Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1878 reviews

maydwarf's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging 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’m surprised about how much I liked this book, military settings are a favorite but I couldn’t stop reading it.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because of the rape scenes, it was my fault for not checking the trigger warnings but I almost stopped reading the book then and there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War

whatkatyread87's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Classism

ttbob1977's review against another edition

5.0

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: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I was completely swept up in this story, the character’s journey, and the truly brutal warscape Kuang illustrates. A unique fantasy that is inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), it managed to entertain, inform, and also pique my interest to find out more about the true history of this conflict. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

olivetheotherreindeer's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Slow start to the book, absolutely loved the increase in lore during part 2 of the book. Chapter 21 would be my strongest content warning about almost everything you could think of (on a reread would potentially skip the chapter), part 3 also has a few content warning things here and there but they are quicker and less overwhelming than chapter 21. I think this book would be a 4/5 if not for that, and I most likely would not recommend. I still am excited to read the rest because I think this author did a good job and the lore is interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail

thelanalibrary's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, War

pasavedra's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

roseyr3al's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Vomit

syrah78's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I think this is the first fantasy I've read where the chosen one is really the anti-hero. I really liked this book's connection to Chinese culture and it was interesting to have the mixture of history and fantasy collide. This book did not end the way I thought or wanted it to as a reader. However, I like that R.F. Kuang doesn't give the readers what they want. It makes her novels all the more darkly impactful. Rin's dystany was her on choice - though not really where I expected her character arc to end up. I am hoping to read the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Vomit, Murder, War

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Classism

leeikia's review against another edition

3.75

dark fast-paced

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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took too long to get me to care tbh maybe bc of the weird pacing in the first half of the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide

err0011's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I'm really conflicted on this one. I really loved some parts and then really struggled through others. It's a very long book with very long chapters that spans a long time period, 4 years pass over 500 pages. One entire year of that is skipped over in a single paragraph. Pacing was a big issue for me. This was my same complaint with Babel, too much telling and not enough showing. That leant itself to me having a somewhat poor understanding of Rin. Her motivations and wants kind of bounced around inconsistently. One minute she's desperate to use her new found power at any cost then the next she's terrified to lose control of herself. She swings back and forth on that pendulum multiple times. Part of me wanted to believe external forces were manipulating her, but it's not that complex. Rin is always thinking for herself. While I love that Kuang is telling stories and histories that need to be heard, her main characters suffer for it.
I'm invested in this world she's created, though. The interplay of divinity and the mundane is fascinating so I will keep reading for that. Also, the side characters are more consistent. They bring a much needed relatable counterpoint to the almost academic prose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Classism

Minor: Slavery