Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

89 reviews

jakepasseri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Very excited for this trilogy! Extremely dark and depressing, but war ususally is. While the writing in some parts dipped, i thoroughly enjoyed tensely reading the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Genocide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Infertility, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

the_harlequin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Body horror, Drug abuse, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, Addiction, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Colonisation, Classism, Self harm, War, Religious bigotry, Death, Child death, Blood, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Infertility, and Suicide

ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

Serious trigger warning for survivors of trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Abortion, Trafficking, Torture, Child death, War, Animal death, Body horror, Xenophobia, Gore, Murder, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Rape

overbooked207's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

📖 The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang Book Review 📖

4th book of January 2023 and 4th of the year:

“War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.” - R.F. Kuang.

A military epic fantasy novel inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking, this book was engaging, hard to put down, and very dark and harrowing, showing how absolutely horrid war is and the trauma, horror, and destruction that comes out of it. It had absolutely amazing writing and world-building, relevant commentary, intricate, brutal, and well-written fight and battle scenes, a beautiful cover, a great audiobook, and fleshed-out/well-developed and complex characters. I love reading about complex characters who make mistakes, aren’t perfect, and/or are forced to make big and hard decisions. I especially love consuming content with angry characters in it. Characters who see or experience injustice and are fueled by their rage. Many times, I find it very cathartic because everybody reacts to trauma differently, with there being no such thing as the ‘perfect’ victim that the media/world expects and wants when horrible things happen. And anger is an essential part of healing and can be very useful when channeled toward good, and, while there are more now, I don’t see as many books/movies/shows that have a main character who expresses this understandable anger, and Rin does, so I really appreciated that. I highly recommend this. Just please be aware of all of the TWs(which I started listing alphabetically to make it easier for people) because there are many heavy things in this, and it was very hard to read at times due to them. TWs for abandonment, ableism, abuse(child, domestic, physical, and sexual), addiction, alcoholism, animal cruelty/death, blood, body horror, body shaming, bullying, child death, classism, colonization, confinement, cursing, death, drugs/drug use, excrement, fatphobia, fire/fire injury, forced institutionalization, gaslighting, genocide, gore, grief, gun violence, hate crime, infertility, injuries/injury detail, kidnapping, medical content/trauma, menstruation, mental illness, mention of forced marriage and prostitution, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, pedophilia, police brutality, pregnancy, PTSD, racism, rape(mentioned a few times throughout and described in detail by a survivor toward the end of chapter 21(80% through the book and at around 14:57:35 to around 15:03:58 in the audiobook)), religious bigotry, self-harm, sexism, sexual assault/violence, slavery, slurs, stalking, suicidal thoughts, suicide, torture, trafficking, violence, vomit, war, and xenophobia.🎧⚔️🏹

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Classism, Excrement, Kidnapping, Self harm, War, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-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

Love Love LOVE this book! R F Kuang has written a real masterpiece of dark historical fantasy. 

The Poppy War will force you to think about privilege, oppression and what it means to be human. Your beliefs will be challenged and your views will change. It is not for those looking for a happy ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Child death, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Colonisation, Child abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, War, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Drug use, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pedophilia, Slavery, Abandonment, Bullying, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

cristina_margarita's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

The fact that the whole world isn’t obsessed with RF Kuang baffles me. As readers were always chasing that high of “fuck yeah, this is what reading is meant to be” that we get so easily as kids; The Poppy War gave me that feeling back within the first 60 pages. Kuang is a master of epic tales & truly highlights the need for publishing to make space for BIPOC authors to tell stories inspired by their cultures. She masterfully draws on history to create a fantasy world that is so realistic but also separates it enough from our world to make it feel rich & unique. Honestly, I can’t sing her praises any more, Kuang is masterful at what she does &
I’ll be starting the second book immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Abortion, Vomit, Rape, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Excrement, Self harm, and Medical trauma

nika_golubenko's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, Rape, Racism, Genocide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Addiction, Body horror, and War

trs01's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense 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: Genocide, Vomit, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Grief, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Rape, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Excrement, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, Bullying, Body horror, Xenophobia, War, Physical abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Cursing, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Ableism

codifyy's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

One of, if not, the best fantasy book I’ve read before. I found the detail and depth of the world building interesting. I loved the interconnectedness of the different religions and martial arts. I liked the intertwining of politics. The complexity of the characters made me feel conflicted about all of them. The development and reveal of Altan’s character pained me. I paused constantly throughout reading to connect minor plot details. I didn’t realise until the end how much had changed from being a student to becoming consumed by divine power as it was written so gradually. Altan and Rin’s emotional and spiritual relationship intrigued me and I hope I find out more in the sequel. I wish I could see it all through Altan’s perspective too. The horror of Chapter 21, Altan’s experience in the research lab, his death, and Rin walking over the skeletons on Speer made me tear up. I can’t wait to read the sequel and see how Rin’s character develops regarding her inner conflict with the Phoenix and how she’s seemingly become what destroyed Altan. The story ended with a lot left to still explore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, War, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Violence, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Cursing, Genocide, and Racism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Gore, War, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Racism, Addiction, Animal death, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Vomit, Child abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Fatphobia, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Excrement