Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Опиумная война by R.F. Kuang

2281 reviews

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' went to war.

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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

what the fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The decisions made by the main characters were infuriatingly illogical and childish more often than not. 

The trigger warnings are also a must - this book has immensely graphic details of rape, violence, and torture in it. This normally wouldn’t deter me from reading a book, but I found it to be too much for me.

Overall, the world building, fantasy, and lore I enjoyed. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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 dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this book a lot actually. But it made me so frustrated. It’s one where you the main character is so infuriating. Also there are multiple parts that felt so shocking and could’ve used a TW. Overall still enjoyed the read

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adventurous dark tense 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: Complicated

this book has fundamentally changed the way i perceive fantasy worldbuilding. its brilliance lets me ignore any clumsy phrases (to be expected of a debut), and call this a mind-shattering experience. 

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dark emotional informative 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: Complicated

Fiksi sejarah favorit aku!!! Buku ini membahas kesengajaan sosial dalam sistem pendidikan, kolonialisme dan peperangan merebut daerah kekuasaan, filosofi + strategi perang, rasisme, dan penggambaran secara gamblang seberapa parah dan mengerikan kasualitas di lapangan. Anak-anak sekolah militer yang harus dewasa lebih cepat dan terjun langsung ke peperangan antara Kekaisaran Nikan dan Federasi Mugen. Hubungan spiritual orang dengan dewanya. Bagaimana syamanisme bekerja.

Buku ini didedikasikan untuk Iris, survivor kejadian nyata 'the rape of Nankin', yang adegannya pun dimasukkan ke buku ini. Menurutku pribadi, ini buku yang berani, bikin mual dan butuh untuk dibaca karena memang banyak adegan dibuku ini berdasarkan kejadian yang terjadi selama peperangan Shino antara China dan Jepang.

Jangan lupa cek trigger warning ya.

Baca ulang kali ini aku bisa lebih fokus metain tempat2 dan strateginya. Filosofi2 yang diangkat juga lebih 'kena' untuk jadi bahan pikiran.

Dulu nyelesain bahasa Inggrisnya 3 hari doang, taun 2021, dan janji gabakal baca ulang, but look at me now wkwkwkwkwk

Ceritanya tetep seru banget. Terjemahannya enak. Banyak nemuin kosakata baru terutama bahasa Indonesia untuk beberapa term warna, (yes, I'm looking at you Merah lembayung, and merah kirmizi)

Reading it with your mother tongue hits different. The pain is worse.

Did I know how the story end beforehand? Sure.
Am I sad and mad and sad again? Absolutely.

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Such an amazing story with super interesting worldbuilding. Be forewarned that it’s incredibly violent and dark. I do think that those elements were all necessary though. I don’t normally like when there’s a ton of violence in the media I consume because it feels unnecessary, but I think the elements included in Poppy War is important to understanding the characters’ motivations. It was definitely incredibly hard to read at some points, so prepare yourself. I don’t understand reviews that claim this book/characters are more YA. I guess the beginning could be seen as somewhat YA but that quickly goes away. The themes explored in the book are so much darker than what is appropriate for YA. Also, the characters are so much more complex and have to deal with terrible things. 
I enjoyed the “magic” system and how religious elements were used. It was  super interesting and really focused on the cost of accessing these super-human powers, which a lot of fantasy glosses over. 
I know some don’t like Rin, but I like her character a lot. I think her indecision and  building anger and frustration is written well, and by the end of the story, I understand why she chooses to do what she does. 
I don’t think this series is going to get any lighter but I look forward to finishing it. 
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is that sometimes the pacing felt a little off. Hitting slow patches after jampacked chapters filled with action and angst was a little jarring. 
I also just read Babel which I think shows RF Kuang’s growth as a writer from Poppy War. Her writing and even worldbuilding in Babel is stronger and I’m hoping I get to see that growth over the course of this trilogy.  

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