Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1773 reviews

cup_cake's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

To say I enjoyed this book is a weird thing to say, considering its content. 
First, it starts out quite tame. A girl who usually would have no chance to, got into the most prestigious school in her country and studies there, making friends and enemies. And then it all escalates. In the last fourth I had to close the book and wind down with a cup of tea and just sit with my thoughts, because it was just so cruel and I did not expect to be so affected by what happened.
If one is familiar with Japanese/Chinese history, there are some parallels to some of the most horrible parts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Animal death, Drug abuse, Blood, Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, and Pedophilia

laura_jay_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Blood, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, and Classism

aribookishly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, War, Ableism, Misogyny, Vomit, Addiction, Body horror, Colonisation, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Torture, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

makaylasb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Racism, and Sexual violence

elizabeth_helmer's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Rape, Torture, Gore, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, and Addiction

imds's review against another edition

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

queenjuly's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Would've been five stars, but the ending made my stomach turn

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

mangooba's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

LOOK UP A TRIGGER WARNING LIST PRIOR TO READING. if you think youre fine and dont need one, do it anyways. this book goes heavily into graphic descriptions of genocide, SA, war, death, child death, and abuse. take care of yourself.

that being said, i found that this book was very well written and the character development was both realistic and well done. the mc has drastically changed, while shes obviously the same person in several ways, she is also not the same person in many other ways. that might not make sense without reading the book. if you dont have the reading comprehension to understand that decisions made are supposed to be poor decisions, and that characters will not be all good or all bad and its an incredibly complex situation just dont read this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Slavery, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug use, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, and War

Minor: Death of parent

the racism tag is fantasy racism inspired by real world values and views held by racist individuals, and racist regimes/systems.

gigglesigh's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Absolutely devasting in the best way possible.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Rape, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Sexual assault, Torture, Drug abuse, War, and Violence

jays_secret_garden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

5.0

“How could she compare the lives lost? One genocide against another—how did they balance on the scale of justice? And who was she, to imagine that she could make that comparison? ‘What have I done?’”
—————————
•6/5⭐️ 

Nothing could have prepared me for the third part of this book. I foolishly thought that the second part was absolutely crazy, but the third? Devastating. This book completely changed my perspective on life. It was so beautifully written that I feel like people don’t write books like this anymore. The FMC, Rin, is one of the best characters I have read in my entire life. From the first line she had in the book, I knew. Her absolute rage and hate actually means the world to me because how dare they make women and children hurt this much?

The topic of war, genocide, r*pe, etc., is HEAVY. I didn’t really read the trigger warnings because I like to go into books blind, but please read them :). Nothing could have prepared my heart for the heartbreak it would experience while reading the Golyn Noriis part, and even more so after reading the author’s note and finding out everything was inspired by real-life experiences of Chinese people. It broke my heart to read Venka’s story—I was sobbing!!!

I cannot wait to continue with the series because every two pages, something insane and unpredictable happens, and I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT BOOK!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, War, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Self harm, Physical abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Blood