Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

49 reviews

nyxluvstoread'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Gore, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Death, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, and Torture

mousmoulo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, Genocide, Racism, Addiction, Child death, Death, War, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Abortion, Confinement, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, and Self harm

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

also: human experimentation (mainly on children)

meetmeinthebookstore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Body horror, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Rape, Self harm, Addiction, Gore, Murder, Death, Child death, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Sexism, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, Infertility, Vomit, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

doodeedoda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Self harm, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Animal death, and Alcohol

Chapter 21 was the most graphic and hardest to read for me because it's based on true facts (Nanjing Massacre)

ghostbirds's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Rape, War, Confinement, and Genocide

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Cursing, Addiction, Bullying, Grief, Self harm, and Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Alcohol, and Animal death

violaceae's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Child death, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

minnah's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

this book was so engaging i flew through it and couldn’t put it down. i loved the ending, this book was beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

ryter89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Pretty much all of them. I will say if you don't want to read about triggering things then I'd advise against this one. Or at least find out where those parts are and skip them. I can't stress enough how violent it gets and Kuang does not pull back on the descriptions. I'm not talking about just some severed heads, either.

When I first began reading I was feeling like the writing was pretty YA and that concerned me because I've only heard how intense this book is. This might have been intentional since the main character is a teen. Kuang might have wanted to show her being forced to mature so quickly. If that's the case it definitely works. It feels like it "ages" as the story goes on and it lost the YA feel pretty much right after the first attack. As far as being intense...I almost had to skip over a certain part because I didn't want to have the imagery in my mind. Of course this is added to show how absolutely evil and twisted racism and war can make people and often does. I definitely will be reading Dragon Republic soon. It will be interesting to see how the decisions in the first book will affect this world and what the Pantheon has to say about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, Hate crime, Gore, Death, Child death, Blood, Sexism, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

wondereads13's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

This is absolutely one of my favorite books ever. The plot is so intense; the book is split into two parts, and the climax of the first part is good enough to be considered the end of the book in some other stories I've read. The characters are all amazing and three-dimensional. Everyone gets development, and everyone has their own motivations and values they follow. The writing style is amazing in describing the scenery, the characters, the action, and caused a visceral reaction in me when describing the effects of war. It's very obviously based on Chinese history; just enough connections are there for the reader to make assumptions while it still being its own world. There's content on racism, privilege, sexism, drug addiction, and rape that are all addressed very well and realistically. It's absolutely amazing, but please check the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

There is a scene that is explicitly based on the Rape of Nanking. I, who is luckily trauma-free, had a visceral reaction to it. As in I thought I was going to throw up. PLEASE heed the trigger warnings.