Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

2249 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I was hooked from the start and was pulled through until the end.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark 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: Complicated

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

Quite mixed feelings about this book.

Great pacing, I loved that part. I was intrigued to see where the story headed next. Could not put the book down and demolished it in a weekend.

I thought the first half was more imaginative, but quite cringey/predictable at times. Second half seemed to get lost following the original storylines - some shocking elements seemed to be used to maintain interest.

Couple of key bug-bears: 
- Modern swear words (I feel like it's lazy world building), 
- Female lead kept "falling" for proximal males
- Themes of self-harm and drug use were strong (I feel they didn't ALL add to the story and were more used for shock-value/impact)
- Certain elements of the war seemed to be included for the shock-value i.e. brief, intense descriptions of gore and SA.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“was she now a goddess or a monster? perhaps neither. perhaps both.” ঌ

Expand filter menu Content Warnings