Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1140 reviews

hellichipmunk's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark 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: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

mmyup's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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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I’ll never skip a read from R.F Kuang, not only is her worldbuilding insane, but the characters have so much depth to them. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that establishes characters and their motivations to the extent Kuang does. She covers war SO well, if you read this trust you will be hurting by the end of it, but it’s so worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

countesscaine's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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For someone familiar with the historical events that inspired this story, it feels a bit simplified in some places, but gratuitous in some descriptions as well. The story also feels quite predictable overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

abril6's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War

loveat1stwrite's review against another edition

3.25

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Colonisation

Moderate: Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, War

Minor: Confinement, Sexual violence

In terms of content warnings, this book is essentially a retelling of the Second Sino-Japanese war with minor fantasy elements added. There are graphic depictions of the Nanking Massacre and minor descriptions of Unit 731.

alychee's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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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SO the famous poppy war... i think i expected better with all the praise rf kuang had for this book, but i thought it was lacking in a few aspects but that are so important. what threw me off the most is the excessive telling and the almost no showing, and it's hard to like characters when you see nothing of them :/ or to believe they have "chemistry" or know each other bc they analysed each other for so long BUT we never see that ? it's just "yeah they're obsessed with each other, no you won't know why" 
also big issue :

nezha's "development" ??? "im nice now!" since when ? why ? what happened ? i understand war changes people

but please if it had been a double pov it would have been so much richer.
we get a chapter where rin is nowhere, + they introduce

(and kill)

a new character out of the blue without links to what was before but we can't see nezha in the army? kitay's division? venka? the other parts of the war? i mean we could have had a little hint of what was happening elsewhere in a few pages like some authors do.

anywayz, for me the worst part was rin's stupid decisions. people with yeaaars of more experience than her tell her not to do something and they even give her real life examples of the consequences and yet she does it anyway (for now, okay, i support women's wrongs) BUT THEN INSTANTLY SHE REGRETS IT ?? then you think okay maybe she learned her lesson! NO SHE DOESN'T. SHE NEVER DOES. SHE KEEPS DOING THE SAME THINGS: NOT LISTENING AND 30 SECONDS LATER CRYING BC SHE REGRETS LIKE RIN BE SMARTER YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SMART WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS 

overall: good book, not a fav, made me soooo angry (bc of rin but also the concept of mugen and the whole genocide thing), but i wasn't sad for characters that i should feel sad for... bc we never see them long enough to feel anything! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Blood, War

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Rape, Colonisation

vero_fab's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective 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: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

justagremlin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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 is one of those books I had heard of forever but I had never picked up. And now I regret not picking it up sooner. 

I had heard this was a grim fantasy, but I didn’t expect it to be this dark. The depiction of war is one of the more realistic ones for a fantasy novel. I can handle a lot but some of the scenes genuinely made my heart plummet

Chapter 21. Chapter 21. Chapter 21.

 

All of the characters we spend time with are complex and fleshed out. If you are tired of fantasy novels promising you “morally grey” characters and then giving you really weak morally grey characters, please pick up this book. Everyone in this novel isn’t a goody two shoes. There are layers to every character, especially the main character. I’m hoping in the next book we can see her interacting with her classmates more.

I’m also hoping for some found family action since she’s the commander of the Cike

 

The magic system is also really cool. It’s not the most original, but that doesn’t matter here. I hope we can get more lore about shamans and the gods and goddesses in the next book. 

The ONLY issue that popped at me consistently was that the time skips weren’t very clear. A year in book time will pass in like a chapter with little fanfare. But this is a minuscule issue to be honest, because it doesn’t mess up the flow too much
 

Recommend for: People who want morally grey, female rage, shamans and a tense political war. 

5/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug Use:

In order to access the gods, they have to get high, the drug use itself isn't graphic but its used so much I felt it necessary to put in this category, one of the characters was fed opium to be a soldier and he is addicted

Animal Cruelty, Animal Death

soldiers on the other side light stray animals on fire

Confinement, Medical Trauma, Medical content

one character was tormented as a kid and experimented on, later in the novel him and the main character are trapped in the same place

Colonization/Racism

The race of the main character and her friend was wiped out and used as a pawn in a war. The rage they feel about this is a driving force behind both characters

Blood, Child Death, Fire/Fire Injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury Detail/Physical Abuse/Torture/War:

This book takes place during a war and it does not shy away from that fact. Graphic depictions of corpses, bombings, beheadings, and general violence

Grief/Panic Attacks:

Characters react to horrors of war, one character has heavy PTSD from colonization and experimentation

Misogyny, Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Pregnancy

Chapter 21 a character recounts the rape she and other women felt at the hands of soldiers. And then recounts the murder of a pregnant woman and her 8-month-old fetus.

vin_eeta_3's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

shelbyrodger's review against another edition

4.75

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail