Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

278 reviews

khall123's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Blood, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Death, Child death, and Body horror

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is my second R. F. Kuang book, and she never seems to disappoint.

There's so much to say here that I'm sure other readers in these reviews can express much better than me.
Currently in history class, we're learning about the history of Emperial Japan (where much of it is also taught from the perspective of the Chinese), and the parallels are prominent. Sometimes it becomes hard to distinguish between what is real and what is fiction, because just like the Mugenese, the Japanese soldiers were terrible—terrible—terrible.

There's so much of this book to praise, and I did love Rin for a while. However, as she continued to go against her master's advice, I continued to dislike her. I see where her need is coming from, but it was very frustrating and frankly quite uninspiring to read about these very predictable consequences to her horribly naïve decisions.
This, however, is the ONLY complaint I had about the book, and I still very much enjoyed the book. I am looking forward to the coming books!

I deeply recommend this book, but be aware of the warnings. Many of the warnings are descriptions and mentions made from character's rather than the direct actions, but they can still be disturbing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Misogyny, Rape, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Miscarriage, Torture, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Self harm, Animal cruelty, and Classism

Minor: Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, and Vomit

jillysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

A book of three parts. In the first third it's almost a young adult book, the plucky orphanage in a magic boarding school. Then it has an extended, even bloated middle section which is very modern fantasy band of brothers style adventure. But then at 70% through it suddenly switches to a very dark and brutal introspection of the atrocities committed by Japan and to Japan in the second world war. It is very dark and totally not in keeping with the beginning of the book. I did not find the characters likeable but I tore through the book. Very curious to see where it goes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Genocide, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, and War

bookishreadersclub's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Mental illness, Abortion, War, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Genocide, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

namjin's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Torture, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Misogyny, and Vomit

This book contains the most detailed descriptions of brutal killings, torture and rape I have ever seen. Please exercise caution. Personally it came as a surprise, so be aware of that.

atomicrobin's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, Body horror, Blood, Infertility, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Bullying, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicide, Slavery, Blood, Death, Abandonment, War, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Murder, Infertility, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Cursing, Body horror, Hate crime, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Excrement, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal cruelty, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Child death, and Abortion

bookishmagpie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Torture, Drug abuse, Classism, Death, Addiction, Genocide, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Infertility

dreamreader's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Definitely deserves all the hype it gets, and I would have no problem recommending this to people, but it wasn't really for me. I debated for a long time if I should even read this, and throughout the first part I was so glad I did, because I really liked the first part. It was an easy five stars. And then the second and third parts happened, and it felt like I was reading an entirely different book. I didn't like that a whole new cast of characters was introduced midway through. It was so jarring. And I was very confused by Rin's obsessive love for Altan. I think that part of the story would have worked much better if she had spent any time with him at school. He never felt like a real character to me. And actually, my major problem with the second and third parts of this book is that I just didn't care at all, no matter how dark things got (and they got suuuuuuper dark). I felt fully detached and in the end I actively disliked Rin. I think she would have worked for me more as a central character if her motivations were explored with any nuance at all, but it's just a constant "I want power!" without the necessary examination of what that means and why she wants it. Readers are left to just infer, which I did, but it wasn't really enough. I bounced off the end of this book pretty hard. HOWEVER. I still think this book will land for tons of readers. So if you've been curious, give it a try, and mind the content warnings. They are not a joke. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Genocide, Torture, War, Violence, and Addiction

melissafelicia'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? Yes

4.0

At the start of this book, I thought it might be a 5 star read, because the worldbuilding was SO interesting. I loved how complicated the politics were and I can't imagine how much research into battle tactics went into writing this book.
However, the character growth went a different way than I expected or would have hoped, which made the book frustrating at times. It was also waaayyy darker and graphically violent than I expected (that's on me for not wanting to spoil myself and not reading any of the reviews or authors' statements about trigger warnings). I still think it's a very well written book and an interesting world and I'm curious how the story will continue, but I might need to take a little break before starting part 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Rape, Gore, Self harm, Sexual assault, War, Death, Genocide, Grief, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Addiction, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail