Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

2249 reviews

kwewani's review against another edition

4.0

dark 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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i will ALWAYS love a morally ambiguous read. rin is one of the most complex main characters i’ve ever read; you can neither support her or fully condemn her because everything that has ever happened to her led her to make these choices. i’m not a fantasy reader either but i have to appreciate how well r.f. kuang crafted rin + altan + all of the other character dynamics.  doesn’t shy away from the themes of war, power, + corruption

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

gtures's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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: Complicated

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😮😮😮

R.F. Kuang does not hold back. This book is very intense. (Depictions of war violence).

The character arcs are diverse and you really grow to care for them throughout the story.

 Not ready for Book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War

tairnsbestyboo's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Amazing, brutal, fun, intense read. Great magic system that’s never truly complete leaving room for so much more mystery. Great story in itself but tees up the second book well. Crushing moments. Gore and traumatizing descriptions. Rooting for the main character the whole time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

sentient_blob's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

taylorherman13's review against another edition

4.0

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury

hexatessamal's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Really compelling storytelling. I was very invested in the characters and the overall story, despite how horrifically dark it gets at times. It's a reimagining of 20th century Chinese history (through a fantasy & Song Dynasty era lens), so the extreme darkness/violence at times is not gratuitous. I only found out after finishing that the author was still a teenager when she started writing it, and was just 22 when it was published, which still blows my mind.

The fantasy elements are mythology-based, and I enjoyed that aspect of it a lot.

I really strongly recommend it, but at times it is very difficult to read.

Not really a spoiler but putting this warning in spoiler tags just in case:

Anyone unfamiliar with 20th c. Chinese history who wants a better sense of just how dark and disturbing the book can get should look up the Nanjing massacre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, War

Honestly, this book is about the horrors of war and is based on history, so there are SO MANY content warnings that could be applied here. The book doesn't deal with 2SLGBTQIA+ themes or Abrahamic religions, so those are about the only ones that couldn't be applied in some form or another (that I recall, I'm going through the content warnings a few weeks after finishing the book, so it's possibly that I've forgotten some in passing in that regard). So rather than try to categorize graphic/moderate/minor for them all, take this as a blanket warning that in addition to major themes around addiction, war, and violence, and many many other things come up to varying degrees.

poppyinthebin's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Addiction

steelban89's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, War

lemonteacookies's review against another edition

4.25

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: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

sagecameron's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional 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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This is incredibly dark, descriptive and has passages that will sit with you like jagged pieces of glass. It was rather drawn out in all three parts which wasn’t ideal but it could have also felt drawn out due to how violent and realistic war was depicted. Personally the main character Rin needed to get her ass kicked a little harder due to the way her character kept whining and kept digging her heels into constantly changing beliefs. Nezha in my opinion should have had more interactions with Rin starting off having a Zuko from the Last Airbender series feel to his character-also totally not convinced he’s dead so it’ll be devastating if he truly is come the second book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Rape, War