Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

574 reviews

iniiri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

I don’t know what I expectef when I picked up a book called ”poppy war” but it was not this (I will be adding quite a bit of warnings). I knew basically nothing about it except there was a test, a school and based in china. Everything else came as a suprise and if I was surpirsed. 
Things seemed well thought out and nothing gave the impression of being shallow; just a character because it was needed which I really liked.

Slight spoiler because I don’t know how to talk about this book otherwise.
I really liked the time skips in the first half of the book. It didn’t need to tell certain things in detail so I’m glad it didn’t. It took me by surprise, that’s for sure, but I liked it. It also made things more convincing to learn that significant time had passed without anything noteworthy because that’s just life.

Still in the slight spoiler zone, but my closing thoughts. It was quite difficult to read at times. Again, I didn’t know anything going into this book so I didn’t expect the turn it took. I’m used to books glossing over a lot of things, but again, it delivered on the name.
I honestly don’t know if I’ll read the other books. I’m quite overwhelmed by everything. There were moments where I didn’t even want to read  because it would just lead to more missery. It was a good book on its own and as of right now, I don’t feel any need to read the next one. I think I need to leave this world for a while before I light pick up the next one.

All in all, would recommend with caution :)

(Audiobook)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Genocide, Death, Drug abuse, and War

Moderate: Torture, Rape, Cursing, and Body horror

Minor: Kidnapping, Sexism, Self harm, Racism, Classism, and Colonisation

hearkenheretic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Self harm, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Blood, Grief, Child death, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Addiction, Gore, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Medical content and Infertility

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

(re-read) It was so interesting to come back to this story knowing where the series goes. I underlined so many things that I totally didn't pick up on my first time reading and really made me appreciate R.F. Kuang's ability to world-build with so much detail, history and lore. This book does read almost like two books, the first 1/3 to half-ish being almost dark academia-esque with our MC Rin getting into this prestigious military school and she is one of the only poor students whose family isn't well connected. Then a war breaks out and she along with her fellow students must join to fight against an invading country. The rest of the book really sets up the rest of the series.

Rin is a very... interesting main character to read as she is extremely morally gray. Is actually told constantly by her professor Jiang that the magic ability she is learning is dangerous, but she does not heed the warnings. This is an overall theme throughout the books, so it's important to know going in that she can be often unlikeable at times due to the decisions that she makes.

I really can't wait to continue my re-read of the whole series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Drug use, War, Colonisation, Racism, Violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Animal death

This book contains very graphic gruesome and hard to read passages of the effects of war and genocide.

khenny90's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Death, Grief, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Animal death, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

nithyuh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted sad tense

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

5.0

I have no words. I can't comprehend how I feel. This book will be all I'll be thinking about for a long time. 

Just the way R.F. Kuang is so majestic, and the planning and thought she put into this is outstanding. The characters are so dimensional, and it's so cool to compare how they were in the beginning and what you knew about them compared to later on in the book. You can also see how not everybody is either good or bad which adds so much as a book that is historically based.

There is definitely more to the book than what it seems at first, and it's fascinating to see the story develop. I totally recommend reading this, but fair warning, there are a lot of trigger warnings near the end of the book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, War, Torture, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Slavery, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Death

elyanna's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Torture, Gore, Death, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism, Self harm, Murder, Slavery, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Rape, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty and Addiction

moonlighttreads's review

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

it was a journey. it started off exciting and fun and ended up shocking and dark. the writing was beautiful, the characters realistic and their inner worlds were explored in depth. the plot was fast paced and full. 

the .25 are for some part in the middle of the book where i felt like it felt a bit flat for a few pages. also the magic system could have been explored and explained more.

do recommend (check the tws though!!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Gore, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, War, Genocide, Xenophobia, Racism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

skorned's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Torture, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, and War

Minor: Rape

pili31's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War