Reviews

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Only show reviews with written explanations

mriga's review against another edition

1.0

A definite DNF for the series! #unpopularopinion
The writing seems more for the shock value than any real development of characters. Despite Rin finding a way to enter the Academy and then study Lore, she seems to have no arc in the book. She is at her best reactive and at her worst random.
I picked this up because it is really popular, most people seem to love it but I cannot understand why. The author has written the book like a screenplay where we are spending an inordinate amount of time on descriptions (which I usually love) and almost none on creating a sense of the main characters.
Loved the themes and I wish there was anything else positive about this!

mrqreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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

4.0

sararose_cozy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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

4.75 stars.
This is so close to being a 5 star read. I only knocked it because the war and strategy aspect was a bit boring and dragged in the first half. But everything else was FANTASTIC. I wasn’t expecting to like it, since fantasy usually ain’t my thing, but I was engaged the whole time and was always looking forward to picking it back up.
There were some HARD chapters to read. The gore and violence can be too much. Especially now being a mom.
But this is so interesting and incredibly well written. rF Kuang truly is a genius. Her world building is fantastic.