Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1077 reviews

ayeitsdaye's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Child death, Vomit

jen_follis's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I absolutely loved parts of this book and struggled with some others. Rin was a complicated character, but you still wanted to root for her even when she was making poor decisions. The hardest part to read was the destruction of Golyn Noise with the horrific atrocities committed by the Mugenese soldiers. I found out after finishing the book that that part was inspired by the Nanjing massacre which makes it even more horrific. 

Overall enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure if I'll finish the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Grief

Minor: Infertility

cadence99's review against another edition

3.75

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I find myself struggling to articulate what exactly didn’t work for me with The Poppy War. I think having read R.F. Kuangs other works (Babel and Yellowface) first didn’t help my feelings. It’s certainly a younger, less settled work when compared to the others (which makes sense, she was young!). I also think, having read a lot of fantasy in the last few years, her style of walking readers very explicitly through certain themes feels a bit heavy handed- I’m at a point in my reading journey where I prefer a more hands off approach, giving more space for readers to navigate themes independently. Not to say that there isn’t value in both, but I might just not be the ideal audience for the style at this moment, and because of that, I don’t think I’ll be finishing the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

machete0s's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Very enjoyable read! It was a vivid and dark war story and some parts of the audio book were stomach-churning around some of the war atrocities. But I found the writing style to be engaging and intriguing, audio book was well-read, and the character arcs felt very realistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, War

Moderate: Child abuse

noxtem's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, War

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

charlotte_97's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, War

calliewilliams25's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail

bronteysbooks's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation

jjjreads's review against another edition

4.0

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Excrement, Dementia

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic

calliope_rivers's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Sexual violence, Blood, Colonisation, Classism