Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1133 reviews

farfanoogan's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Violence, War

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Torture, Colonisation

ashcookie32's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark informative 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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This trilogy is phenomenal. I’ve recommended it to many friends (who can handle the dark, depressing, and gory nature of wartime) and decided to start my year off by rereading the trilogy while simultaneously attacking my reading goals for the year.

I’m still speechless at how beautiful and wonderfully-planned this novel is (especially for being a debut!) considering it is one of the darkest books I’ve encountered. While it’s not labeled as being a historical fiction, I know RF Kuang did immense research to create a story surrounding horrific events in China’s past.

I’m blown away by her masterful work and am eager to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War

biblioescapist's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

annagoswami's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Grief, Colonisation, War

magnoliaxsoulangeana's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

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I am not typically a fantasy reader, but am a big fan of the author. This book is so well written. Horrifying at parts (read the authors note afterwards- some of the violence is lifted directly from historical records) but I still could not put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, War

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Colonisation

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Classism

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

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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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Colonisation

Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit

ainsleyharper's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

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: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation

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

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief

whitllo's review against another edition

4.5

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, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Blood