Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

90 reviews

mars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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: Genocide and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Slavery, Addiction, Drug use, Torture, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Infertility, Animal death, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

kaylaramoutar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry

samchase112's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.

This book is absolutely EPIC. We follow Rin through her journey from war orphan to an aspiring soldier in Nikan. R. F. Kuang has masterfully woven together a fantastical world with the reality of militaristic Japan and its 20th century relations with China. The threads of history work so beautifully with those of Kuang's fantasy, and that may be the best part of this book. War, sacrifice, revenge, culture, it's all so well done. The first part, Rin's experience at Sinegard, was definitely my favorite, because we got to know Rin so well as a character. But the others were captivating in their craziness; while I feel like we skipped out on some important scenes

(especially Rin's relationship with Altan)

, these may have been cut by ruthless editors looking to shorten the text, and even so I was so enthralled by the story that I honestly didn't care much. I can't say much that hasn't already been said - this book is dark, yet absolutely incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Cursing, and Miscarriage

Minor: Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

wrenxavier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Vomit, and Xenophobia

eeviee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Im about to digest this series like a man thrown into a desert only to find this for sustenance

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Genocide, Child death, and Cannibalism

nerdybirdy101's review against another edition

5.0

If you can handle the content warnings, then I highly recommend this book! I have a BA in History and I appreciate the historical inspiration that the author uses in this work! I can clearly tell where they were inspired and how they worked their writer’s magic to transcribe it into their book. This book was magical in the explanations and themes that related to actual events in history. I also appreciate the magic world in the book and the explanations that are overviewed throughout the entire series. My teacher’s brain thinks this would be a wonderful book to use with mature high school seniors and any college student. I NEED to finish this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

citymouse's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

• 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: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, and Medical trauma

Minor: Religious bigotry

shannonsacoman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I felt like the world building was strong but struggled with lack of character development. I won't be finishing the series. It was a reminder why I don't do war books, even in fantasy genre, and I felt too much of what the main character knew or didn't know, was surprised by or wasn't was for the convenience of the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical content

librariesoflindsey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Loved this book from the very beginning. The writing makes it come to life and the characters are so vivid in their descriptions.
The one thing I would say is to take the trigger warnings seriously. Every single tw I can think of applies to this book in gruesome, graphic ways, so just beware of this before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Infertility

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body shaming

This book contains very graphic triggers. Please be mindful of the trigger warnings and age recommendation (I would say 17+). Reader discretion is advised.

instalovewithbooks's review against another edition

5.0

Re-read 12/2023:

Well fuck me. I...I'm not entirely sure how to review this one. I reread it so I could continue the series and that after a year of badgering I pushed book club to read it with me. We'll be talking about it tomorrow and hopefully be able to wrap our minds around it. I remember it being brutal. I remember a lil about being hurt by it, but FUCK. Kaung does such a great feat on this book not only to bring you along, but to really understand her characters and their choices, even if they're often not the best choices. But, how can you make a choice when all the choices are bad? How can you try and be good in a world that will continue to torment you and destroy you constantly and even if you try to make better choices, they still get thrown in your face. 

Frig, man. I will be reading book 2 soon. 5/5 stars. Forever. Fuck this bullshit of 4.5/5 stars I said in 2019, 2019 Michelle you're an idiot.

2019:
I don't know much about Chinese history, but hearing from other people the book is based on Chinese history, this was absolutely brutal. 
"They trained her for a war. She intends to end it." That line, I didn't expect her to brutally horrifying to end the world, JFC Rin... 
The language and the story itself was complex, well made, and kept my interest the entire time. I believe my favourite character was Jiang. I am definitely going to purchase the sequel! 
4.5/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, Rape, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, War, Torture, Sexism, Self harm, Murder, Medical content, Gore, Drug use, Medical trauma, Excrement, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Child abuse, Blood, and Addiction