Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

2396 reviews

shermansays's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War

Moderate: Misogyny, Vomit

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia

lroth's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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This is 100% a war book. If you're expecting romance or hand holding through the gruesome details, don't. The fast forward through time was well done and kept the story moving along. The ending was okay, in my opinion. The isn't a major cliffhanger, but the author makes it clear what is to come next. Honestly, I think it could be read as a stand alone. Overall, I really enjoyed the raw war experience of this book and it's use of the spiritual plane. I wish there was more time spent with the gods. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Abortion

cuthbright's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore

sezhimson's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, War

delaneyxclara's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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: Complicated

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One of the best works of fiction of our lifetimes. Must read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism

kwewani's review against another edition

4.0

dark 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

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i will ALWAYS love a morally ambiguous read. rin is one of the most complex main characters i’ve ever read; you can neither support her or fully condemn her because everything that has ever happened to her led her to make these choices. i’m not a fantasy reader either but i have to appreciate how well r.f. kuang crafted rin + altan + all of the other character dynamics.  doesn’t shy away from the themes of war, power, + corruption

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

gtures's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

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😮😮😮

R.F. Kuang does not hold back. This book is very intense. (Depictions of war violence).

The character arcs are diverse and you really grow to care for them throughout the story.

 Not ready for Book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War

tairnsbestyboo's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Amazing, brutal, fun, intense read. Great magic system that’s never truly complete leaving room for so much more mystery. Great story in itself but tees up the second book well. Crushing moments. Gore and traumatizing descriptions. Rooting for the main character the whole time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

mirroaoror's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging 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: Yes

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R.F Kuang really captures the rage brought about by oppression. That is the most I am going to say before I start getting too radical. Anger comes in the form of Fang Runin, our main character who constantly struggled between feeding her anger and suppressing it. Never have I felt such deep and raw emotions from a character before, and I commend R.F Kuang for not pulling any punches when it came to writing about Rin. The only reason I took some stars off is that I wasn't that impressed by the world-building since it was honestly quite all over the place. The events were based off the Sino-Japanese War in the 20th century, but the time period was somehow set way back to the dynastic period, and while I am aware that it is a fantasy reimagining of the events of the war, the chosen setting puts it a bit off. This book tackles a lot of dark topics, and it's not afraid to shy away from the graphic descriptions. And while I do believe that they should be discussed, especially with regard to the war crimes, I also believe that a fantasy novel wasn't really the best way to put those issues to light. However, I will acknowledge that it could be a good starting point for individuals to become aware of these historical events. 
 

In terms of the overall plot, I quite liked the progression of how the problems Rin faced started with her own personal struggles which then escalated into something larger than herself. And what I especially liked about her character was how consistent she was in terms of her desires; they just evolved in terms of the weight of it when she was exposed to more injustices towards the world. The other characters were also written well.

I'm just quite disappointed about what happened with Altan. Ultimately, he just served as the fuel to Rin's fire, but he was such an interesting character on his own, so I wished I could have seen more of him

. Overall, I thought this book was absolutely insane. Brilliant. But insane. So excited to read the next few books in the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence

sentient_blob's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail