Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

572 reviews

adventurous dark informative tense fast-paced
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

Eu terminei de ler Battle Royale esse ano, então quando eu peguei a Guerra da Papoula e me disseram que era um livro muito pesado, eu achei que era pelas descrições do combate e das mortes de uma guerra. Violência explícita como a do Koushun. Devo alertá-los que esse livro só tem esse tipo de violência em 2 capítulos, mas isso não torna ele nem um pouco menos pesado, acho inclusive mais violento do que Battle Royale. Talvez porque BR tenha uma vibe distópica e GdP é baseado em uma guerra real, ou porque em BR, todas as mortes são tentando sobreviver, mas em GdP, a gente vê morte movida pelo ódio, pela indiferença, por política. É muito mais real, mostra tudo que há de ruim na humanidade. Eu me questiono, depois de acabar essa leitura, como, em aulas de história, a gente venera generais, monarcas e outras figuras que faziam essas coisas, estuprar, matar, humilhar e torturar povos inteiros seja porque achando que eram mais fortes, pensavam que estavam no direito de matar, ou seja por ambição e ganância para conquistar outros territórios, preguiça de negociar e conciliar necessidades diferentes. 
 Enfim, desculpa o desabafo.
 A meia estrela que eu tirei foi porque me confundi um pouco com a parte política por boa parte do livro, acho que se eu estudar as Guerras do Ópio, vou entender melhor. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Incredible, epic high fantasy. Beautifully designed main character. So unique and so easy to love 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
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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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Very excited for this trilogy! Extremely dark and depressing, but war ususally is. While the writing in some parts dipped, i thoroughly enjoyed tensely reading the book

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A compelling fantasy book with a cool setting and a unique power system. Very realistic depictions of war and trauma and a real page turner to the end.

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
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

4 ⭐ CW: violence, child abuse, drug use/addiction, bullying, descriptions of blood and gore, rape, torture, war, gruesome deaths of adults and children, genocide, suicide 

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is book one in the Poppy War Trilogy. I went into this book as a buddy read with an irl friend without realizing it was going to be grimdark. I was not prepared. If you mean to read this series, please please check the content warnings. This book is not for the faint of heart; however, I do think this is worth the read, especially if you are able to read the author's note to get historical context. 

We follow Rin, a dark skinned outsider from a rural province, where she is abused by her adoptive family. But Rin is ambitious and strives in her studies in order to be accepted into the military school at Sinegard. She quickly realizes that just getting out of her poor town isn't enough. Dealing with not being accepted because of her socioeconomic status and her dark skin, means if she wants respect, she has to be the best. Part one of the book starts out as sort of dark academia with a metaphysical element, but quickly turns to grimdark by part two. 

While at Sinegard, Rin learns to access the gods, but the god she reaches for is the Phoenix, the burning god of revenge and hatred. Rin is fighting a war that can not be won against the island nation of Mugin. She joins a ragtag regiment of soldiers who all can access the gods in some way to aid their fighting, unfortunately, they go mad after a while. There is a lot that happens that I can't even begin to get into, but there are plenty of things I didn't see coming. 

This book is an examination of the historical sociopolitical climate between Nikara and Mugin (China and Japan respectively) as well as the cost of war tactics. Rin's story is one of rage and revenge and a lust of power in order to control her own life. In the quest for power she loses something in herself. The price one pays for committing atrocities. Though this is primarily fiction, the author includes some notes on the real history of China during WW2 and the war with Japan. The hardest part to swallow is knowing that every single atrocity that happened in this book, happened in real life too. 

I think Kuang's work is important. We rarely get to hear about China's history in the west, and sometimes stories are the easiest way to get them in the public consciousness. I look forward to book two to see how Rin is living with her decisions and how her relationships continue to evolve. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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