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nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
thewellbitch's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
faraway_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"Let them think of us as dirt, Rin thought. She was dirt. Her army was dirt. But dirt was common, ubiquitous, patient, and necessary. The soil gave life to the country. And the earth always reclaimed what it was owed."
"And she still loved him. She’d never stop. But that didn’t matter.You’ve abandoned me, she thought as he wept with relief into her shoulder. You thought you could fool me, but I know your soul. And if you’re not with me, you’ll burn, too."
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
stephlikestoread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
kento's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
ddnreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Me in 2023: oke let's see who knows the ending would be different. I'm reading the different language so yeah
Me finishing the book: 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡why would I even bother to re-read for real
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape
tinyjude's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was all there, laid out between them. All their shared fury, vindictiveness, bloodlust, and guilt. Her cruelty. His complicitly. Her desperation. His regret.
One of the most brutal fantasy trilogies I have ever read. I am rendered speechless, trying to absorb everything that happened, and feeling ultimately devoid of emotions and at the same time, overwhelmed because it has been such a haunting, horrifying and memorable journey. I knew that ending was coming for a long time, yet no amount of mental preparation saved my heart from sinking in those final pages at the complicated bond all these characters shared. So many bold decisions and unphantomable turns later, I have (been) finished (by) this trilogy, yet I regret none. The incredible historical and social commentary, the parallelism to real history mixed with such a complex and compelling fictional world-building and unforgettable characters, the writing style, the harshness and pain that flooded these pages as more and more lives were lost in so many different ways...
I wish I could forget about it just so I could experience it all over again.
Rin has become one of my favourite irredeemable main characters of all times and I know I will miss her dearly from now on.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
nkookie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
heartsbyzak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
But man, were there times when I wanted to beat this book against a wall. Hoo BOY was it a mess to get to the ugly-beautiful ending that it gave us.
This series could have been five books - less rushed, more time for the tapestry to artfully unravel. This final book somehow crammed too much in, and obliterated storylines without ending them in any remotely satisfying way.
Almost all of the things I want to rail about are spoilers so -
Then there are about 50 pages when Rin is training a handful of shamans to be powerful and able to control themselves - a process that took an entire book and two years of a vague time jump in Book 1 to come to fruition.
I do also want to petulantly note that at the end, during a heavy, poignant moment that was written so well, Nezha looks down at Rin's lifeless body and thinks only "you bitch, you fucking bitch" and it ruins the scene entirely - crass, immature, and edge-lord unnecessary.
Venka was also done really dirty in this book -- after everything, for Kuang to have Rin turn on her, and then never confirm for the reader if she was a traitor or not (she wasn't, Rin was just a wildly paranoid train wreck at that point, you will not convince me otherwise) - its a disservice to a character who was already used and abused as a monolithic punching bag for male violence while Rin was able to remain "pure" from both sexual assault and sexual activity.
Things I fucking loved: that Rin's parentage, though strongly alluded to, is never confirmed or revisited as significant; it's frustrating, but also drives home that it's not the point - this book isn't about inheritance and destiny, it's about ruthlessly obliterating the legacy you've been handed regardless of what tradition would have you do. Also, the different kinds of love that threaded throughout the trilogy subtly without explicitly naming or confirmation were great - platonic, manipulative, romantic, familial, etc. Despite what I said above about Venka existing so Rin can remain "unsullied", I liked that Rin got to "come of age" without sex/sexual initiation being a part of it - it pushes back against the tired narrative that loss of virginity is a key step towards becoming an adult. This is a victory for all of us out there who were late bloomers, and who were bombarded with teen media that constantly informed us that having sex was the right of passage to the horizon of adulthood. Neither does Rin ever second guess or lament her decision to sterilize herself in her early teens - I'm so glad Kuang never subjected us to long musings on 'whether she'd done the right thing'.
A vast majority of this book was sluggish retread of what we've already been through - Rin shooting off at the mouth, acting grown up, and then being promptly spanked and sat right down in her place by literally anyone near her who takes half a second to think. While I am enamored Rin as a wildly flawed, prickly, and off-putting female lead, by the end of this book I was fascinated that she'd managed to have a coming of age story that routinely confirmed she was a dumber bitch than when we started (and I promise I am saying that affectionately).
The lore we delved into further in this book was GREAT, and I'd sink my teeth into more content detailing it. Though I do think the last 100 pages just devolved into Kuang's thesis on socio-political systems and the results of civil war, it raises good questions, refuses to give easy answers, and then culminates in a grotesque but realistic ending that nobody wants, but everyone has to accept is the reality. Don't read grimdark fiction if you don't want this.
I agree with all the critiques of this series and absolutely fucking love it anyway. This book, in particular, was like watching a hundred iterations of "Revenge of the Sith" unfold over and over again in a multiverse, none of them with a happy ending.
I'm glad I read this after Babel, and my thoughts on that are complicated...overall, I think Babel is a vastly more mature book in which Kuang tackles huge issues with the same (overly dense) academic surgical precision and articulates the gruesome realities better. The Poppy War series, though, has more hearty, more faith, and more flayed-open imperfection.
Adding it to my bookshelf among Red Rising, The Hunger Games, and The Stormlight Archives as a hallowed tome.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism