Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

911 reviews

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

3.5

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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

jaxistired's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

kp_reads_in_the_dark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I felt the end coming and still somehow felt surprised and dismayed when Rin essentially nuked the entirety of Mugen. I'm really interested to see what comes next, but also anxious about how dark things had become by the end. I almost don't want to consider how much worse it can get in the rest of the trilogy, especially considering how all? descriptions of violence (minus the magically inflicted kind) are based on actual war crimes. It's definitely sobering.

elishabird's review against another edition

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War

persephone__'s review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

fckastel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Murder, and War

haskapberries'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

4.5

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail