Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

141 reviews

lefay_'s review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Addiction, Blood, Death, Classism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Gore, Drug abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Bullying, Trafficking, Rape, Infertility, and Sexual violence

tano's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, Torture, Drug use, Violence, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

gkgkgk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, War, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Violence, Racism, Colonisation, Gore, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Xenophobia

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Slavery, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Death

beccabou'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

As the back cover says: “ Peasant. Student. Soldier. Goddess.” - love the sweep of this story and Rin’s journey! Gruesome and brutal war-time descriptions (with a recommended reading list from the author at the end on Sino-Japanese relations & WWII) - so check content warnings if needed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Rape

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Body horror, Genocide, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Sexual violence

Minor: Trafficking and Suicidal thoughts

noosh_pdf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

When they say this book is dark, they mean it. Do not be fooled by the beginning chapters of this book that feign hopeful stories of aspiring soldiers. The darkness of this book has subjected itself to one specific chapter, chapter 21. There are gruesome, cruel, horrifying depictions of war crimes. Nothing will prepare you for it. Read trigger warnings. Please.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Mental illness, Abortion, War, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Genocide, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

dragongurrl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I swear Kuang is easily one of my favorite authors….this was brutal and amazing. Plot twists I actually didn’t see coming. Violent depictions that were so well written you couldn’t look away while you died inside reading them. Any book this woman writes I will read. I’m sold. Immediately ready for book 2

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Grief, Drug use, Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Genocide, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, Self harm, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Mental illness, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Infertility, Bullying, and Animal death

kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

Wonderfully frustrating and painful. It took me a second to get accustomed to Kuang’s fast-paced style, and by the end of this first book I wasn’t totally convinced that this series is better off a trilogy than a longer chain of books, but I thoroughly enjoyed it regardless. If anything, I think of that as mostly a compliment, as I wish we would have had even more time dedicated to her world and it’s characters. One of my main critiques is that Kuang tends to let her supporting cast lay dormant when Rin is not with them, which can sometimes lead to two-dimensional stakes, but the upside is that the interactions we do see are often exceedingly charming or absolutely infuriating in the best way. A praise is that her use of real life inspiration is both ironic and rather devastating. I assumed coming into the book that certain historical events would be referenced, and it was still somehow even more disturbing to actually read through (

The Rape of Nanking

). I’m very excited to finish the trilogy and hope there’s some level of happiness waiting for our dear characters by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Classism, Sexual violence, Violence, Racism, Slavery, Gore, Blood, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Self harm, War, Torture, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying

This book draws heavily from real life genocide and war events. It also deals with substance abuse, self-harm, and racism. Please thoroughly check other reviews and trigger/content warnings before beginning.

whattaylorreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Drug abuse, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Child death, Child abuse, Gore, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Rape, War, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, and Forced institutionalization

alyce_ery's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

do not underestimate the trigger warnings and age limit 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, War, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Rape, Bullying, Murder, Self harm, Racism, Violence, Animal death, Drug use, Hate crime, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Vomit, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Medical content, Cursing, and Pedophilia