Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

798 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

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

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

cammie_p's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

mittymyers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Rape, Child abuse, Murder, War, Child death, Vomit, Torture, and Sexual violence

Minor: Infertility

sinnh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Murder, Infertility, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Child abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Bullying, Death, and Blood

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

I think the book is well done. The characters are vivid and the story is rich, the chaos and desperation that stems from war seems very realistic, I do have just one subjective opinion, that keeps me from liking this book: everything is so angry and hateful and I am not about that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Slavery, Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

ann99's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Genocide, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Rape

emrosch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.75

Brilliant.
Does not shy away from describing the cruelty of war and what it does to people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

5nazzyf0x's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

1.75

A hard book to read. Sounds dumb but it's only war there is not break from it, and it is extremely graphic which I was not prepared for. Both those aspects really aren't for me they are the genre I hate the most but it was written really well from a literary perspective. But safe to say I will not be finishing this series. I really wanted to love it as I hear people rave about it all the time but it's just not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Medical trauma, Excrement, Colonisation, Grief, Infertility, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Genocide