Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

334 reviews

secretgoldfish's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I've never read a book where I didn't know who to root for by the end. I've also never read a book that went from 0 to 100 so fast.
The vibe of this book is the scene in Mulan where they're singing about girls and then they come over the hill and see the village burned to the ground.
Its so sudden. So jarring. And so intense. I loved every second of this book. Its so real and mystical at the same time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, War, Addiction, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Classism, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child death, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

themadbloodstone's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

I was never a real fan of fantasy books. They all felt the same to me and I always struggled reading them. However, The Poppy War was refreshing, unpredictable, and beautifully written. It did not shy away from the horrors of genocide and the aftermath of genocide, using Rin’s character development to symbolize the effects of war.
Even though there were some flaws in this book (such as the author reusing the same similes within pages of another or the odd will-they-won’t-they between Rin and Altan and Nezha), R.F. Kuang’s debut novel is definitely deserving of 5/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Genocide, Death, Rape, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Bullying, and Classism

Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Mental illness, and Addiction

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Death of parent

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

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

brainrot_197's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, War, Xenophobia, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Violence

kc_mellow's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Child death, War, Genocide, Racism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood

circehighgarden's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, War, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Slavery, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

remasm's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, War, Eating disorder, Racism, Trafficking, Body horror, Addiction, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Genocide, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Slavery, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Bullying

Moderate: Trafficking and Suicide

katemarie99's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

1.5

Not a great time tbh. Might try to push onward into the series now that the worst (??) is over...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, War, Xenophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual violence, Addiction, Fatphobia, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Violence

eri002's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, War, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Grief, Violence, Genocide, Murder, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Excrement, Classism, Animal death, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia