Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

867 reviews

amirahazhar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

I know I'm late to the party but I just finished this today. Inspired largely by 20th century Chinese history (think the Opium Wars, but with ancient gods and mythological creatures), the countries of the Poppy War have clear parallels to China, Japan, and Europe. In the early 20th century, China's Qing Dynasty fell, ending thousands of years of rule by emperors thought to be the sons of heaven.

Politics and military strategy play a major role in this story. R.F.Kuang also touched a lot on classism, colorism, colonialism, and the collateral damage of unnecessary wars that span through generations, which I appreciated.

I can't recommend this book enough. To say that I'm blown away would be an understatement, especially owing to the fact that this is R.F. Kuang's debut novel, and she started writing it at 19! So excited to read the rest of this trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Blood, Suicide, Racism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Sexual violence, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Body horror, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Child death, Rape, Vomit, Trafficking, Infertility, Grief, Gore, Genocide, and Drug use

lorie266's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, War, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Murder, and Physical abuse

marianaribeiro's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Blood, Violence, Sexual assault, Child death, War, Drug use, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Addiction, Death, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

_mariaen_'s review against another edition

dark sad 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? Yes

4.5

Sometimes the main character’s choices made me want to throw the book out the window but otherwise the books really good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Physical abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Grief, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

giorgiagale's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Addiction, Torture, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse and Self harm

courtn58's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Blood, War, Torture, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Addiction, Violence, Hate crime, Classism, Genocide, and Drug use

annaisernia's review against another edition

The scenes of genocide were so graphic that I can't convince myself to read further in fear that it gets worse (because it feels like it's not going to get better).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Gore, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Genocide, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Rape

cassie_heintz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The story was exciting in the beginning but then took a heavy turn when everything fell apart (obviously). It was kinda difficult to see Rin go through a lot of hardships from her time in the academy through the end of the story. Many of these characters carry so much grief and despair for someone their age and are still push through it all and fight. This book brings the harsh realities of war to light through the characters and makes for a well put-together story. There are portions in Part lll that can be graphic so fair warning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Body horror, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, War, and Death

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Sexual violence, Slavery, Physical abuse, Torture, and Sexual assault

murielreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

Jajajajajaja. Que acabo de leer?? Alguien me lo puede o quiere explicar? Este libro se sintió como si estuviera viendo una fucking película. Es demasiado épico para ponerlo en palabras. De principio a fin me sentí en una montaña rusa emocional y ahora que acabo de terminarlo la cabeza me da vueltas a 1000 kilómetros por minuto sin parar. No sé que más decir. Me saco el sombrero ante Rebecca.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Rape, Blood, Genocide, Hate crime, and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Addiction, Vomit, Slavery, and Drug abuse

bergha1998's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Blood, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Xenophobia, Addiction, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit