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challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What does it take to start a revolution? More importantly, what does it take to make a revolution succeed?
Set in a silver-powered Oxford in the 1830s, this book focuses on power of language. While it has compelling characters and an engaging plot, what really drives this story is its themes. Regardless of whether you agree with the conclusions the character make or not, the questions undergirding these themes are ones that need to be addressed.
However, I think this story would've been better served by multiple (4) POVs. I absolutely devoured the short chapters dedicated to the other main characters! But as it stands, I felt like I wasn't able to truly understand and feel for the characters other than Robin.
Set in a silver-powered Oxford in the 1830s, this book focuses on power of language. While it has compelling characters and an engaging plot, what really drives this story is its themes. Regardless of whether you agree with the conclusions the character make or not, the questions undergirding these themes are ones that need to be addressed.
However, I think this story would've been better served by multiple (4) POVs. I absolutely devoured the short chapters dedicated to the other main characters! But as it stands, I felt like I wasn't able to truly understand and feel for the characters other than Robin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide, Torture
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
With the Poppy War series one of my favourite pieces of literature I so hoped I wasn't going to be disappointed, and I was so beyond impressed. Although I'm not without criticisms it would have been disingenuous not to give this 5 stars purely based on how deeply this impacted and moved me. R. F. Kuang is a true master of her craft.
I'm gonna go and sit in a dark room sobbing now.
I'm gonna go and sit in a dark room sobbing now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Murder, Colonisation, War
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, War, Classism
Minor: Sexual harassment
challenging
dark
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexism, Slavery
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation
Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, War
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
There are lots of pros to this book: the absolutely stunning writing (I don't think I have ever tabbed a book this much), the message it carries and the super interesting magic system. If you are into languages, there's a lot to enjoy during this read.
That being said, the many long footnotes took me out of it every now and then and it felt like it dragged for a bit too long. I also think this type of book just doesn't match my personal taste - I have to come to terms with the fact that dark academia isn't my style.
That being said, the many long footnotes took me out of it every now and then and it felt like it dragged for a bit too long. I also think this type of book just doesn't match my personal taste - I have to come to terms with the fact that dark academia isn't my style.
Robin saw a great spider's web in his mind then. Cotton from India to Britain, opium from India to China, silver becoming tea and porcelain in China, and everything flowing back to Britain. It sounded so abstract - just categories of use, exchange, and value - until it wasn't, until you realised the web you lived in and the exploitations your lifestyle demanded, until you saw looming above it all the spectre of colonial labour and colonial pain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation
Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
tense
fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Banger.
Imo it's sold short by its own marketing; the question of the merits of violence vs nonviolence was only really touched on in the last, like, quarter of the book and even then I found it a leeeeettle shallow and a bit muddled by character arcs that ?arguably? contradict the thesis. Really what resonated with me was the (imo much more in-depth and insightful) discussion of the responsibilies that people living in the imperial core have when it comes to anticolonial action. Not "should revolution use violence" but "who should use the violence." Ok maybe I am splitting hairs.
Also the blunt, extremely-omniscient-narrator style was not to my typical taste and took some time to get used to. But that is just personal preference.
Again: banger.
Imo it's sold short by its own marketing; the question of the merits of violence vs nonviolence was only really touched on in the last, like, quarter of the book and even then I found it a leeeeettle shallow and a bit muddled by character arcs that ?arguably? contradict the thesis. Really what resonated with me was the (imo much more in-depth and insightful) discussion of the responsibilies that people living in the imperial core have when it comes to anticolonial action. Not "should revolution use violence" but "who should use the violence." Ok maybe I am splitting hairs.
Also the blunt, extremely-omniscient-narrator style was not to my typical taste and took some time to get used to. But that is just personal preference.
Again: banger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexism, Slavery