Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

86 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

_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

biancafrancisco's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Violence, Torture, Rape, Genocide, War, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Addiction, Murder, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, Vomit, and Slavery

flamesocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

• 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: Child death, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

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

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I think the book is well done. The characters are vivid and the story is rich, the chaos and desperation that stems from war seems very realistic, I do have just one subjective opinion, that keeps me from liking this book: everything is so angry and hateful and I am not about that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Slavery, Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

mitrabird2010's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Pregnancy, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Xenophobia, War, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infertility, Genocide, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Child death, and Animal death

dogphilosopher's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Spoiler

2 words: Baby Barrels

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Drug use, Genocide, Pregnancy, Addiction, and Torture

meganfletcher's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Genocide, War, Body horror, Gore, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Addiction, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Abortion, and Drug use

jessicaludden'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who remains.”

Oh this was insane. I feel like I’ve lived so many lives with Rin in one book. This book destroyed the idea of destiny in favor of this idea that we make decisions that lead us to where we are and Rin embraces that entirely. It starts with Rin’s coming of age and as the story progresses it turns into her loss of innocence. I loved the war and politics in this combined with elements of shamanism and divine entities. It kept me on the edge of my seat and surprised me in many ways. It’s also interesting to see the power dynamics in different relationships within this story and how they impact the characters and shift as time goes on. Overall, I will be thinking about this for a while and I’m excited for the next one.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, and War