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pinkystar_bobsky's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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? Yes
5.0
Never before has a book moved me like this. Never has a book left me distraught and at a loss for words. Never has a book moved me to tears. The Poppy War reached into my chest and ripped it straight out, cut it to pieces, feigned putting it back together only to crush it yet again. It took me four days to complete this and yet I do not regret the length. I needed to let this book simmer in sections, to digest it in chunks at a time, or else it would completely overwhelm me.
R.F. Kuang's writing is gripping from beginning to end. Her words brought every scene to life right before my eyes.I was there, in Golyn Niis, walking beside Rin, taking in the devastation inflicted by the Federation. I saw the bodies, I smelled them. I felt all the grief, the anguish, the rage. If there was a happy moment in this book, I do not remember it.
To read that a lot of the events that took place in Golyn Niis were grounded in reality put a pit in my stomach. Even as I was reading that scene, I got a sinking feeling that it was too real. Real people did this to other people. But even then, it is still incomprehensible; the level of inhumanity, that people might be capable of such heartless deeds, of such cruelty. That's why my feelings on this book are so conflicting; I start giggling and screaming at how good this book is, at how incredible the author is, but I am always reminded of the reality of it all. It almost feels wrong to say that I enjoyed this book...but I did. It felt good to cry, when Chaghan revealed the details of the obscenities that young Altan was forced to see, to endure. It feels good to read such great art, to have a writer be able to pull out such human emotions from me.
Due to depression and adhd, for months I have had a difficult time reading books. I could not read more than 8 pages at a time before getting distracted, or simply losing the will to read on, even if it was a book I really looked forward to reading. I am so, so happy that I am in a better place now, I'm on medication, I'm exercising, taking better care of myself, literally touching grass. I'm so incredibly grateful that I was in the right state of mind to fully enjoy this story. And I'm glad I took my time with it and didn't rush to binge it on one day, no matter how gripping it was. I'm so incredibly lucky to have read this.
I am also entirely unprepared to read the next three books. I cannot imagine what more pain R.F. Kuang is about to inflict on me. I don't know if I'm ready but I'm starting The Dragon Republic straight away. Holy fucking shit man, I'm kinda terrified to continue this lol
R.F. Kuang's writing is gripping from beginning to end. Her words brought every scene to life right before my eyes.
Due to depression and adhd, for months I have had a difficult time reading books. I could not read more than 8 pages at a time before getting distracted, or simply losing the will to read on, even if it was a book I really looked forward to reading. I am so, so happy that I am in a better place now, I'm on medication, I'm exercising, taking better care of myself, literally touching grass. I'm so incredibly grateful that I was in the right state of mind to fully enjoy this story. And I'm glad I took my time with it and didn't rush to binge it on one day, no matter how gripping it was. I'm so incredibly lucky to have read this.
I am also entirely unprepared to read the next three books. I cannot imagine what more pain R.F. Kuang is about to inflict on me. I don't know if I'm ready but I'm starting The Dragon Republic straight away. Holy fucking shit man, I'm kinda terrified to continue this lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Violence, War, Blood, Genocide, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Grief, and Racism
edie_a's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One of the best books I’ve read. It has a little bit of everything. Ties to history, battles, character growth and loss, religion and divination. The writing was great and easy to get lost in the story. There were some points in the end where I felt the book was dragging just a bit, but overall an excellent read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Rape, Gore, Child death, Torture, Sexual violence, and War
Moderate: Drug abuse, Animal death, and Drug use
anxiousshorebird's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book was difficult. I found myself rolling my eyes and struggling to continue through the first half. At one point I resigned myself to reading purely out of curiosity, rather than enjoyment. Normally I would DNF a book loke that, but I've seen trusted reviewers praise this book and I was curious about the mysteries slowly being uncovered. Then about half way through I couldn't stop reading.
This book suffered from mismatched tone and some bad pacing. It felt like a YA magic school novel (complete with a Draco Malfoy type character) for way too long. Then by the end it was a grim dark, violent, war torn character study. It felt like an abrupt shift. Looking back, I see some merit to experiencing the MC's journey from determined teenager to hardened soldier along with her. While reading it, however, I found myself wishing her origins were told through intermittent flashbacks.
I really enjoy the world that Juang created. I love that she hasn't shied away from a DEEPLY flawed main character. Frankly, I don't even like this MC. But o sure loved reading her story once I got passed the slog of her schooling.
All in all, it's far from a 5 star read for me, but it's a very commendable debut novel. I won't hesitate to read the rest of the trilogy. I plan to read a light romance before the next Poppy War book though, because this shit got DARK.
Speaking of, please check the content warnings. Since the beginning is so much more tame than the rest, it's worth the risk of spoiling yourself a bit to make sure you know what you're getting into. I recommend skipping chapter 21 if you're someone who can take a lot, but have a limit.
This book suffered from mismatched tone and some bad pacing. It felt like a YA magic school novel (complete with a Draco Malfoy type character) for way too long. Then by the end it was a grim dark, violent, war torn character study. It felt like an abrupt shift. Looking back, I see some merit to experiencing the MC's journey from determined teenager to hardened soldier along with her. While reading it, however, I found myself wishing her origins were told through intermittent flashbacks.
I really enjoy the world that Juang created. I love that she hasn't shied away from a DEEPLY flawed main character. Frankly, I don't even like this MC. But o sure loved reading her story once I got passed the slog of her schooling.
All in all, it's far from a 5 star read for me, but it's a very commendable debut novel. I won't hesitate to read the rest of the trilogy. I plan to read a light romance before the next Poppy War book though, because this shit got DARK.
Speaking of, please check the content warnings. Since the beginning is so much more tame than the rest, it's worth the risk of spoiling yourself a bit to make sure you know what you're getting into. I recommend skipping chapter 21 if you're someone who can take a lot, but have a limit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, War, Body horror, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Violence, Drug abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Torture
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Excrement, Animal death, Infertility, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking
mabi29's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
4.0
A história começou muito bem escrita, apresentando os personagens suavemente e desenrolando o enredo com calma. Quando iniciou a guerra a história deu uma acelerada abrupta e do nada ficava lento novamente, isso me incomodou um pouco.
Sobre a forma como a autora narra os terrores de uma guerra, achei muito bem escrito, ela passou a angústia da espera do início do combate, passou bem o medo e a raiva que todos sentem, e nos piores feitos ela não foi desnecessariamente detalhista. Ela narrou coisas horríveis, bem traumatizantes, mas parecia que ela mesmo queria que acabasse logo.
A personagem principal tinha horas que me dava raiva, mas eu entendo ela, o que me estressada é que ela ficava trocando de opinião a cada minuto, mas sempre ia pro mesmo caminho.
Gostei do livro, acredito que vou ler os seguintes.
Sobre a forma como a autora narra os terrores de uma guerra, achei muito bem escrito, ela passou a angústia da espera do início do combate, passou bem o medo e a raiva que todos sentem, e nos piores feitos ela não foi desnecessariamente detalhista. Ela narrou coisas horríveis, bem traumatizantes, mas parecia que ela mesmo queria que acabasse logo.
A personagem principal tinha horas que me dava raiva, mas eu entendo ela, o que me estressada é que ela ficava trocando de opinião a cada minuto, mas sempre ia pro mesmo caminho.
Gostei do livro, acredito que vou ler os seguintes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Genocide, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Death, and Torture
mollyjoy__'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Body horror, Child death, Addiction, Death, Suicide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War
Chapter 21 of this book is especially hard to read and details recollections of extremely graphic violence towards women and sexual assault.katelyndepaul's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Murder, Genocide, War, and Sexual violence
thejwq's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Child abuse, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Gore, Murder, War, Slavery, and Torture
robinudell's review against another edition
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
4.25
Amazing to me that Kuang wrote this at such a young age- it's dark and insightful and ambitious, and I'm excited to read the second two books to see how her writing develops!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Torture
miranda_redmond'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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Torture, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
Moderate: Classism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Self harm, Colonisation, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence
nestasbff's review against another edition
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? Yes
2.0
2 ⭐️ |
i <u>really</u> wanted to love this like everyone else, and give it 5 stars, yet i’m just unable to.
it stared out extremely promising and i actually really liked the first 100-ish pages, but after she left the Academy it just completely lost me.
the last 150 pages were interesting <i>enough</i> that i didn’t feel like i was going to either fall asleep or DNF (also because of the way too long 30-50 page chapters), however, that’s when i really started to get irritated with Rin (the MC) and started not liking her.
my favorite character (or more like the only character i actually liked in the end) was Kitay.
on top of that, i also feel like i didn’t really fully understand the gods and the magic system. it was kind of confusing to me ngl.
the ending… well. iykyk.
overall, i don’t know how to feel, but i do want to continue with the series, as everyone seems to love it and cry by the end (and because i, as usual, bought all the books before reading the first one).
i <u>really</u> wanted to love this like everyone else, and give it 5 stars, yet i’m just unable to.
it stared out extremely promising and i actually really liked the first 100-ish pages, but after she left the Academy it just completely lost me.
the last 150 pages were interesting <i>enough</i> that i didn’t feel like i was going to either fall asleep or DNF (also because of the way too long 30-50 page chapters), however, that’s when i really started to get irritated with Rin (the MC) and started not liking her.
my favorite character (or more like the only character i actually liked in the end) was Kitay.
on top of that, i also feel like i didn’t really fully understand the gods and the magic system. it was kind of confusing to me ngl.
the ending… well. iykyk.
overall, i don’t know how to feel, but i do want to continue with the series, as everyone seems to love it and cry by the end (and because i, as usual, bought all the books before reading the first one).
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Self harm, Violence, Torture, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Addiction