship