Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Poppy War

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

2253 reviews

_dani's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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nyky's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I almost DNF'ed this in the first few chapters as I found the MC very annoying. However the plot started to pickup once she started learning Lore and then I found myself much more engaged in the plot and was hopeful she would develop more

(she doesn't)

.

The MC is not a great character, very one-dimensional (along with many of the characters) in her quest for power, revenge, etc. which seems ironic for someone who was supposed to be really good at Strategy and whose specialty was basically magical philosophy. Overall the whole plot is very YA, young self-righteous girl against the world but with only ok execution.

The philosophical and theological aspects, especially the GateKeeper, save the story. Not sure if I will continue to the next one though.

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mladerer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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noahhh_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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mmccombs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Truly devastating and absolutely captivating to read! I loved Babel and had this sitting on my shelves forever, I think intimidated by how much I hoped to love it, and after finally taking the plunge I was rewarded by an equally rich, nuanced, and beautifully written story (and a debut no less!).

I knew vaguely that this book was based on real Chinese and Japanese history, but had no idea how deeply it drew from the Sino Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre, which compels me to know more about this time in history (whenever a book makes me want to read more, particularly to seek out nonfiction, that is a huge accomplishment!). Obviously, because of this history, this book got dark and gruesome and hard to read, but I think Kuang included these parts (particularly chapter 21) tastefully and with a hope for the reader to understand the brutal gravity of war and informed Rin’s complicated response to it.

Rin’s character is so moving, I was prepared for a “morally gray” character but I think got so much more than that. She is funny, furious, sharp, naive, scared, brave… the list goes on, and I can’t wait to continue her character arc. I loved watching her, and the people around her, wrestle with history, with evil, with what one should do with power, and what one owes to their country. This touches on colonialism and racism in a way I think Kuang expanded upon and did much more interestingly in Babel, but it was cool to see those roots here.

I cannot wait to talk about this one in my bookclub, I think this will make for a great conversation, and I equally cannot wait to get into the rest of the series!

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