Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

345 reviews

readwthsam's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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bookishreadersclub's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

When they say this book is dark, they mean it. Do not be fooled by the beginning chapters of this book that feign hopeful stories of aspiring soldiers. The darkness of this book has subjected itself to one specific chapter, chapter 21. There are gruesome, cruel, horrifying depictions of war crimes. Nothing will prepare you for it. Read trigger warnings. Please.

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namjin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5


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atomicrobin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25


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winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The beginning and end were really strong, however the middle part felt a bit like a disjointed slump.
Whlile I always want to give the benefit of believing that maybe that was just how the character felt, this does not seem to be the case here.
Spoiler The Fact, that there were mere chapters between the setup of the facility and arriving there annoyed me SO much. And then they were out again just as fast, ugh

One of the strongest parts of this book is the bluntness of talking about themes- as well as just vivid and brutal pictures, actually depicturing horrors and topics often glossed over. I have to mention the feminism here, loved everything about it!
Overall a great book with some annoying points, I am interested to see more and hope for an in depth journey of the mind of our main character!
Spoiler The worst part were the animal deaths tho :c



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hunter_uhl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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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andst's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75


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xsamwise's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I think most people who give the Poppy War a glowing review prefer the 2nd half of the book which is where I found the most contradictions and issues with mainly Rin. I tore through the first half of this book, I enjoyed Rin's life at school and learning
Spoiler from Jiang. And the more I found out about Lore, the more I thought Rin would be the voice of reason and Altan would inevitably destroy himself in vain. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. Through out the latter half of the book I kept waiting for Rin to realize their errors, and she voiced them many times, but still somehow ended up down the completely wrong path.

There are multiple instances where Rin sees problems with Altan and his path of rage, yet she constantly chooses to follow in his footsteps despite identifying the glaring issues. While in the Chuluu Korikh she seems to have another realization that Jiang was right all along, but she contradicts this yet again. And there are multiple other examples of Rin having moments of clarity and then immediately doing the exact opposite.

While in the temple she shifts all blame to fate, that she hasn't made a single choose on this path of destruction. The Phoenix corrects her, she has made every single choice that has led to this moment, had been given multiple chances to choose a different path... yet here we are. And then after everything she as seen, in the end she naively thinks she can control the gods. The gods may act at the discretion of the shamans, but not without great sacrifice (ultimately themselves). It's also glaringly obvious that the will of the gods takes over their human minds and they act with only the wishes of the gods.


Rin is so painfully naïve, hypocritical and stupid, but I guess that's what happen when children are the only ones left with connections to the gods... they make childish decisions without any real understanding of the dire consequences.

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lily_mar_ia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Brilliantly gripping, yet nauseatingly real. A masterpiece of the horrors of war. Inventive and somehow still funny in its darkest mornings

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riley2399's review against another edition

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4.5


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