Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

2259 reviews

adventurous challenging dark tense
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

This was a hard read, and I had to pause for a long while to finish it. But the writing is fantastic, and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious 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

5/5. i would say no notes because RF Kuang killed this and it’s perfect, but this will consume me for like the rest of my life so i will have have notes (of amazement) for this book. first of all, the fact that someone can portray the gruesome and horrifying parts of war in a realistic way in a fantasy series is insane. most fantasy series discuss war but in a more light and fluffy war. RF Kuang takes notes from real war crimes and describes them in the book in ways that made me wish i hadn’t ate before reading this. fang runin scares me in all the best ways. this book was phenomenal. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark sad 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 emotional reflective sad 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

CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THIS BOOK.
I'm quite stunned at the places this book dares to go, and because of that I'm a little mixed on many parts of The Poppy War. I can't say the first half of this book led me to expect how unimaginably dark the second half is. What Kuang pulls off here with Rin is both excellent and disturbing, because despite everything, I still somewhat rooted for her. I don't know if I can stomach the rest of the series after the horrifying atrocities portayed in the second half of The Poppy War. If you really understand what you're getting into, I recommend this book quite a lot. 

Complaints: many of the side characters introduced in the second part did not feel fleshed out enough, and much more subjectively, I felt that Kuang was too descriptive about some of the fictional atrocities committed here, which I cannot really stomach and did not know was coming, so I nearly dropped the book.

Audiobook-wise: a generally good, sometimes excellent performance from Emily Woo Zeller here. Rarely did I feel like she failed to capture the wild emotions of this book, and sometimes she really strikes gold.

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings