Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1139 reviews

9brightshiners's review against another edition

5.0

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

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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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Classism

While this is fantasy set in a different world than our own it is at least partially based on real world atrocities and contains extremely explicit descriptions of violence, gore, torture, rape, desecration of corpses, war, use of opium and other drugs, fire/fire injuries, genocide, dehumanization, and medical experimentation on unwilling humans. There are graphic descriptions of child and infant death and forced abortion. There are also instances of animal cruelty and death.

emsavors's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

sab7800's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

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, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Classism

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Suicide

camifestari's review against another edition

4.0

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

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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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery

basils_books's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was not for me, but I can see why so many people love it. The gore and dark themes just became too much for me, and I would strongly advise people who may want to read this book to look into a full list of trigger warnings first. That being said, the writing itself is very good, the plot is gripping, and the characters are compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

sarahm_strss's review against another edition

4.75

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

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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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism

noamluria's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional sad 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, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

hazelbud's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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RF Kuang's style is so clear, the scenes with Jiang reminded me so much of Babel. I find that RF Kuang's writing often feels like you're in a really engaging lecture. She infodumps in a way that doesn't feel like an infodumping, and moreso like you're learning and engrossed in what she has to teach or discuss with you. I don't love it as much as I do Babel, but I might change my mind after reading the next two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Colonisation

Minor: Sexual assault

bogbride's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I would give this 6 stars if I could. unbelievably well done. i listened to the audiobook which was also fantastically narrated. had me driving with my jaw dropped at several points. i'm not usually a huge fight scene fan, but the combo of the writing and narration had me so invested my heart was pounding. i wasn't sure if i was on board at the beginning, but the contrast between that version of rin and rin at the end is so so good. she's such a complex and flawed character and i love that she isn't concerned at all with being beautiful. i could go on forever. god

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Classism

kdegroote905's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation