Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

747 reviews

suhair's review against another edition

3.5

dark sad tense

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Colonisation, War, Classism

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic

themoostconfused's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Excrement

bri_14's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Whew this book was a RIDE. I thought it was gonna be much lighter than it actually was. But it might’ve been for the best bc it’s a more accurate portrayal—using people as weapons/vessels, the propaganda, loss of life and not in the literal. These kids had no childhood, causalities never got to age. Very depressing. It kinda feels like reading Naruto Shippuden once they hit the war eps. But it’s like being in the mind of Sasuke instead of following Naruto. Rin would both idolize  and despise that man😂

I was NOT able to predict any of the deaths.

Irjah, of course but ALTAN???

I really thought he would’ve lasted til the end. But I think it was better off if

Venka

died bc hearing her experience is kinda traumatizing. Realistic tho but just gruesome, I think my mind would’ve snapped. 

I’m thinking Rin will help reform the country, similar to the stories of the previous emperors or the play she watched with Kitay. I think ppl will fear her too much to harm her—maybe her master will put a finger to her forehead again and still her mind. And I refuse to believe

Nezha

is dead!!! There’s no way that would’ve happened off book, if he does die Rin will have to witness it bc she cares too much about him

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, War

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Suicide, Classism

Minor: Slavery

origami_cactus's review against another edition

1.5

medium-paced

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I have mixed feelings about this book. I think there is some good writing in here and I think the first part is strong. However, I think it doesn't follow through on the character development. It uses some horrific events but it doesn't feel like the main character was affected by those events as much as she was affected by a different character's reaction to those events. I felt the ending, while better in my opinion than the 6 or so chapters that came before it, wasn't earned from the set up. I think perhaps it's due to an over reliance on a relationship between two characters that didn't feel strong enough to justify the lengths that Rin went though for them. I'm a bit disappointed because there are great ideas in here, but the execution leaves me wanting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War

Minor: Self harm

lesbrarian_natalie's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 80%

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This is not adult fiction. It is full of YA tropes and the characters are all shallow or caricatures. First the protagonist is a poor orphan turned "chosen one" at a very special academy with a mysterious mentor, and then she joins a group of teenage x-men. Then the story becomes  very thinly veiled "fanfiction" of the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731. To exploit those atrocities for the plot of a fantasy novel (for personal profit!) is absolutely disgusting in my opinion. Writing a fantasy novel means you should come up with your own fucking war crimes. It's disrespectful AND it's lazy writing. 

Anyway. If you want to experience secondhand trauma from reading about how horrible humans are, you can save yourself a lot of time by skipping this book and just reading the wikipedia pages for the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731.

This pales in comparison to the book's other problems, but protagonist went on and on about two male characters being "perfect." And the guy she was obsessed with physically abused her multiple times. Cool!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

karenclare's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-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: Drug abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, War

Moderate: Slavery

countesscaine's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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For someone familiar with the historical events that inspired this story, it feels a bit simplified in some places, but gratuitous in some descriptions as well. The story also feels quite predictable overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

mariah_g's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

katielouise98's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, War

Moderate: Slavery

clovetra's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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and just when i thought yellowface was r.f. kuang’s magnum opus. i was pleasantly WRONG

ok so easily, EASILY, the best part of this book is rin. sorry i love female protags who take no shit, are in the military/fighters, cause chaos and do shit no other dreams of. she’s such a likeable protag in the sense of personality, and god i just wanted to root for my girl. i love when women commit crimes and rin is no exception!!!!!!

altan can get it fr, as well as the rest of the

cike

, i really enjoyed all the side characters!!!! special shout out to nezha

i liked the mini redemption arc he got!!! hopefully homeboy and the rest of the sinegard sluts are kicking

.

i’ll be real i did not like the whole…. Spiritual aspect of this book. it certainly grew on me by the end, but throughout most of this book i was read to give this 4-stars simply because i didn’t like the Lore portion of the story (lore in the sense of this book not lore as a component of a story). like i said by the last 100 pages i’d finally wrapped by head around the concepts so i was enjoying them, but i can’t tell if it’s because im dumb or it wasn’t properly explained until the last third of this book. 

anyways i cant explained how addicted to this i was. like i was an hour late to uni because i didn’t want to stop reading this. i was so immersed not only did i forget when my class was, but when i did realise i was gonna be late….. i just didn’t care. because i wanted to read this.

the worldbuilding at times was weak, but when it was good…. god it was good!!!!! some of the best worldbuilding i’ve read in a fantasy novel (minus the lore concepts that were beyond me). i was so down for whatever was happening, and i was along for the ride. i felt every emotion. every shift in story. god just this book is great RF KUANG YOUVE DONE IT AGAIN

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit