Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1872 reviews

etherealmilk's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous 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: Death, Torture, Blood, War

chitanda's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

karynrl's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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TW:  lots of murder and war all throughout and it is kind of hard to skip over/I don't think you can skip over and still understand the story. There are mentions and descriptions of SA and trafficking/slavery mainly in ch.21, which I chose to skip entirely and from reading a mild description I don't think there is anything in it that really needs to be read to continue the storyline.
Honestly wtf? When it started, I was loving it and by the middle I liked it a little less and then by the end I can definitely say it is not for me. I think Rin had potential to be a likable character but then she became war obsessed? 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Classism

jnnifer's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, War

Moderate: Addiction, Rape, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

adriannakreads's review against another edition

3.25

slow-paced

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I’m not sure about this one. Maybe I am too old to be the audience for this book. A twenty year old girl is cast into a war where she is subjected to and witnesses absolute atrocities. Maybe the way that fear and anger colors her choices is completely reasonable- but (a warning) this may not be the origin story of a hero; this is no light romantacy. This book is full of of monsters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Blood, Murder

al_will's review against another edition

4.5

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

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no this was actually crazy. from start to finish i could not put this down i was ENRAPTURED even when sometimes i wish i could have looked away or i had to take a lap to try and comprehend the tragedy i was reading. as brutal and upsetting as it was i loved the depiction of war in this book as not being something that is glorified or noble. it is violent and awful and tragic and everybody is a loser in the end. the set up for the next two books is so incredible and i cannot wait to continue whatever tragedy is still in store for me. kitay my beloved i need you to hold strong. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War

itsajline's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous 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 have finally smashed out this epic that is The Poppy War. It’s dark and gruesome and doesn’t hold back in its depictions of violence and addiction throughout. 
I went in with full understanding of the trigger warnings and have left going yep those are absolutely there for a reason. There were only a few moments where I cringed away and I implore that if you’re someone who gets squeamish then this isn’t the book for you. 

Rin’s moral dilemmas throughout kept this book interesting, her change from hopeful to complex makes it easy to see why this suits my bookclub’s theme of Villain Protagonist. 
Definitely a great read if you like lore filled books and plenty of action even amongst the grittier stuff. 
Can’t wait to read the next books! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Xenophobia

Minor: Child abuse

gotcelloskills's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The plot and the world is intriguing AF. I can’t tell if I’m just not good at reading or if the structure and pacing of the book was off, because it felt like it took FOREVER for it to get interesting. 

The worst part was how unlike-able Rin is. I know she’s deeply flawed and young and traumatized,

but she’s actually a genoicdal maniac who refuses to heed the warnings of LITERALLY everyone around her. Without seemingly any good reason?

It was just off putting…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death

hattea's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism

Moderate: Self harm

abookward's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, War