Reviews

It was really hard for me to get through this book but in the end it was all worth it. The characters were all so incredibly well written and I fell in love with all of them despite their very visible flaws. I felt the entire history of human atrocities while reading this incredible book and felt so much emotion thinking about all the people lost to wars. I can't believe this book influenced me so much in real life, it's outstanding.

danamontana's review against another edition

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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.

1) The Poppy War ★★★★★
2) The Dragon Republic ★★★★.5

OH MY GODNJDEBHJDF??!!??!

this was AMAZING. the perfect finale to one of my favorite series ever. i usually don't like long books, because i feel like the first half is almost always unnecessary, but this was the exception. i pretty much just spent this entire book in awe of r.f. kuang's talent. but seriously, this book is 640 pages, and i flew through it, because i needed to know what was gonna happen next. soooo amazing!!!

aheroux_24's review against another edition

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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

5.0

shay_talksbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

Close Encounters book club pick for June

The final book in the Poppy War trilogy, and what a way to end things! This was my favourite book of the three and even across this series I can see how much Kuang has developed as an author from the first book to the last...excited to read her newest books too!

A lot of discussion on colonisation in this one, and a look at how war has affected all of our characters, and the country as a whole. I always appreciate that Kuang doesn't shy away from the hard stuff, the tough topics and realities of a country at war with itself, and I love that she writes a good 'fight scene.'

The ending felt like it dragged a little for me, but

I liked that we saw the realities of what happened after the 'victory.' We didn't get an "and everything was fine" ending, where everything was resolved. We saw a country just barely surviving, with its people starving, displaced and and exhausted by what had happened, and a victor who had no idea how to fix it. It felt much more realistic, and I really appreciated that.

Content Warnings