Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

574 reviews

gumiho0712's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

neelamaxwell's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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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R. F. Kuang how does it feel to know you've created something so inimitable and unbeatable. How does it feel to be toying with my heartstrings like playdo. How does it feel to be the most talented person on earth.

This book is fucking amazing!! It's been a while since I've seen a fantasy book so effectively tackle such complex themes, especially through such vividly developed and entertaining characters. It's everything I could want in a grimdark military fantasy and more. tpw i love you i love you i love you #SapphicsForAltanTrengsin

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Classism

Oh god it was so dark. Watch out

profdevochka's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Poppy War did a great job at building the story of Rin, where the book begins with her stressing over a test, bullies, and adjusting to a new school. This school was preparing to be a general where the students go through mock strategy games and practice fighting each other.

Rin was quickly forced into reality where she faced war at her doorstep; watching her peers fight and be slaughtered. Towards the end of the book the character faces genocide, vengeful gods, and how it is up to her on how to handle it. 

Poppy War was a mix of fantasy that took real-life wars, reminding us that this is not simply fiction. The Federation is not some mythological evil people, they're humans and we have seen this type before. 
The characters were nuanced throughout the book; you may hate one at the beginning but as real shit happens the pettiness falls away and find you like the character. Rin was hard to appreciate at times, we seen her lose her cool and I was on the side of Jiang; don't do it!

I still have hopes for Nezha and Altan to be alive, we didn't see a body so I will patiently wait for a twist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Genocide, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, War

Minor: Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury

alvina_ashraf's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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: No

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 The Poppy War is chaos and gore amped up to a point where you find yourself repulsed by what you are reading. The author took some usual tropes and spun them on their head while never making them the point of the story. This story is about war, death, destruction and guilt. It is a chunky one so it'll take a lot of your time but you'll definitely feel like you've achieved something once you are done with it. Also, it is emotionally draining especially the last couple of hundred pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abortion

victorharkervt's review against another edition

5.0

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War

haley49's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It is my opinion that this book was absolutely brilliant. It was a saga from beginning to end and there is still two books to come. It was probably the most brutal book I’ve ever read, but a great study of humanity and morality delivered in a developed historical-fantasy package. It was unusual for me in that it had no romance and relied entirely upon your caring for the world as seen through the main character’s eyes. On the plus side, without romance, platonic and familial-like relationships get their chance to shine in a way that I feel is often lacking in literature. Definitely check the trigger warnings and only read this as allowed by your mental health. There is a lot of gorey descriptions, especially those relating to war. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Classism

Minor: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt

zaramassiah456's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Classism

Minor: Addiction, Vomit

binayocheved's review against another edition

4.5

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4.5 because of this was a rough read. the build up is slow, but the last third is a series of punches straight to the stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

arisaenz's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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

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The only reason it doesn't get the full 5 stars is because it's a VERY slow start. Reading this in 2022 as a BIPOC female in the US it RESONATED. I felt this so deeply while reading it. One of my favorite things so far is that none of the characters are inherently good or bad. There is no black or white. It's varying shades of grey because everyone things that where they are coming from is what is best. There are a lot of things that really resonate with me but I feel like that is the most nonspoilery thing I can mention. The last like 150 pages I spent them as an absolute mess crying as everything just kind of toppled over around me. I love this book and will be doing a reread with a much deeper annotation once I've finished the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War

opossumom's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt