Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

243 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

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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

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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

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. 

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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

ellenwm's review

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

jukebox1168's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The book was somewhat dry. Run sees some terrible things and I never felt like she connected emotionally with what was happening. At times it felt like a list of things instead of the terrible things she witnessed. As this was a debut novel and Babel was so good, I will be reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Gore, Addiction, Body horror, Classism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Suicide, Drug abuse, Genocide, Murder, Sexual violence, Self harm, Blood, and War

aingealwroth's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.25

Unless certain issues are resolved for the main main character, especially in the next book this is a three star for me due to problematic behaviour that is encouraged for the main character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, War, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Drug use, Colonisation, Child death, Addiction, Excrement, Genocide, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Rape, Confinement, Bullying, and Death

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

aspencross's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, War, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Grief, and Racism