Reviews tagging 'War'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1468 reviews

readingthroughthelists's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I held out hope right until the very end but this one’s not for me.

I know that not every book needs to feature a likable main character or even a character who always makes the right choices. But it should at least feature a main character who makes sense, whose motivations and decisions are understandable

Spoiler

(especially if this main character is going to commit literal genocide at the end of the book)

. 

This is something that Babel got right, giving us not one but four central characters we could come to love (and grieve). But Rin barely qualifies as a main character; she is…there, but never stops being inconsistent, stubborn, and (oddly) passive. If anyone is a main character in The Poppy War it is Altan; at least he has something of a character arc. But I don’t like Altan, so I guess I’m out of luck.

I might try The Dragon Republic but only wishing bad things for Rin. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Genocide, Gore, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse

biancafrancisco's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Violence, Torture, Rape, Genocide, War, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Addiction, Murder, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, Vomit, and Slavery

sandiec's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Torture, and Drug use

ellaxo's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Genocide, and Sexual assault

flamesocks's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

katemarie99's review

dark sad slow-paced

1.5

Not a great time tbh. Might try to push onward into the series now that the worst (??) is over...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, War, Xenophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Addiction, Fatphobia, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Violence

berrytart's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love this book! I cant wait until i can get the rest of the trilogy; though it was hard to get through some points in the book, that doesn’t mean it was bad! It was really well written in my opinion!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, War, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

lavenderviolin's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Drug use, Violence, and War

eds2's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Genocide, and War

olijeffery's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Kind of like if you did the first few Harry Potter books and then dropped the kids into Game of Thrones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Genocide, and War