Reviews tagging 'War'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

2315 reviews

tne_network's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

This book got me back into reading. I could not put it down. The author has a way of writing that sucks you into the mind of this young woman and you understand why she chooses the choices that she does. Through circumstance after circumstance that she has been thrown into, this coming of age story is less about the character's maturity developing, but finding the power inside and facing the demons within and outside herself. I have been fully consumed by the main character's emotions and it has been hard to pick up other books after finishing it, so I have decided to finish the trilogy before starting another book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: War, Gore, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Minor: Murder, Racism, Infertility, Vomit, Child abuse, Self harm, and Confinement

kashna83's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

Es difícil describir este libro porque como ya pasaba con Babel, es como leer varios libros en uno. En general, me ha gustado... le pongo 4 estrellas bien puestas... Pero tiene PEROS...

La ambientación es una China medieval ficticia, aunque hay eventos históricos basados en hechos reales. Hay algo de fantasía, pero es arriesgado ponerle esta etiqueta. Pongamos que tiene... rasgos fantásticos, o más bien, mitológicos. 
La protagonista es Rin, una campesina huérfana que su sueño es entrar en la academia militar de Sinegard, para labrarse un futuro que no sea ser esposa o prostituta. Es fuerte, valiente y tenaz. Aunque también le mueve la venganza. Ese es un rasgo que no me suele gustar demasiado en los personajes, pero en este libro no me ha costado entender sus motivaciones como me pasa en otras novelas.
Si tuviésemos que poner una etiqueta, además de la "fantástica" sería "bélica". Hay mucha guerra, y guerra de verdad: no batallas. Guerra. Guardias eternas y solitarias, enemigos sin rostro, miedo, crueldad, y en algunos momentos, una violencia brutal.

Me ha gustado: 
- La parte de Dark Academy, muy entretenida.
- Los personajes que aparecen y lo que representa cada uno de ellos.
- Como escribe Rebecca Kuang. Simple y contundente.
- Toda la crítica y reflexión sobre temas muy actuales como: la brutalidad de la guerra, la justicia, la venganza, el uso de las drogas, el colonialismo, el genocidio... No te deja indiferente.

No me ha gustado tanto: 
-La parte bélica se me hace un poco larga en algunos momentos.
-Mis altísimas expectativas. El otro libro que leí de la autora es Babel, y me voló la cabeza. Y pensaba que este me gustaría más... y no. Me ha gustado, un poco menos. Pensaba que tendría más reflexión, más posicionamiento ideológico, y lo tiene... pero comparado con Babel, se queda corta.

Aun así es muy buena novela y cuando pueda leeré la 2a parte!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Violence, War, Death, Addiction, Blood, and Hate crime

rbreadinglistings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Violence, Genocide, Child death, and Death

afinebordeaux's review

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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, War, Death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

ldod's review

dark 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

4.0

Became much more brutal than I expected. Well written but not going to read the next books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Genocide, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Xenophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Child abuse, War, Torture, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual harassment, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, and Drug abuse

samanthamohun's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

oh my god. wow. i support women’s rights and especially women’s wrongs. like yeah, obviously revenge is never the answer, but why not follow Rin down to the pits of hell. as a treat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Torture, Rape, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Genocide, and Body horror

saffic's review

dark informative slow-paced

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

1.5

Around 70% of the way through this book, the author got tired of writing a YA and decided to leap up to Adult. It was not done tactfully, in my opinion. The things I liked about this book were far outweighed by the things I didn't. 

Now that I'm thinking more about it, the more upset I am about this book. There are hints of some really good stuff in here, but it's all brought down by how boring and tonally all over the place this book is.

Very petty comment I have: Every cover I've seen of this book has Rin wielding a bow... when her main weapon has always been a sword???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, War, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, and Drug use

This book is very bog-standard YA until Part 3 of the book. One of the first chapters of part three has pretty graphic depictions of genocide. And the second or third chapter of Part 3 has an extremely graphic retelling of rape on a large scale.

thehannahclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Please read about the Nanjing Massacre/ the Rape of Nanjing before reading this book. I’m so glad this book introduced me to a portion of history I was not taught, even though it is gruesome. Nevertheless, this book has one chapter that included the most horrific scenes I’ve ever read or heard of. It’s not just about checking trigger warnings because this book isn’t just triggering— it’s traumatic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gore, Child death, Grief, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, War, Hate crime, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, and Addiction

Moderate: Self harm, Cursing, Vomit, and Classism

chrisb913's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

If you want a slice of emotional damage with your trauma pie, this is the book for you. Please check trigger warnings. Kuang does a phenomenal job mixing real world issues and history into such a unique and incredibly built out world. The characters were incredibly well written. Even the characters I hated at the beginning, I felt bad for by the end of the book. Also i absolutely loved the magic system. Typically I enjoy the magic to be a bit more concrete, but the way Kuang wrote an increidble rich and captivating magic system, all while keeping it vague and mysterious due to it being almost forgotten was 🤌🤌. This was a masterfully written book and I cannot wait to read more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Rape, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death and Infertility

that_bookish_gayal's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Blood, Rape, War, Addiction, Torture, Body horror, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, and Violence