Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Опиумная война

Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

2266 reviews

kristynsierra_'s review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark 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 did not know what I was signing up for with this one, but I was pleasantly surprised and shocked. the story sucked me in right away, and made me root for Rin pretty much from page 1. I honestly liked how we are introduced to the world by just being told things and not really having any explanation for what it all meant. we’re listing out territories and bodies of water and different strategic encampments with no background? sweet, let’s rock. if you’re someone who needs in-depth world building to follow a story, this is not going to satisfy you. as for me, I care much more about the plot so it worked out nicely.

I thought it was also really impactful that we begin the story with Rin when she’s young and naïve, and the tone of the writing reflects that. it’s light and flippant and mostly joking banter between “enemies”. Then, as Rin grows and experiences more and more within the war, the writing and tone begins to get darker and much less flippant with some intense descriptions of the horrifying things she’s witnessing as a child soldier. The way I experienced this book made me feel like I was growing alongside Rin, and developing this cynicism about the world and characters in the same way that she was. It was a really powerful writing choice, and it took me a minute to step back and realize how much my feelings had changed from page one to the end.

I’m looking forward to the rest of this series! I’m embracing my love monstrously long fantasy books in 2025.

Content Warnings

bessadams's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging 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

Content Warnings

emmie_adventurer's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

begnomish's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Absolutely phenomenal, start to finish. Excellent pacing, always felt satisfied by an event or tense waiting until the next one to drop. Not for the faint of heart. Summed up by: “Just because we don’t like the results doesn’t mean we weren’t responsible for the choices that lead to them.”

Content Warnings

beautyflora's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

Content Warnings

auvariant_'s review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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: Yes

Content Warnings

booksbyabbi's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this is not a book to read if you want to be happy. this is a book to read if you want to set your bar for future fantasy novels so high that it may never be surpassed again. i can't put into words the complexity, power, and sheer brilliance of this story. i just know that nothing i can read next will ever be quite like it.

Content Warnings

toadallyabby's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

People really hyped up this book so maybe I just expected more. I found it quite slow for a while. I don’t feel like there was a big character arc and I didn’t really ever get attached to any of the characters except maybe Jiang—

and he goes MIA halfway through and we really don’t hear from him except snippets afterward.

All the interesting plot lines seemed to have been cut short, like the author panicked when it was getting too good and had to stop it. I was just expecting a lot more from this book—I hope to finish the first book in a series excited to race to the next book, but I find myself dreading having to trudge through another book with characters I never fell in love with. I love a good anti-hero but this one doesn’t hit the mark.

Now a little rant.
I

didn’t feel particularly sad when Altan died, as it was a bit anti-climactic to me and he did not really have any likable characteristics except maybe we were supposed to like him after we found out he was traumatized? We already guessed he had trauma, so that didn’t really change much, just elaborated on the kind of trauma he endured. I was most eager to see Nezha and Rin’s interactions, as they had the most intriguing dynamic but that was also cut very short. I also spent the majority of the book assuming Nezha was going to return, not dead, because otherwise, his death was very anti-climactic and pointless to the plot. We went through all that hell between him and Rin for nothing? Perhaps he is still alive in the second book lol.

I feel like the character I know the best, understand the most is Kitay, as he seems to be the most relatable of the bunch—but I still know very little about him. Finally, I found Rin’s journey to Sinegard comically unrealistic. We learn that privileged students study their entire lives with paid tutors and most still don’t get accepted, and Rin, an uneducated and under-resourced kid hits the books for 2 years and scores at the very top of the list?? Like, 8th place would be believable. 1st?? I get that in order for her to make it to Sinegard, she had to be first, but some plot points need to be rearranged to make that a bit more believable in my opinion.

Content Warnings