Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Опиумная война

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

1141 reviews

mallorytyler's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

abicaro17's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Well I gave it the good old college try but this sucked. To give credit, the first 150-200 pages were actually good and super interesting. This is immediately thrown out the window. Rin is a poor orphan who tests into an elite training academy for the military. The school/training portion of the book was fun for the most part and the plot made sense. Then we get to the attack and everything following. Rin is 19 by the end of the book but she feels 14. She's constantly whining and flip flopping morally and emotionally. Like genocide is bad! No it's necessary! The gods will consume me! No I can control them! Also every military tactic is stupid af. There are zero likable characters and this book is so dense and slow it took me two months to read. Save yourself the time and read basically anything else not by R. F. Kuang.

Content Warnings

ellenwm's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Fantastic, creative and original novel. Really loved the character growth and world building. Kuang builds on pieces of real Chinese and Japanese history, and creates a real, complex world. The way she seamlessly digs into colonization, oppression, classism, racism, colorism, patriarchy, violence. Oh man! The thoughtful reflection on power structures is woven into a fantasy world that gives classic tropes a little twist. You see how cultures and people can be both oppressed and oppressor. In a single brief scene we can learn about the struggles of the world, our MC’s motivations and views of herself, the society’s values, and the abusive sacrifices they push on children. But it never reads like a lecture. RIN! Oh Rin. I cannot wait to see where she goes in the next 2 books. There were times I absolutely could not stop listening to the audiobook and had to know where it was going. A bit of warning though, there were also times in the back half I had a hard time picking it up again because of the descriptions of the horrific brutalities of war. It’s not a large part of the book, but the imagery in some of the retelling is graphic. Check all the content warnings! The violence and cruelty are purposeful though, and not played for shock factor. Really enjoyed the author’s writing style and the audiobook narrator’s voices were perfect!

TL;DR: If you liked the war college aspects of Fourth Wing but wanted a fuller, fleshed out world, with a lot less faffing around and swooning, with a true underdog story and much darker magic… you’ll love this!

Content Warnings

f_m_12's review against another edition

3.75

dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

bibi_lotta101's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

aingealwroth's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark emotional 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

Unless certain issues are resolved for the main main character, especially in the next book this is a three star for me due to problematic behaviour that is encouraged for the main character

Content Warnings

shottel'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

I thought the hype over The Poppy War was probably unwarranted. I was wrong. If you can handle the visceral horror of the second half - without spoiling anything, it gets really dark - this is a must-read. Set in a fictional world heavily based on the interwar period, it takes heavily from the Second Sino-Japanese War, a topic western audiences are less likely to be familiar with. This gives it an unfamiliar, original touch even as it enjoyably uses well-established character types and tropes. It’s a great time - again, if you can get past situations that outstrip the darker parts of Game of Thrones.

The book rests on two interconnected themes. The first: The horrors that occur when humans think they are bigger and more important than they actually are. The second: The line between justice and revenge, and the consequences of pursuing the latter. These themes are explored through bigotry in the form of racism, classism, and sexism (primarily in the first half) and total war (primarily in the second half). It strikes a masterful balance between being too subtle and too outright as the story plays out and revolves around these themes. Neither preachy nor cryptic.

I recommend this book to any fiction reader who can handle the all-too-real depictions of human-inflicted atrocities. [If you’re on the edge, I attempted to be as thorough as I could with my content warnings attached to this review. This is one of the few times I’d actually recommend checking content warnings prior to reading a book.]

Content Warnings

lexy000000000000's review against another edition

4.0

SOSOSOS GOOD
i liked the fact that it was set in the academy at first 😊😊jiang was a funny old man

rin as a character is written good imo!! ilove her character n her quest for power was UGHHHG

idrk how to feel about the pacing but im really excited n expecting a lot for the next book !!

Content Warnings