Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1878 reviews

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

I truly think RFK is a wizard she writes the most amazing books. This story is dark, tense, morally grey and kept me guessing the whole time. I can’t wait to continue the series. This book is not for the faint of heart, there are very dark war scenes so if that’s not your thing i’d avoid this

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adventurous 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: Yes

I had heard how gut-wrenching this story was, but I was still left shocked by the intensity of the story. Half the time, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The first part of the book, while tackling heavy topics, also had unexpected moments of humor. I’ve never disagreed with a character’s choices and thoughts as I did with Rin, yet I found myself compelled to keep reading to see what she would do next. Her unpredictability and complexity made the book impossible to put down. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series brings. 

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

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

It held my attention. Hard to focus on anything else. But there are very graphic depictions of horrible things. 

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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 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

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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
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.

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