Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

888 reviews

solarfia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

major plot twist in the middle. The book starts one way thinking you’re in a coming of age war college book and then throws you into graphic depictions of war and shamanism.

abril6's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and War

loveat1stwrite's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and War

Minor: Confinement and Sexual violence

In terms of content warnings, this book is essentially a retelling of the Second Sino-Japanese war with minor fantasy elements added. There are graphic depictions of the Nanking Massacre and minor descriptions of Unit 731.

vero_fab's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

mhill423's review against another edition

4.25

It’s only book 1 and I am already so emotionally invested and stressed out 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and War

Minor: Drug use

bubblebot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

would give five stars, but this book is going to give me nightmares. i dock points for bringing me trauma.
would i recommend? if you want to get your soul wrecked answer is yes. if you want to smile again, my answer is no.(the amount of tw:s I listed feel inadequate. THAT should tell you something).

anyway, going to go read more about rin becoming a crazy vengeful god or imagine she is one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, and Alcohol

justagremlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 

This is one of those books I had heard of forever but I had never picked up. And now I regret not picking it up sooner. 

I had heard this was a grim fantasy, but I didn’t expect it to be this dark. The depiction of war is one of the more realistic ones for a fantasy novel. I can handle a lot but some of the scenes genuinely made my heart plummet

Chapter 21. Chapter 21. Chapter 21.

 

All of the characters we spend time with are complex and fleshed out. If you are tired of fantasy novels promising you “morally grey” characters and then giving you really weak morally grey characters, please pick up this book. Everyone in this novel isn’t a goody two shoes. There are layers to every character, especially the main character. I’m hoping in the next book we can see her interacting with her classmates more.

I’m also hoping for some found family action since she’s the commander of the Cike

 

The magic system is also really cool. It’s not the most original, but that doesn’t matter here. I hope we can get more lore about shamans and the gods and goddesses in the next book. 

The ONLY issue that popped at me consistently was that the time skips weren’t very clear. A year in book time will pass in like a chapter with little fanfare. But this is a minuscule issue to be honest, because it doesn’t mess up the flow too much
 

Recommend for: People who want morally grey, female rage, shamans and a tense political war. 

5/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug Use:

In order to access the gods, they have to get high, the drug use itself isn't graphic but its used so much I felt it necessary to put in this category, one of the characters was fed opium to be a soldier and he is addicted

Animal Cruelty, Animal Death

soldiers on the other side light stray animals on fire

Confinement, Medical Trauma, Medical content

one character was tormented as a kid and experimented on, later in the novel him and the main character are trapped in the same place

Colonization/Racism

The race of the main character and her friend was wiped out and used as a pawn in a war. The rage they feel about this is a driving force behind both characters

Blood, Child Death, Fire/Fire Injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury Detail/Physical Abuse/Torture/War:

This book takes place during a war and it does not shy away from that fact. Graphic depictions of corpses, bombings, beheadings, and general violence

Grief/Panic Attacks:

Characters react to horrors of war, one character has heavy PTSD from colonization and experimentation

Misogyny, Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Pregnancy

Chapter 21 a character recounts the rape she and other women felt at the hands of soldiers. And then recounts the murder of a pregnant woman and her 8-month-old fetus.

kmart_ceo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

How far would you go for revenge?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Kidnapping, Abortion, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

I would look up the warnings yourself. There are a lot, and I likely missed a couple.

shelbyrodger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

smlplatz's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Torture, and Medical content