Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

211 reviews

winterwoodbooks's review

dark emotional tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The beginning and end were really strong, however the middle part felt a bit like a disjointed slump.
Whlile I always want to give the benefit of believing that maybe that was just how the character felt, this does not seem to be the case here.

Spoiler

The Fact, that there were mere chapters between the setup of the facility and arriving there annoyed me SO much. And then they were out again just as fast, ugh

One of the strongest parts of this book is the bluntness of talking about themes- as well as just vivid and brutal pictures, actually depicturing horrors and topics often glossed over. I have to mention the feminism here, loved everything about it!
Overall a great book with some annoying points, I am interested to see more and hope for an in depth journey of the mind of our main character!

Spoiler

The worst part were the animal deaths tho :c

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicide, Slavery, Blood, Death, Abandonment, War, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Murder, Infertility, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Cursing, Body horror, Hate crime, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Excrement, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal cruelty, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Child death, and Abortion

hunter_uhl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Gore, War, Drug abuse, Murder, Self harm, Colonisation, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

andst'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Blood, Murder, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Rape, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Torture, Racism, Cursing, Death, Confinement, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Excrement, Animal death, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

bookishmagpie's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, Torture, Drug abuse, Classism, Death, Addiction, Genocide, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Infertility

lily_mar_ia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Brilliantly gripping, yet nauseatingly real. A masterpiece of the horrors of war. Inventive and somehow still funny in its darkest mornings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Vomit, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Self harm, Child death, Cursing, Death, Medical content, War, Violence, Colonisation, Drug use, Torture, Rape, Murder, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Infertility and Bullying

riley2399's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

beccahb's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Bullying, Body horror, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Racism, Self harm, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Blood, Child death, Torture, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual assault, Vomit, Cursing, and Xenophobia

alyce_ery's review against another edition

dark 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

do not underestimate the trigger warnings and age limit 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gore, Murder, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Animal death, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, War, Bullying, Genocide, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Slavery, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Medical content, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Excrement

_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

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