Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1078 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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: Complicated

On the whole, a good read. I felt pulled along with the protagonist, and appreciated that the author doesn't shy away from difficult or complex topics. Definitely some particularly sad and shocking moments, so be mindful of the content warnings from this and other reviews. Interesting intersection between historical fiction (ish) and fantasy action genres.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-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

First of all, really well written and loved the first half but after that quickly realized it’s not for me because I wasn’t really rooting for the main character once I realized where it was heading. I didn’t really feel the connections with supporting characters either though I wanted more of the existing connections to lead somewhere (maybe it does in the next few books but I don’t see how it can get better after where it ended). I did find the ties to real historical events interesting though I had read about the history of the war before and it was just as gruesome as I remember and the „justice“ at the end was purposefully not satisfying. Just too dark for me but again, really well written and I had trouble putting it down in between.   

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The fire doesn’t give, the fire takes, and takes, and takes.

harrowing, devastating and beautiful portrait of a complex and traumatized girl. at times funny!! Didn’t shy away from the bleak and dark parts of war. 

I’d say the best part of the book was somewhere around the middle. Near the end, it felt like I was being overly spoonfed the point it was trying to make, (I.e. “war bad”, “racism bad” which like yes of course) and it became so graphic that I felt nauseous. Not for the weak stomachs. 

Although I will say that
nezha stabbing that soldier and saving rin
moment had me giddy, kicking and screaming like a little girl, which is always what you want in a book. Or at least what I want. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Honestly… it was fine. I liked the beginning a lot, I love a strong FMC, a boarding school/training arc, and the magic system is unique and thoughtful - more than just “hooray! you have magic!”. I like magic systems with balance and consequences to the magic. 

The amount of suffering and trigger warnings in this book was a little much (see content warning list below) - although I know that it’s the point of the book and important to the world and characters. 

RF Kuang has made strides in her prose and writing since The Poppy War (I adore Babel). I’m going to finish this series but I don’t think I would reach for this book again.

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was all fun and games in the beginning then it got real serious real fast.When Rin was studying for the exam and dripping hot wax on herself I thought that’s a bit intense but no biggie ,then when the war started and her friends began dying I realized that this book was very much serious ,at times I wished rin would listen to her master more but of course for character development she didn’t 😭.When she was walking through the massacred city the descriptions were uncomfortably detailed.I can’t believe that Nezha died I was pretty sad .When she destroyed the federation  I was in  shock I didn’t think she would actually do it ,and now she has lost all her friends(well most of them)and ist addicted to opium and has a huge need for vengeance things can only go downhill from here .

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dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I was really into it at the beginning, and I found her hardheadedness intriguing and how dedicated she was to being the best. However by the end of the book it just felt like all of the things I liked about her in the beginning were gone. It also felt like a lot of the character connections happened during the time skips in the book, which there were a lot of nothing happening until the time skips. For example, her falling in love with Altan didn't make sense because from what we read there was literally nothing that happened between them for her to feel so strongly for him other than admiration. It all just felt very shallow reading.

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