Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

543 reviews

adventurous challenging dark 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

There were moments where this book grabbed me and made me want to keep reading, but it was inconsistent. There should be many trigger warnings about this book. And also that content made the character development justified / appropriate. At the same time it was thoroughly unpleasant to read.

A mix of fantasy and tragedy, warfare and death, this is an intense story and I’m not sure I have the heart for another.

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louhitar's profile picture

louhitar's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 83%

The graphic scenes upset me and I needed to put it down. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

A masterful entry into the trilogy.

Probably one of the best fantasy work I have ever read. As usual, Kuang strikes true and hard, her prose incredible, poetic and gutwrenching in the best way possible.
Her stories pull at something deep inside of you and nestle there to never leave, and I welcome them with open arms.

A must read for any fantasy lover.

However, do check the trigger warnings beforehand. 


This book is raw and Kuang doesn't coddle the reader. The atrocities that war inevitably brings are showed in all their horror. This is not a light read and some scenes are very graphic. 

Please read the trigger warnings if you are a sensitive reader.


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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a dark, unflinchingly violent trilogy but the characters nestled close to my heart and won't let go. Even on my third reading I'm still on the edge of my seat watching everything unfold and wishing it could be different this time. The love, camaraderie, grief, horror, and rage leap from the page. Despite the fantastic nature of this world it is grounded in true atrocities and historical events which makes it all the more gut wrenchingly human. The addition of mythological creatures and gods adds to the beauty and terror herein. Emily Woo Zeller's audiobook narration of Rebecca Kuang's incredible writing is an act of true alchemy.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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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adventurous 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

Ok. So definitely a loooot of trigger warnings..

This was fun, very hard to read at times, very cruel, but super readable!
Definitely would recommend if you can stomach it~

The writing tough.. I don't know, something felt off. Like she would say something and later that was not actually the case, and the again, and it happended too many times throughout the book for my taste. Maybe it has a reason why? dk.
Also, like.. I don't think I really know what she is trying to convey with these books, but I guess I'll have to wait to finish the series!
Solid 4 stars!

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

it started off as the weirdest book i have ever read, and ended with it being the most tragic and horrific book i have ever read. i have never felt such strong and compelling emotions towards a book before, and had such vivid images of the story. the storytelling was beautiful, and perfectly captured the world and every minor detailing within it. all the scenes where i had previously disliked or thought odd were perfectly intertwined and explored with the ending - everything was intentional and gruesome. the characters within were all so morally grey, and it really was hard to truly love or hate a character. 

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dark tense medium-paced

audiobook + ebook read

despite the low rating i may still read the rest of this trilogy, i’m interested in seeing where this goes. 
my main issue with this book was the character work… they were all underdeveloped and the characterization that was there felt inconsistent. both the characters and some parts of the story are very trope-y, and nothing interesting is done with those tropes. the world building is lacking and pulled me out of the story a few times. i don’t know how i feel about how the speerlies are depicted either…

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