Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

499 reviews

bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a heavy book from start to finish. Definitely one where you need to read the trigger warnings. I enjoyed Rin as a main character quite a lot. She is all things resilience and tenacity. The horrors of this book, mostly because of war and genocide were a lot for me to handle. I couldn’t see myself ever rereading it, but I’m glad I did once. 

Fantasy, Historical, Found Family

“I believe in gods as a cultural reference. As metaphors. As things we refer to keep us safe because we can’t do anything else, as manifestations of our neuroses. But not as things that I truly trust are real. Not as things that hold actual consequence for the universe.”

“Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.”

“It was, simply, what happened when one race decided that the other was insignificant.”

“And if your opponent was not human, if your opponent was a cockroach, what did it matter how many of them you killed?”

“If you were the victim, what could you say to make your tormentor recognize you as human? How did you get your enemy to recognize you at all?”

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geminireader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Get ready for this review. Because it’s not what I wanted it to be. This review will not contain direct spoilers but I wouldn’t read until after you finish the book so you can have your own opinion. 

I don’t know what book I read but it was not anywhere near the 5 star book people have described it as. I really don’t even know where to start. The main character… I feel absolutely nothing. I’m not even sure I could give more than 2 characteristics that describe her. She is simply there to carry the plot as it must follow a character but I feel nothing for her. Others critique that they dislike her… I am jealous of that because at least they feel something. Dislike is more intriguing than nothing at all. Just absolutely no character development. And are her driving pain really isn’t even her own? Maybe if we got to spend time with her at the beginning or had a more compelling backstory but I really have a hard time even feeling bad for her supposedly abusive childhood. So all her “rage” comes off very superficial and egotistical. I would have rather followed Altan who had a more genuine backstory and understandable rage. I can understand plot-wise why Rin is the choice and not Altan but still. The reader pays for that choice. While we’re at it, a critique of this book is that it doesn’t have romance. I’d argue it has something much worse: it has a feeble “will they won’t they” with the main character and someone who is implied to their sibling/at least related. And when I say feeble, I mean FEEBLE. They barely talk. And quite honestly, the fact that there was even a hint of romance in this book really disgusts me considering the content this book contains. There is so much more issue I have with the “characters” in this book (put in quotations because they are so weak) but we’ve hit a good transition into plot time. The content of this book is devastating and unfortunately, the real atrocities of this book aren’t fiction. As you probably know, this book is derived from the second Sino-Japanese war, which was a really heinous time in all of human history. So, I agree with all the other reviews on here saying the reader takes on some heavy trauma. But what bothers me so much about this, is that I felt so emotional reading this content because it is historical and completely inhuman, not because the writing/story/characters or literally anything about this book made me feel that way. Which I guess brings me to a point where I would have felt nothing from this book or story if it hadn’t contained retellings of real events. 

In summary (pat on the back if you actually read this), I am greatly disappointed. I was so excited going into this read. And now I feel guilty tearing it down because it’s an East Asian fantasy that has reached high popularity and has added some much needed diversity to the fantasy section (getting a little tired of the Greek mythology retellings over here). But a book still has to be good. And I would argue this book, objectively, isn’t good. If anyone is curious, I will still be attempting the second book as I’ve read it has major improvements on the first. Funny, im trusting those reviews even after the glowing reviews from the first book betrayed me. But alas, this is how badly I want to like this series. Stay tuned. 

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lizy's review against another edition

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

4.0


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k_o'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? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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bekahzabel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

I have unlocked new levels of love and pain.

The Poppy War was on a completely different plane than most books I’ve read this year, in a good way. This was a heart wrenching literary masterpiece to me. A 6 star book. Military fantasy meets magic & the spiritual realm. Not sure I can put into words how much I loved this entire storyline, but I am BROKEN. 

Imma have to give myself a break in between to heal before I start Dragon Republic because my world just got ROCKED. If you heard this was good they lied, it’s great. 

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kc_mellow's review against another edition

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

4.75

Really great start to the trilogy. The commentary on the morals and ethics of war and political strategies was really interesting and gets you thinking about what exactly is the "right" choice the character(s) should make in such a difficult situation. I will say that the ending didn't leave me with much to desire for the second book- the cliffhanger felt a bit weak because it focused on characters that I didn't care about because they weren't fleshed out in previous chapters. Overall though, the writing is phenomenal and is rooted in some historical events during the Sino-Japanese War. The weak cliffhanger doesn't propel me from reading the second book.
Note: be prepared for the graphic content in chapter 21. A lot of is based off true events that occurred during the Rape of Nanjing. 

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circehighgarden'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

5.0

This was never my kind of genre, and I was shocked to find out that I could actually enjoy something so different. The story was so appealing. The characters felt like real people to me. I don't know how to explain this, but throughout the novel I felt like I was watching a documentary about a past civilization. It felt so real. Hands down, one of the best books I have ever read. I don't know if I am ready to pick the second book tho. I might give myself some time.

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jrjustin66's review against another edition

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

4.5


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remasm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

okay, first off, the writing was incredible and the plot was great, but it was a bit questionable.

like, when the author went on for 200 pages about the academy and rin's life there and then 30 pages later a new set of characters is introduced with little to no knowledge about them?? and also, in terms of East Asian history, i've heard mixed opinions.
like, the depiction of the speerlys (or taiwanese people) being considered evil and inhuman, and the author even reinforcing these stereotypes with the main character
Spoiler when it's revealed that she's a speerly?
like what?
and the rape of Nanjing being used as a gotcha! moment to further enhance the plot, and in the end when rin SUFFOCATES the people of mugen (japan) in the name of revenge for the genocide of Speer??

anyways, if this book wasn't based on the sino-japanese wars and was purely fictional, or was just chinese inspired, it could've been something great. i don't understand claiming the book as "more than fantasy" bc it references modern chinese history when you've changed the names of the nations, added a fanciful element that contradicts the history, and have watered down a few historical events. 


 

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moomin_cloud's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-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

4.75


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