Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

367 reviews

michealasharp's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, War, Torture, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Genocide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Gore, Death, Bullying, Body horror, Blood, and Addiction

exeidur's review against another edition

4.25

A solid first part of a trilogy. I absolutely loved the start and was drawn in quickly. Rin is a very strong character, and different from a lot of fantasy protagonists - she goes further in her rage and vengeance, she will do anything to achieve her goals, but she is also massively insecure and desperately seeks validation from her teachers. It is interesting to see how war both enhances and changes her characteristics.

Great cast of characters - though there were a bit many to remember at some point -, a solid writing style, and a well-structured plot with some twists and turns that do ultimately make a lot of sense. 8,5/10

I could've done with a little less horrifying descriptions of dead babies near the end, but you can't say Kuang is pulling any punches. And since its sadly based on reality, I can't really complain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, War, Child death, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Addiction, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Bullying, Murder, Sexual assault, Torture, Abandonment, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug use, and Genocide

meganpbell's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

4.5

Everything you’ve heard about this brutal achievement of an epic fantasy is true—it’s grim, dark, and will leave you gutted. Inspired by the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the most ghastly aspects of The Poppy War are horrific because they’re based in historical truth. Through following Rin from child to student to soldier to shaman, R. F. Kuang graphically demonstrates the evils of imperialism and war, as well as rage and vengeance. I’m scared and a little sick to my stomach, but let’s start the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Genocide, Murder, Blood, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Addiction, Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Infertility, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Genocide, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Animal death, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Torture, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder

miciahsreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

characters - 1
worldbuilding - 1
writing - .75
enjoyment - .75
plot - .75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death, Child death, War, Chronic illness, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Racism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Rape, Slavery, Murder, Sexism, Genocide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Child abuse

jaz_apples's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.25

I found the writing to be a bit juvenile and the pacing to vary wildly. It has an excellent premise and I think could have been something great. The execution lacked however. This was very nearly a dnf for me due to the lack of cohesion and flow within the plot. The character interactions were engaging however the character development and the development of the relationships between them were rushed, forced, underdeveloped, on several occasions did complete 180s, and overall were hard to follow. The lack of effective character development made it very hard to relate to the characters and even like them in some cases. 

This book was incredibly graphic. It goes into heavy detail of body horror, death, murder and SA. The author did a good job of painting the picture of the scene but could have done so in a more tactful and effective way. 

“The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.” -Richard Price

The author could have elicited an even greater emotional response from the reader, without being quite as triggering by using metaphors and focusing on a smaller, seemingly inconsequential aspect.  

Another thing to be wary of is the heavy drug use and abuse within this book. 


I believe that the most triggering chapter is chapter 21 and I’ll have a general description of the events for those who wish to skip it under a spoiler. This chapter covers exceptionally graphic and detailed descriptions of: murder, genocide, torture, body horror/mutilation, the postmortem state of bodies, SA, sexual violence, miscarriage/forced abortion/violence towards a pregnant women, and drug abuse. With that said, here is the general description of the chapter: 

The Cike travel to Golyn Niis and find that the Federation soldiers had already reached the city. They had brutally killed almost every citizen and Nikan soldier within. There were very few survivors, of which two were students Rin went to school with: Kitay, Rin’s friend who suffered no lasting injuries, and Venka, a girl Rin shared a dorm with. Venka had suffered from repeated SA and explains to Rin the details of what happened to her and to other women and Rin swears to get revenge for them. Afterwards Rin goes to find Altan and finds him practically incapacitated from smoking mass amounts of opium.

See the content warnings for the rest of possible triggers

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Genocide, Child death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Drug use, Violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Murder, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Racism, Classism, Cursing, Misogyny, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Abortion, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

kaiyoung_kop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

AHHH WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ

I KNOW THIS IS GENUINELY SO PSYCHOTIC OF ME, BUT I LOVED WHEN VENKA WAS TELLING RIN ABOUT THE HORRORS OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN SHE WAS CAPTIVE - IT WAS SO EMOTIVELY WRITTEN

I DID NOT EXPECT THIS BOOK TO BE SO DANG FUNNY 
AND THEN IT GOT DARK.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Rape, Medical trauma, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Confinement, Blood, and Addiction

alex_salamander's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Vomit, Rape, War, Grief, Death, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Body horror, Gore, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

naturally's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

4.25

i've made piece with the fact that r.f.kuang's academic prowess is virtually inseparable from her creative writing. she tells stories like she's writing a text book...which isn't necessarily a bad thing! on one hand, there's little room left for subtext and there are times when we are told large blocks of information through character conversations. luckily i had no issue with skim reading bc, i was really invested in the world and the war she's created for the poppy war.

our heroine rin is the perfect shade of grey. the pacing at the beginning of the story was very slow, but i'm glad i stuck with rin's journey. her motivation for wanting to go to the sinegard are simple and strong. the scene where she

self-sterilises was...wow. i wasn't expecting it. but her reasoning was written very convincingly.

. 

the military academy portion was my favourite part of the book, and i think rin made some really touching friendships there. rin's relationships with other characters - specifically jiang and altan added to her complexities. there was so much to analyse, and this is only the first book! (imo rin attributes power with safety, but in actuality, on top is the most dangerous place to be as someone will always seek to rob her of such a high status.)

call me delulu...but i'm convinced that nezha is still alive. and that he will return in book 2. his rivallry with rin really snuck up on me, i wasn't expecting to enjoy their dynamic as much as i did. naturally, there is no place for a romance between them in the midst of so much war and violence. plus, rin's aversion to marriage, fertility etc means there will always be a strong denial from her end.

the revelation that rin was

a speerly felt very...anti-climactic. one character connected the dots, told her she was from speer...and rin just accepted it. from that point onward she was a speerly...

idk...i expected this bombshell to trigger a deep reflection into rin's identity and maybe an exploration of grief. but the overall writing style was a barrier to accessing rin's introspection.

very curious to see how this journey continues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Classism, Grief, Racism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Ableism, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Rape and Pregnancy

gaynidoking's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Addiction, Child death, Death, Grief, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Animal death, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Torture, Slavery, and Forced institutionalization